Art Tour - 170409 (other attractive sidelights)

On the way to Kowloon Park, I also visited to the Former Marine Police HQ. Can't imagine how this historical building will be revitalised into a hotel x museum. Anyway, it's good that another colonial building can be saved by later generations.

The other highlight of the day, or I should say highlight of the night, was the visit to a nearby temporary structure for Chinese Opera performance for celebrating Tin Hau Festival.

glamorous lights + resounding music + friendly hawkers = a remarkable encounter with truly traditional local culture

Art Tour - 170409 (last stop - Sculptural Symposium 09)

It was the first time I went to the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade and it was quite unforgettable. Not to mention the remote site, the exhibits were extremely disappointing, probably due to the overexpectation I got from the promotion materials.

The symposium was all about promoting public art, yet I didn't find any correlation between most works and the site/public. It seems that I can place those sculptures basically anywhere in Hong Kong and they will just be as much unnoticeable. Certainly the scale of the sculptures were another displeasure. Most of them were quite small and they were displayed so close too the ground that I actually had to bow and literally look down upon them at times.

In contrast, the view of the other side of the promenade was much more impressive, especially the new Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter. Walking along the waterfront made me feel like I had entered some local movie settings. The scenes were just too familair yet forgotten to local Hongkongers.

Art Tour - 170409 (2nd stop - Remaking Hong Kong)

Knowing that Kacey Wong's Wandering Home, which is a part of my studies in the final essay, was exhibited in Venice in the biennale, I decided to go and have a close look at it in person. however, instead of the tricycle, only his previous work, Tin Man No.11 was displayed. Not really disappointed since there were many other inspiring architectural ideas. Much fragments of my sweet and sour memory of my studying in the architectural school was recalled during the visit as well.

The exhibit/invention I admire most is Control Tower (by Jason Carlow + Jonathan D Solomon + John Lin with Stefan Krakhofer + Ricci Wong + Eric Chiu) which is a functional assembly structure.

Love its simplicity.

Love its practicality.

Love its lightness and cyber feel.

Some works were very conceptual, and some were like site studies more than design, maybe that was what the theme - Fabrica Cultura, demanded. Anyway, culture is itself ambiguous and perpetual, I guess.

Art Tour - 170409 (1st stop - Charming Experience)

I had my own art tour last Friday.

I first went to The Hong Kong Museum of Art for Charming Experience, the last exhibition of "Hong Kong Art: Open Catalogue" series; followed by "Remaking Hong Kong: Architecture as Culture" Response Exhibtion of the 11th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice Biennale Hong Kong Exhibition -- Fabrica Culture at Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre; and the last stop was Hong Kong International Sculpture Symposium 2009 along West Kowloon Promenade.

For Charming Experience, I should say that quite a couple of exhibits had actually been displayed in some other exhibitions before, so there was not much surprise. The most interesting thing that I noticed was in addition to visual stimuli, music and sounds also played an iimportant role in the exhibition. Wherever I walked to, there was always some sound from different artworks acompanying my way.

The artwork I like most is, beside Kingsley Ng's Record: light from +22°16'14"+114°08'48" which first impressed me at Osage Kowun Tung, was Ho Siu Kee's Visible Sound. I have always been interested in Buddhism, and I was just greatly absorbed into the ripples of reverberation and the contemplative serenity created by the whole set of mixed media and video installation. I just wonder why the artist projected the ripples onto the wall in red. Won't it be better if it's a black-and-white image?

King's Calligraphy at Sotheby's (2) -- Is it overpriced?

I do believe that auctioneers are professional, but how come even they could have underestimated the value of the calligraphy work for that much? Or was it simply overpriced?

Dating back to 2004 when his wooden street art was first put up for auction, the estimated price was HK$2440-3900 and it ended up sold for more than a double, that is about HK$8,600. A lot of people were amazed at that time but it was just completely incomparable with the latest auction held this Monday. The estimated price was HK$20,000-30,000 but it turned out to be sold for nearly six times more than its estimated price, that is HK$170,000.

Tsang's work has been gaining international recognition since his appearance at the prestigious 50th annual Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition in 2003, and the continuous production of fashion and all means of design inspired by the calligraphy has certainly boosted his fame. However, this boom is not only a result of the last success but also due to his death, which consequently makes his work become "limited edition".

Artwork, especially graffiti, composing of Chinese characters is really rare, and I guess a lot of collectors are seeing good fortune in Tsang's work.

King's Calligraphy at Sotheby's (1) -- Is it art?

A piece of calligraphy written by The King of Kowloon, Tsang Tsou Choi, has been sold at Sotheby's Contemporary Asian Art spring sale at HK$170,000, being the top seller among all work by contemporary Hong Kong artists.

