I have been extremely busy in the past few weeks, therefore it has been nearly a month which I did not put anything new here. Anyhow, I am back.
Recently there was an exhibition which held in the Hong Kong Center The Jockey Club Gallery – John Fung ‘s photography exhibition One Square Foot. In this exhibition, Fung uses photograph as a medium to question about the environmental and spatial problem in Hong Kong.
Fung, rotates his camera towards the skyscrapers in this small city, and by going through these multi-exposing and overlapping of scenes, therefore a new perspective is shown. As Hong Kong is famous of her high population density, and many of the pictures of Hong Kong emphasis on her highly compacted city-scape. Landscape is rarely seen in Hong Kong, but city-scape. When one walks along the street in Hong Kong, the sky is being torn into fragments. In another words, the skyscrapers in Hong Kong are actually restructuring our vision of naturalness. To the people who live in this small city, looking up to the sky is no longer an unlimited visual experience; instead, it traps, restrains and compresses their perception. And in the past decade, in order to maximize the use of lands and the profits of the developers, screen buildings (or later people calls it Partiperty) were built in everywhere in Hong Kong. These buildings further deepen the problem towards environmental pollution.
This is our sky, this is our city; we already forgot the moral of the tower of Babel.
Human writes history and at the same time, history re-writes human. However, how to read history? how can people position themselves in between current and history?
In 2007, the Antiquities and Monuments Office of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department obtained the right to conduct an archaeological investigation of the Former Hollywood Road Police Married Quarters. The excavation of this former site leads to a re-discover of the vestige of the Central School, which was built in 1862 and being destroyed during the Second World War. The revitalization of the Central School has a profound significance: not only to the history of Hong Kong, but also points to the future development of this post-colonial city.
Let’s go back to the question, How do we position ourselves in the stream of history? History is just nothing if it cannot be decoded. In another words, history is vivid only when future is desirous of. This moment is thus alive and The Former Central School Envisioning Days take off. This event offer artists chances to response to a historical space, and at the same times, audiences can take this chance to experience the culture, art and site together in one piece. However, I am not going to dig into the history and future plan of the site in this review, but to evaluate the relationship in between art and site in the entire event. If anyone would like to read more about the history and future plan of the Police Married Quarters/ Central School, please kindly browse the following website.
So, what plays the most important role in between art and site? Robert Irwin once introduce the term site-specific art.
Site-specific art is created to be placed in certain location, the site becomes part of the artwork and vice versa. This kind of artwork is created to be there but not anywhere else, to move the artwork is to destroy the artwork. It raises an inextricable and indivisible relationship between the work and the site. All physical elements such as the length, depth and height of the venue, the shape and condition of the walls and room, the scale and ratio of the square, existing condition of the sunlight, humidity, ventilation will be taken into account when the artist first planning to create their artwork in that particular site. Other than the physical element, the historical element is also one of the important issues. What happened here before? What is going to happen? And what is the relationship between the artwork and the history? All these questions reflect and enforce in the content of the artwork. Furthermore, the site-specific artwork offer a more intense relationship with the outside world and everyday life. It makes art more directly to the realm of the society. People participate in the conceptualization and production, art, seen as a means to reinforce its capacity to penetrate the social issues of the contemporary life with greater impact and meaning. Therefore, artists who participate in this project are attempted to cut into the deepest part of the site culturally and historically.
One of the installations created by Anothermountainman calls To begin with, there isn’t any matter. This installation expresses a sense of memory of emptiness – sometimes people encounter a deep feeling of “I have been here before” even though they know that this is their first time to come to this place, it indicates a lost in abstraction. Certainly, a lot of significant events had happened at the Police Married Quarters/ Central School, the process of building up, destroy and re-build remind the continuous living cycle on earth. Happening and passing is actually born as one. It is a cycle with no start and end, "As there is nothing from the first, where does the dust collect itself?"
Anothermountainman, To begin with, there isn’t any matter, Paper and Cotton Fabric
Another installation Route, by LeungChing Man reveals the site in an essentially different direction. Leung hangs a string of colorful film with a tiny black and white drawing at the corner of each film to create a connection of her work and the site. One might not see anything special if they are standing far from the hanging film, but once they get closer they would see that the scene outside is dimly appearing through the film and the tiny black and white drawing is touching the actual scene in the unfilled space in between each film. (Please see the picture below.) The vision of the audience is now being cut into layers and fragments like a puzzle. When one walks from one room to another room, the route of experience is itself a collage.
