Shaman Artist Eun-Me Ahn Brings Pink to the Island of San Giacomo
The most colourful, disorienting, and shamanic event of the entire Biennale was ‘Pinky Pinky ‘Good’: San Giacomo’s Leap into Tomorrow.’ This explosion of dances, pink smoke, and exotic chants was presented by the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo on the island of San Giacomo. The project, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, was signed by the artist, dancer, and choreographer Eun-Me Ahn. A collective and transformative ritual of blessing, inspired by the Korean shamanic tradition. Immersed among an audience of curators, artists, and museum directors, Eun-Me Ahn invoked the spirits of the past on an island with many lives: first an ancient monastery, then a military garrison from the Napoleonic era, and from 2026 the new home of the prestigious art institution directed by Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo after Turin, Guarene, and Madrid. The goal of the performance, or rather the ‘encounterface project’ (as the artist herself defines it), was to establish a link between the afterlife and the present through the inclusion of human sculptures. Eun-Me Ahn, who in the past studied shamanic practices and contemporary dance at Ehwa Womans University in Seoul, concluded the rite by symbolically pouring seawater from Venice onto the island using a crane. An allegorical action capable of revealing the leap of the island of San Giacomo towards the future and involving every single spectator, called upon by the dancers and musicians of Pinky Pinky ‘Good’ to actively participate in this transformative ritual. Among the many protagonists involved in this mystical experience, in addition to the host and the curator, both dressed entirely in pink, were Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Emma Lavigne, Sarina Tang, Carlo Ratti, Jay Jopling, Maya Hoffman, Manuela Luca Dazio, Veronica Marzotto, Guillame Cerutti, Marco Balich, Yuri Ancarani, Francesca Lavazza, Arturo Galansino and Francesco Manacorda.
Text: Germano D’Acquisto
Photos: Ludovica Arcero
