The state minister’s residence in Taunggyi, northern Myanmar, never felt like home for Sai. He found the cavernous rooms and hallways oppressive. The colonial-era edifice gave him “the creeps” long after his father Linn Htut, the chief minister of Shan state, was installed there in 2015, following Myanmar’s democratic reforms. But as chaos engulfed the Southeast Asian nation in the wake of the February 2021 coup, Sai—a young artist and curator whose work is being exhibited at this year’s Venice Biennale—knew that Taunggyi was where he had to be.