The Captivating Performance 'A Species Becomes Human': Traveling from Venice to Berlin and Brooklyn
By Hyunjoo Park
Seaworld Venice, the highly celebrated masterpiece at the Austrian Pavilion widely recognized as one of the most mesmerizing highlights of this year’s Venice Biennale, is set to embark on an international tour.
According to ARTnews, the site-specific installation and performance created by Austrian artist Florentina Holzinger will commence its global journey in the spring of 2027 at the Gropius Bau in Berlin, Germany. The exhibition will then travel to the Kunsthalle Wien in Austria in the autumn of the same year, before making its grand debut in the United States at Amant in Brooklyn, New York, in March 2028.
Rather than merely relocating the Venice iteration, this global tour will dynamically reimagine the presentation, seamlessly adapting and tailoring the artwork to harmonize with the unique architectural and spatial characteristics of each prestigious venue.
Seaworld Venice emerged as one of the most eagerly anticipated and widely attended pavilions during the Venice Biennale preview period. In a defining moment of the performance, the artist positions herself in an inverted posture inside a monumental bronze bell, transforming into a living clapper to resonate the instrument through graceful bodily movement—an extraordinary sight that offered audiences a profound moment of artistic awakening.
By elegantly utilizing the human form as a bell clapper, the performance beautifully symbolizes a resonant call for environmental mindfulness amid rising sea levels and global climate shifts. Set against the poetic backdrop of Venice, the work masterfully addresses the complex relationship between nature and humanity through a brilliant, avant-garde exploration of physical expression.
