Lap-See Lam with Kholod Hawash and Tze Yeung Ho, The Altersea Opera

Lap-See Lam with Kholod Hawash and Tze Yeung Ho.

Artist Lap-See Lam has transformed the Nordic Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale into a dragon ship filled with mythological water creatures in search of their roots. With the help of a magical sail - a fabric made up of stories - the ship's passengers try to find their way back to past places. Lap-See Lam has been invited by Moderna Museet to create a "total work of art". In collaboration with the museum, she has invited artist Kholod Hawash (Finland) and composer Tze Yeung Ho (Norway). The result of their collaboration is The Altersea Opera ; an experimental opera, an audiovisual adventure about being in a state of loss and longing, the mutability of myth and connecting through multilingualism.

In dreamlike images by photographer Mai Nestor, readers of the book will follow the preparations for the project, before the "ship" lands in Venice. The book also contains a conversation with the three artists moderated by journalist Maya Abdullah, a text by writer Wong Binghao (Bing) and an introductory text by the curator, Moderna Museet's curator Asrin Haidari.

The design by the Åbäke design group draws inspiration from Moderna Museet's catalogue for the exhibition She - a Cathedral by Niki de Saint Phalle from 1966.

Writers: Maya Abdullah, Wong Binghao (Bing), Asrin Haidari

Editors: Asrin Hadari, Lap-See Lam

Binding: stapled softcover

Language: English

Graphic design: Åbäke

Size: 21.7 × 28 cm
Number of pages: 72

Number of images: about 40

ISBN 978-91-984573-8-4 (Modern Museum)

ISBN 978-3-7533-0648-3 (Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König)

Published in collaboration with Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, Cologne