Young Chinese and Italian AI moving-image creators respond to Living Art with “Love as Water,” completing a time-limited creation and international exchange in Venice.
The Venice edition of “Hengqin to Venice: 72-Hour AI Twin-City Video Hackathon” recently concluded in Venice, Italy. As a special program of the 2026 DA SHOW International Digital Art Lenovo Competition, the event was co-presented by the 2026 Hengqin-Macao International Digital Art Expo and the 2026 Venice Living Art Exhibition, Metamorphosis: Beyond the Real — Searching for Victoria Lu: When Humans and AI Think Together, the Story Begins. Co-initiated with Lenovo Group, which provided AI PC computing support, and supported by Meto Aroma as the creators’ inspiration partner, the program brought young Chinese AI moving-image creators into the international art scene during the 61st Venice Biennale where they took part in time-limited creation, open exchange, and public presentation.
During the Venice edition, the program hosted an AI Video Creation Salon, bringing together artist, international curator, and AIAIA Vice Chair Victoria Lu; Macro Cosmo, representative of Ca’ Foscari University Foundation; Marco Zorzanello, official photographer of Venice Biennale and co-founder and director of Superlight Vicenza Foto Festival; Limei Xie, founder of TODAY AI ART, Secretary-General of AIAIA, and curator of the program; Lisa Lin, teacher of Ca’ Foscari University, as well as young artists, curators, technologists, and AI moving-image creators from China. The salon explored AI video creation, Living Art, international exhibition contexts, and the global expression of young creators, bringing a broader cross-cultural perspective to the Venice edition.
From the 48-hour AI Video Battle in Hengqin to the 24-hour re-generation and discussion in Venice, the 72-Hour AI Twin-City Video Hackathon extended from a digital art expo to an international academic exhibition setting. The project was co-initiated by Limei Xie, Abel Zhao, Wild Pusa, and MERJIC, community founders and curators active in China’s AI art field. It invited four artists who continue to embrace the changes of our time — Fang Lijun, Fei Jun, Victoria Lu, and Liu Jiayu — to pose one shared question to young creators from the perspectives of art history, lived experience, and contemporary practice:In the age of AI, how can we generate art with life force?
The project not only presented the creative capacity of young Chinese AI moving-image artists, but also brought this question to Venice.
The creator team participating in the Venice edition was Ghostinthesheep, the champion team of the Hengqin edition. Ghostinthesheep is a pioneering moving-image and visual art collective deeply engaged in AIGC, co-founded by Zheyan and Yanzhen. Continuing the creative momentum from Hengqin, the Venice edition set “Love as Water” as its time-limited creation theme. After experiencing the 61st Venice Biennale and moving through the city of Venice, the young creators transformed their on-site observations, bodily experience, emotional memory, and sense of life into AI moving-image works, completing a twin-city act of generation from Hengqin, China to Venice, Italy.
On July 14, during the time-limited creation session in Venice, Gianni Lara, a third-year student of Asian Languages and Sociology at Ca’ Foscari University, joined the Ghostinthesheep team and completed the first AI moving-image work of her life. As a Venice local, her participation brought an essential local cultural perspective to the team. Inspired by the city’s gondolas and an old legend of a piano, the work received warm applause at its public screening.
As curator of the program, Limei Xie, founder of TODAY AI ART, said:
“AIAIA and TODAY AI ART have always been committed to working with the most forward-thinking partners to create platforms for young AI moving-image creators to showcase their talent and engage in international exchange. We firmly believe that in the age of AI, humans remain the creative subject, and AI is a creative partner.”
The 2026 Hengqin-Macao International Digital Art Expo was held in Hengqin, China, from April 27 to May 10, under the guidance of the Livelihood Affairs Bureau of the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, and co-hosted by Nam Kwong Culture and Creativity Industry Co., Ltd. and Sun Media Group. Under the slogan “Creators Together,” the expo responded to emerging trends in digital creativity through themed exhibitions, high-level forums, digital art competitions, and other programs, building an international platform for the cross-disciplinary convergence of technology and art. It brought together leading forces across intelligent hardware, frontier software services, design, and digital creativity to foster exchange, shared development, and deeper integration.
As the first international event in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area dedicated to the digital creative industries, the Hengqin-Macao International Digital Art Expo not only promoted the integration of technology, art, and commerce, but also accelerated the convergence of universities, enterprises, art institutions, and industry resources, further enhancing the international visibility and city brand value of the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.
From Hengqin to Venice, the 72-Hour AI Twin-City Video Hackathon was more than an AI video competition. It was an experimental initiative connecting young creators, international art contexts, and future visual languages. Its focus was not simply on what AI can generate, but on why humans create when generation becomes easier; how we feel, how we choose, and how lived experience can continue to give warmth to the work.
With the conclusion of the Venice edition, the project has completed a meaningful passage from a local digital art platform to an international art context. Looking ahead, AIAIA and TODAY AI ART will continue to work with forward-thinking partners to move AI art from technical demonstration toward creative methodology, and from tool-based application toward cultural expression, building a global-facing platform for young AI moving-image creators.
Text Editor: TODAY AI ART
Photographer: Simin Ding