Whether Tsang's calligraphy is ART has long been a controversy. It reminds me of the discussion about aesthetic significance and aesthetic value. Does it have its significance as claimed that "a work of art always has aesthetic significance"?

To me, the calligraphy itself is more like an artefact which exhibits his undying pursuit of his "lost royal identity" or as a reminiscence of the city undergoing British colonial period and the handover to China, it shows great originality and enthusiasm but I would only appreciate it if it is exhibited in the first-hand context, such as on the lamp posts, electrical boxes etc. I just can't imagine the work being posted on the wall of someone's living room. The whole thing is simply out-of-context.

I'd rather appreciate his past vandalism as a kind of behavorial art.

Momentum - 140309

This is the annual exhibition showcasing the artworks performed by the graduates of the Bachelor of Arts in Applied and Media Arts programme offered by SPEED and the Hong Kong Arts School. The word "performed" is used because those are really interactive moving arts, which involve living goldfish and many other works of evolving forms. The presentation I like most is the one showing in the video clip (though it is disoriented). It is an interactive device which consists of three weight-sensitive beakers and several seedlings. When the seedling is placed in the beaker, the Chinese characters 「木」(which means wood or trees) around the containers will rotate or assemble correspondingly. The slender form of the plants and the ethereal dancing movement of the words is just a perfect match. Generally speaking, their design concepts are usually hot social topics, such as environmental issues, consumer-driven journalism etc. One of the work, Taste the food: Taste our family actually reminds me of the project studied by another group in our Visual Culture Theory Course about new concept of "home". I really look forward to presenting our research findings with some new media applications in the next course.

Plastic Planet - 130309

Plastic Planet Modified Toy Orchestra-Hong Kong Live 2009
Date: 13 Mar 2009
Venue: Concert Hall, Hong Kong City Hall

Neither the name nor the poster of this show gave me much hint of what this concert was really about. I just found them absurdly interesting and thought that I would learn something and perhaps I could instruct my students to create their own musical instruments with unwanted toys.

In fact, as a modified toy orchestra, there are really a great lot of different musical toy instruments. The whole idea is original and surprising, thanks to the creator of the Orchestra, Brian Duffy. To be frank, I am not very fond of electronic music, luckily, there are also some "love songs" and tracks which are less disturbing and more humorous, especially with the close-up of the players and the toys, and other funny music videos. My favourite is no doubt the interactive soundscape in which Duffy signaled us to say "Yeah" together at the beginning and later incorporated our recorded sound into their song. A truly amusing show~

The Eighth Bronze Fountain Head

According to The Standard, posted on 13 March, another bronze fountain head (the Dragon) belonging to the set of the 12 zodiac animals was found in the hands of a Taiwan collector. I wonder if it will be any easier for the Chinese government to retrieve it in comparison with the previous two.

I must confess that I am no patriot to China, and I just totally disagree with Mr Cai's tactic. He might have successfully delay the purchase but if what the Chinese government kept arguing about was the immorality of trading a national treasure for money, I just cannot understand how Mr Cai can justify his own act of breaking the rule of auctions as an owner of an auction house himself. Is it moral then? If that is immoral, why did the Chinese government accept the donation of the horse head from Mr Stanley Ho in 2007? The money was also earned by another auction house, was it not?

Besides, the value of antiques (or relics) is ever-changing. How can we measure how much the heads earn their price as a piece in the Summer Palace? And how much they earn as one of Yves Saint Laurent's collections?

Anyway, the whole incident was just an ironic hullaboola. Let's just wait and see what be happen at the end?

Remarks:
I really doubt as to whether he acted merely on behalf of his own will or as assigned by the Central Government. This is not uncommon that the government intervenes in other issues which are against it without revealing itself.

Box of Revelation + Special Performance - 150209

I am still not certain how I should define "New Media Arts", but this is definitely a multimedia plus intermedia project. It is a combination of visual and audio appreciation, and contribution of all live performers and audience and distant participants through Facebook all over the world.

The installation parallels cyber connectivity and sharing with God and religions. It is true that "As we allow it to mediate our most human expressions, we realize we cannot be human without it."

As I first registered my Facebook account two years ago, I was quite addicted to the various applications and the real convenience of contacting friends on the other side of the world. I agree that it is a good way to search old buddies whom we have long lost contact with since the network is so well-built and well-accepted, and to post invitation to multi-recipients. However, I really find it weird to share too much of my feelings in the cyberspace. I believe in no god and I don't know if the internet is really taking up the role of God and can play miracles. Perhaps I am too conservative but I'd definitely prefer to share my true feelings face-to-face with only my friends.

