Hong Kong has typically sent a single artist to represent the special administrative region at the Venice Biennale, but in 2026, artists Angel Hui and Kingsley Ng, both Hong Kong natives who live in the city, will jointly take up the mantle. The Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) are collaborating for the first time on the presentation in La Serenissima. The artists will explore “the poetic rhythms of daily life,” per an announcement, in dialogue with the theme of the Biennale’s main exhibition, “In Minor Keys,” curated by the late Koyo Kouoh. The exhibition, which marks Hong Kong’s 13th participation, will take place at the Campo della Tana, as in past years. As a “Special Administrative Region” of the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, like Macau and Taiwan, does not have a national pavilion, but rather organizes what is classified as a collateral event. (National pavilions at the Biennale are reserved for countries that Italy has diplomatic relationships with.) Hui, who was born in 1991, is a painter in the gongbi ink painting tradition. She has had a solo exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of Art and been featured in group exhibitions at CAIXA Cultural Centre in Brazil, Monnaie de Paris in France, and chi K11 Art Space in Hong Kong. Born in 1980, Ng is an associate professor in the Academy of Visual Arts at the School of Creative Arts of Hong Kong Baptist University. A media artist, he has shown his work at venues and events including the Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile in Hong Kong, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale in Japan, and the MACRO in Rome. Writing in the South China Morning Post, Enid Tsui points out that the dual pick of two artists working in such contrasting modes actually supports two goals of the government, with Ng aligning with the establishment’s prioritizing of the integration of art and technology and Hui resonating with the government’s wish to promote traditional Chinese culture.In April, HKADC ousted the city’s contemporary art museum M+ as the exhibition’s organizer, which it had done so since 2013, without citing a reason for the change. M+ had been criticized for selecting artists through the HKADC rather than through an open call, as had previously been the practice, Artforum pointed out. This time around, HKADC invited nominations from local institutions and professional art organizations. Also in the running were artists and artist collectives that had been commissioned by the museums and offices of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). More than 200 artists were nominated, from which a shortlist was created.The artists were chosen by a selection panel consisting of China Academy of Art professor Johnson Chang; Central Academy of Fine Arts professor Wang Huangsheng; LCSD adviser William Lim; HKMoA curator Prudence Ma; HKMoA director Maria Mok; and Mori Art Museum senior adviser Fumio Nanjo.