The Guangzhou Image Triennial 2025 opened on December 19 at the new Baietan venue of the Guangdong Museum of Art, bringing together 84 works from more than 80 artists across 25 countries and regions to explore how digital technology and ecological realities are reshaping the way people see and understand the world.
Poster of Guangzhou Image Triennial 2025
Held under the theme Ecology of Sensitivity, the exhibition examines visual culture at a time when algorithms, artificial intelligence, and environmental crises increasingly influence human perception. Rather than focusing solely on technology, the triennial poses broader questions: How do images shape our sense of reality? How is our way of seeing being restructured in a digitally mediated world?
Barriers
Marina Font (ARG)
2017
Curator He Yining explained that a quarter of the 21st century has already passed, during which imaging media have undergone tremendous technological transformations. From traditional digital image production to today's algorithm-driven creative era, artists face technical challenges while witnessing the changing materiality of photography. Traditional darkroom and manual processes are gradually losing their relevance in contemporary practice. This year's triennial approaches visual culture from multiple dimensions, showcasing how artists respond to the tensions between technology, philosophy, media, ecology, and creation.
Wang Shaoqiang, Director of the Guangdong Museum of Art and Chief Planner of the triennial, said the future of images is not simply about new media forms, but about how public perception is reorganized in an increasingly complex world. He added that the exhibition aims to encourage dialogue between art and society during a time of rapid transformation.
The exhibition is structured around three main thematic sections.
NEO-ANALOG: Expanded Photography in Post-digital Era, curated by French photography historian Michel Poivert, explores how photography is evolving beyond traditional representation. Artists combine artificial intelligence, digital tools, and manual processes to create hybrid forms that blur the boundaries between photography, sculpture, and textile art, often inspired by natural elements such as light, water, earth, and fire.
Quando Eu Vi
Claudia Jaguaribe (BRA)
2023
Strata of Sensi-Visibilities, curated by Chinese curator He Yining, highlights the material foundations behind digital images. Through hands-on processes and locally sourced materials, the works challenge the "flattened" vision of algorithm-driven visuals, revealing hidden labor, resources, and histories embedded in image-making.
Studio (Palm), from the series
Eastern Promise
Sean Cham (SGP)
2024
Ripples: Entanglements of Time, History, and Ecology, curated by London-based curator Taous Dahmani, uses the metaphor of water ripples to trace how human actions—such as colonial expansion and extractive economies—continue to affect ecological systems over time. The works suggest today's climate crisis is the result of long historical processes, not a sudden event.
Metallurgical Practice:
Landscape
Abraham O. Oghobase (CAN)
A Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) special section presents artists working within the GBA region, reflecting local language, ecology, and bodily experience. Meanwhile, a documentation unit maps the evolution of photography over the past 200 years, offering a historical framework for understanding the medium's development.
Wang Shaoqiang said, "I hope the triennial can elevate both academic depth and exhibition presentation, offering audiences a unique artistic experience."
Gambiered Guangdong Silk
Guo Tutu (CHN)
2025
Event Details
Date: December 19, 2025 - May 5, 2026
Venue: Halls 4, 5, and 6 (2nd floor) and Hall 21 (5th floor), Guangdong Museum of Art (Bai'etan)
Address: No. 19, Bai'etan South Road, Liwan District, Guangzhou
Tickets & Prices:
· Standard Ticket: RMB 50 per person
· Duo Ticket: RMB 85 for two persons
· Concession Ticket: RMB 29 per person
· Family Ticket: RMB 64 (one adult and one child)
Where to get tickets: Via the WeChat official account of "广东美术馆" (pinyin: guang dong mei shu guan)
Reporter | Li Muzi
Photo | Guangdong Museum of Art
Editor | Hu Nan, James Campion, Shen He
