Co-Lapses (Refuge Iteration 2025)
Arte Laguna Shanghai 20th Edition
Curated by Dr. Huang Ye
EKA–Tianwu, Pudong District, Shanghai, China
1 November – 15 December 2025
Presented at the 20th Edition of the Arte Laguna Prize in Shanghai, CO-Lapses (Refuge 2025 Iteration) extends Karma Barnes’ ongoing exploration of material memory, ecological interconnection and transformation across time. Conceived as a refuge, this iteration forms an immersive environment that navigates terrains, obstacles and imagined mountains, seeking to transmute and harmonise relationships between people, places and cultures. Through earth pigments, geological processes and embodied materiality, the installation reflects on cycles of collapse and regeneration, mapping shifting conditions of resilience that bridge the human and more-than-human world.
Installed within EKA–Tianwu, a newly reimagined cultural hub in Jinqiao, Pudong, the work resonates strongly with the site’s spirit of renewal. Once a century-old industrial factory founded by the 1869 Pudong Customs Factory, the complex has been transformed into an “open-air architectural museum,” spanning more than 40,000 square metres, with 1,500 square metres dedicated to Arte Laguna Prize artists. Now operated by Jiayun Investment, EKA–Tianwu unites Exploration, Knowledge and Aesthetics. Its Sanskrit-derived name, EKA, meaning “one” or “unknown element,” reflects a vision of restoring harmony between humanity and nature, where beauty coexists and each has its own beauty.
Situated within this architectural and conceptual framework, CO-Lapses takes on new resonance. It speaks to the language of renewal that underpins EKA’s philosophy—where space, matter and time converge in dialogue. Its shifting materials and evolving forms reflect on the possibility of reimagining coexistence, tracing fluid exchanges between the built and natural environment, and between local and global contexts. In this setting, the work’s material behaviour and temporal unfolding become part of a wider conversation about adaptation, interdependence and the ecological imagination.
The exhibition runs 1 November – 15 December 2025 at EKA–Tianwu
(535 Jinqiao Lu, near Zhonghuan Lu, Pudong District – Shanghai / 金桥路 535 号，近 中环路).
Curated by Dr. Huang Ye, the 20th Edition of the Arte Laguna Prize – Shanghai marks a momentous milestone in the prize’s twenty-year history. For this landmark exhibition, Arte Laguna selected artworks from across two decades of international finalists, bringing together over 100 artists whose practices represent a significant cross-section of global contemporary art. Inaugurated on 31 October 2025, the exhibition marks the Prize’s debut in Asia and deepens its ongoing cultural exchange between East and West.
This edition expands the Prize beyond its Venetian origins, strengthening its international reach and celebrating artistic experimentation, cultural diversity and dialogue across borders. The works on display range from traditional artistic forms to cutting-edge practices such as digital art, installation, sculpture and hybrid processes, reflecting the breadth and evolution of contemporary artistic languages over the prize’s twenty-year legacy.
The selection of CO-Lapses for this milestone exhibition signals the growing international recognition of Barnes’ practice and its alignment with the Prize’s curatorial direction. The work’s focus on ecological interconnection, material agency and temporal transformation resonates with the exhibition’s broader thematic interests in renewal, coexistence and the shifting relations between people, environments and cultural histories.
Hosted in the exclusive 2,000-square-metre exhibition space within the wider EKA–Tianwu cultural redevelopment, the presentation situates contemporary art within a site rich with industrial memory, reclamation and architectural re-imagination. This fusion of heritage and contemporary practice amplifies the curatorial framework, inviting audiences to consider how artistic processes engage with histories of labour, materiality and environmental change.
Born from close collaboration between the Arte Laguna Prize and the Chinese art community, the Shanghai edition is not only an important aesthetic event but also a platform for cultural understanding and exchange. By presenting award-winning works from around the world, the exhibition reflects on how global artistic practices intersect, inform and reshape one another when placed in new cultural, spatial and ecological contexts.
In this expanded international setting, CO-Lapses plays an integral role—embodying themes central to the Prize’s vision for its twentieth anniversary exhibition and contributing to a shared dialogue about material transformation, collective resilience and the evolving relationship between art, environment and global community.
Co-Lapses (Refuge Shanghai Iteration 2025)
Presented at Arte Laguna Shanghai 20th Edition (China)
CO-Lapses (Refuge 2025 – Shanghai Iteration)
Presented at the 20th Edition of the Arte Laguna Prize in Shanghai, CO-Lapses (Refuge 2025 Iteration) extends Karma Barnes’ ongoing exploration of material memory, ecological interconnection and transformation across time. This iteration takes the form of a refuge — an immersive environment that navigates terrain, obstacles and imagined mountains, seeking to transmute and harmonise connections between people, places and cultures. Through earth pigments, geological process and embodied materiality, the work reflects on collapse and regeneration, mapping cycles of change and resilience that bridge the human and more-than-human world.
Installed within EKA–Tianwu, a newly reimagined cultural hub in Jinqiao, Pudong, CO-Lapses resonates with the architecture’s spirit of renewal. Once a 100-year-old factory founded by the 1869 Pudong Customs Factory, the site has been transformed into what has been described as an “open-air architectural museum” — a project encompassing over 40 000 square metres, with 1 500 square metres dedicated to Arte Laguna Prize artists. Now operated by Jiayun Investment, EKA-Tianwu unites Exploration, Knowledge and Aesthetics, its Sanskrit-derived name EKA meaning “one” or “unknown element.” The project’s vision is to restore harmony between humanity and nature, where “beauty coexists and each has its own beauty.”
Within this context, CO-Lapses inhabits the language of renewal central to EKA’s architectural philosophy — where space, matter and time converge in dialogue. The installation reflects on the possibility of re-imagining coexistence through art, tracing the fluid exchanges between the built and natural environment, and between the local and the global.
The Arte Laguna Prize – Shanghai 2025 exhibition, held from November 1 to December 15 at EKA–Tianwu (535 Jinqiao Lu, near Zhonghuan Lu, Pudong District – Shanghai / 金桥路 535 号，近 中环路), marks a significant milestone — two decades of the Arte Laguna Prize’s commitment to international contemporary art. Bringing together more than 100 artists selected from across the past twenty years, the exhibition celebrates material experimentation, cultural diversity and artistic dialogue beyond borders.
