Six projects have been selected to move on to the development phase of the pilot edition of Biennale College - Blend, a new initiative by the Biennale di Venezia programme, one of which is The Agharta City—a project co-created by Film and Media Studies Student Yinx Zhou.
The initiative has selected teams from China, France, Italy, Japan, Peru, and Ukraine and is designed for artists who intend to create works that do not belong to one predefined discipline. The selected teams will develop their projects over the course of two workshops held by the Biennale, at the conclusion of which a grant of 20,000 euros will be awarded to the best project, which will be presented in Venice within the context of the Biennale’s activities.
Agharta is a multimedia experience that invites audiences to reimagine an ancient civilization through a contemporary lens—reviving the forgotten belief that in Chinese antiquity, sound once structured calendars and measured celestial bodies. Extending this concept, Agharta expands the role of sound as a world-building tool, resisting a goal-oriented material reality through a sensory-based mapping of the space surrounding us. In the upcoming months, the Agharta team—Zhou, Hongbo Cai, Victoria Gong, Ziyi Tao and Caren Ye—are entering the testing phase on the interactive sonic and visual technologies. A prototype of the project will be hosted by Columbia’s Digital Storytelling Lab in May 2026.
"The Biennale College Blend program offered a precious opportunity to be surrounded by incredibly intelligent and kind mentors and colleagues," shared Zhou, "not only workshopping our specific project, but also reminding us of the vastness of the creative act and the possibilities that it brings to the current state of the world. I truly hope that more people would apply to the Biennale College programs—it’s been quite life-changing for me and my teammate Hongbo.”
Learn more about the Biennale College - Blend Program and the selected projects here.