Leung Ching Man, Route, Flim, B/W Photo on Papers
However, the most impressing part in the whole project is the "football", which placed inside the corner room at the end of the corridor at the upper block. I am not sure if the curators intentionally leave the football there or not. Anyhow, this football tells a story, a story about being-here. It is a matter of timeliness. The footprints of the forefathers create history. They have been here not too long ago, and today, we are being here.
Someone plays the football, someone leaves the football and someone is now looking at the football.
Other Artworks: Seemanho, in Room 104, Installation.
Kum Chi Keung, Room in the Sky, Installation.
Lam Laam Jaffa, I’m not a curator, Installation.
Art loan from:Luk Ching, Yvonne Cheng, Shirley Lee,Lee Lee, Leo Wong, Elsa Wong, Boy Yiu
Below is 2 Video about the installation:
Former Central School Envisioning Days Date: 21,22,28/2/09 and 1/3/09 Venue: Former Hollywood Rood Police Quarters (35 Aberdeen St., Central District
P.S. For those who missed the exhibition, The Artist Commune will re-exhibit the photos and selective artworks later. Date: 14-29/03/09 Venue: Unit 12, Cattle Depot Artist Village, 63 Ma Tau Kok Road, Kowloon, HK Enquiry: 21043322 m63@artist-commune.com http://www.artist_commune.com/
(A poetic review of the New Media Arts Exhibition Project)
Microsoft is hard. And the apple is suffering from a nasty bite. The screen seems to throb in his eye. However, His mind is blank.
Sound is English. But the visual is Japanese. No subtitle, no gesture and no conversation. Nothing but the system itself is communicating.
Here the moon is resting, Thus, This is the world of the CD-ROM. It shines above human. It re-creates the sky.
Warmness is gone. Blood is frozen. The legends are buried inside the RAM. Interactive is their Slogan.
Life is now merely a system,
Getting lost in reverie. The aroma of human flesh is vanished,
And never to return.
What appears in dream is the mesh of optical fiber.
What is under recording is the weather of today.
Close your eye, The ice cream is melting,
But the screen stood still.
New Media Arts Exhibition Project – Intermedia Experiment at HKAS
Artists:Samson Young and Christopher Lau Musicians : Johnny Fong(Clarinet),James Cuddeford(Violin), Chang Pei-chieh(Cello), Mary Wu(Piano) Performers : HKAS students & other participants of the workshop
Performance : Quartet for the end of time Venue : The McAulay Studio, Hong Kong Arts Centre Date and Time : 14 February 2009 (Sat)3pm - 4:15pm 14 February 2009 (Sat) 8pm - 9:15pm 15 February 2009 (Sun)3pm - 4:15pm Forum Date and Time:15 February 2009 (Sun)4:30pm (after the performance)
Red, is something immersed with fantasy. Someone may find it dreadful, and someone may see it as a plaintive tale. In a world of red, it ‘s nothing there but only a vast expanse of signifier. Dig into the history of mankind, red is the first color to be recognized and named. In the eddy of time, human gives red different meaning, and Red, thereby, mingles and bequeaths these meaning to the universe. Just one click on the mouse, here red comes.
“Red is the warmest of all colors. Red is the color most chosen by extroverts and one of the top picks of males. On the negative side red can mean temper or anger. In China, red is the color of prosperity and joy. Brides wear red and front doors are often painted red. Red is Tuesday's color. Red roses symbolize passionate love. Ruby rings should be worn on the left hand. Red is the color of Mars. This planet is known as the God of War. Red is the color of blood, and as such has strong symbolism as life and vitality. It brings focus to the essence of life and living with emphasis on survival. Red is also the color of passion and lust.”
This is a project about red; this is also a project about what is red.
Since the mid of 2007, a group of artists affiliated their life with red. They attempt to fascinate people with the weapon of red. This weapon is tender yet ferocious, as though the human on earth. With the ambiguous attitude of this unique colour, these artists thus link it up with the living world – culturally, emotionally and politically. It crosses years and flies upon generations. And red is now incarnated into different forms and medias, pervading the entire exhibition venue.
The project of red is a process with no end. Red interprets itself, and human re-interpret red.
Red, is in its looping motion.
HiyukiOgata, Red Tide花潮, Installions, Size Variable.
Winne Fu, Paint It Red 髹紅漆, Video Installations.
AddisFung, Little Red Pills 美好生活, Installations, Size Variable.
