At Homo Faber 2026 in Venice, Qiuwen Wen has suspended a flock of glowing birds above the monumental staircase leading to the Palladian Refectory. Kestrels, egrets, herons and terns become large paper lantern-sculptures: familiar species translated into something almost mythical.
The construction is more interesting than the spectacle alone. Wen combines traditional Chinese lantern-making with a paper-sculpture process she has developed herself. The birds are built from Tyvek paper; feathers and surface details are cut by hand, while a hand-forged metal skeleton provides the structural support for the internal LED lighting. The forms are based on drawings of Venetian birds by Es Devlin and her team.
Paper here does two jobs at once. It defines the animal’s volume, but it also controls the passage of light. The slight translucency of the material softens the internal illumination, so the object is read partly as sculpture and partly as a lantern. Wen describes her approach in similar terms: paper gives light a body rather than simply covering a frame.
The installation is also unusually well matched to its setting. Suspended above a staircase, the birds are seen from changing heights and angles; their lightness is architectural as much as figurative. Homo Faber complements the installation with an origami workshop in which visitors fold white paper flowers that are gradually added to a collective garden during the month.
A Luminous Ark is on view at Homo Faber 2026, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, from 1 to 30 September 2026.
Source: Homo Faber — A Luminous Ark
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