WATCH OUT #11: Liz Stumpf on Liao Wen

I first came across Liao Wen’s work on a late November evening at the Capsule Shanghai space in Venice. What I encountered was hard to grasp yet left me with a feeling of satisfaction—comparable to the joy one experiences when eating something beloved but almost forgotten, something so profound that its flavours vanish the moment one attempts to put them into the ordered system of words.

By devouring it, I learn about the world—Liao Wen’s first solo presentation in Europe—fits so seamlessly into this Venetian palazzo that it appears as though the wooden sculptures have risen out of the marvellous terrazzo floors. Each of the three rooms on the upper floor is inhabited by a creature caught in the act of taking in or spitting out, wombs and mouths wide open. Lust hangs in the air mixed with the heavy scent of violence. At first it might appear as self-induced violence but upon closer observation strings and tears become visible and suggest a form of subtle but effective influence. Manipulation through consumption. A theme that continues in the final room which houses an assemblage of what the artist titles ‘Tender residues’ – a series of seeds left to be digested and egested.

Having studied the art of puppeteering in Prague, Wen carefully carves each wooden form with her own hands. She plays with the ambivalence of wood as a material capable of being both hard and rigid but also soft and inherently natural. Even in their stillness, her sculptural creations feel quietly alive beneath the surface. So, to learn that Liao Wen had recently ventured into the realm of performance and film made perfect sense.

Strangely familiar, yet alien, Liao Wen’s work lingers in one’s subconscious like a taste on the tongue that language fails to pin down, leaving a sense of unease. A reflection of today’s world, which seems to revolve all around devouring and regurgitating.

About Liz Stumpf

Liz Stumpf is a curator based in London, currently working as Assistant Exhibitions Curator at Serpentine. She has contributed to exhibitions by Arpita Singh (2025), Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst (2024), and Judy Chicago (2024). Her editorial work includes publications on Arpita Singh, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, and Jakob Kudsk Steensen. Previously at LAS Art Foundation, Berlin, she worked on major commissions by Lawrence Lek (2023), Ian Cheng (2022), Jakob Kudsk Steensen (2021), and Refik Anadol (2019), as well as live performances, and curated game-based experiences such as Emotional Futures (2023) and The Wet Altar (2021).