Event: New Media Arts Exhibition Project: Intermedia Experiment at HKAS
Special Performance: Quartet for the End of Time
Date: 15 Feb 2009
Venue: McAulay Studio, HK Arts Centre

Former Central School Envisioning Days - Part I - 280209

As an archi school graduate, I am especially interested in the building structure. From the guided tour, I learnt a lot more about the Central School. The excavated relics are not the highlights, instead the docent told us more about its evolution and the building style of the former police headquarters. Load-bearing walls were used instead of beams and columns, hence the free plan of each unit in the dormitory allowed great flexibility. I admire the open space outside each flat most, it formed a gathering place and enhanced interactions with the neighbours. Not only were the building materials endurable, architects in the past were also aware of self-sustainability, the front and rear balconies together brought about cross ventilation. How come architects nowadays (or perhaps developers) cannot take a better balance between profit-making and eco-protecting?

Kafka's Metamorphosis -220209

Being a great fan of performing arts, I usually watch at least a show or two in Hong Kong Arts Festival. Metaphosis is the first one I watched this year. This is a Vesturport and Lyric Hammersmith production, basing on Franz Kafka's story.

Metaphosis is a truly absurd and disturbing melancholy. It is about a family in which the son is the only breadwinner. One day, the son is transformed into a cockroach. At first, the family try to live with it, but little by little they lose their tolerance and lock him up and mistreat him. It is like a metaphor for what people suddenly feel when someone next to them has changed and is no longer a member of the group.

Throughout the whole drama, there is only a 2-storey house as the set, with the upper level as the bedroom of the son and the ground level as the living and dining room of the family. Though there is not much change of scenes, the aerial aerobatics and the ingenious use of lighting make it really enjoyable. Through bold and strong body languages, the audience is taken back to the most fundamental form of drama to meditate upon the message that Kafka wants to bring us -- about human nature and relationships between people and reactions to extreme circumstances.

I am especially touched by the last scene when the son slowly unwinds himself from a long roll of white cloth down to the living room and finally dies in the dark, while his parents swing the daughter in joy and relief upstairs, accompanied by falling confetti. The contrasting atmosphere further enhances the tragic ending.

"Demolition Sites" in Ma Wan -040209

According to Wu Hung, "ruins break the logic of historical continuity, as time simply vanishes in these black holes. The past of these sites has been dstroyed and no-one knows their future; they are simply identified as 'demolition sites'."

When I visited the Ma Wan Old Village, this was exactly what I felt. Most dwellings were deserted. Signs stating "Government Land" were posted outside some 3-storey shophouses which were still in good shape; other wooden lodges by the sea were simply left vacant, leaving only some accessories, such as rusty window frames and worn spirit tablets behind in their original places.

This was of course not a wartime ruin, but again I guess a sacrifice of modern estate development. The land was fully evicted by the government by 2005 for developing the Ma Wan Park Phase II along with Park Island by SHK Properties Ltd., but it is still left untouched for all these years. The place is now "belonging to everyone and to no-one". The public can still go there by new means of transport (ferry and bus instead of kaito in the past). Few local people still go back there daily for their dried seafood business, but the community has completely been torn apart. The ruins are not well preserved, some public areas, like the pagodas, are sealed off with wire gauze, some buildings are no longer recognisable. The ruin itself has its own value and beauty, it has some kind of magic that attracts people to walk in and explore its past, but we are now not welcome nor allowed to do so.

Rapid and unthoughtful city development is found throughout Asia, no wonder ruins and demolition are also major sources of contemporaneity.

Art Specialist Course Graduation Exhibition -- 230109

I would not have learnt that there was an Art Specialist Course if I had not been working near the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre.

This is already the seventh run of the Art Specialist Course which is specially designed for art lovers who are eager for seeking specialized training and development in art. It covers a wide range of art forms, including Painting, Printmaking, and Sculpture. But I wonder how many people really have heard of this.

Some people say that Hong Kong is a cultural desert, most people here lack the ability and patience to appreciate art and culture. One of the major reasons for that is the insufficiency of art promotion and education. Thus, instead of investing so much on developing a brand new art and cultural district, I think the government should gather all the existing resources and reinforce the network among individual artists and art organisations.

To be honest, the concept of some exhibits are not quite well developed, materiality is considered but not fully utilised to form an impressive work. If more space is available and the scale of some works is enlarged, I think the overall impact will be greater. For example, the last two pictures which shows some digital clouds, if there are more clouds occupying an entire room and the printed pictures are magnified to form some kind of wallpaper, then the sense of virtual reality will be stronger.

Fotanian: Fotan Artists Open Studio -110109

I had visited the Fotan studios several times but this year was the first time I came with my students. Frankly speaking, I didn't find much surprise, some works I think were not even comparable to those exhibited in graduation shows of various art schools; but my students, who were mostly newly exposed to Fotan and authentic artists' studios, found it quite eye-opening.


Firstly, industrial buildings were complete strangers to them, most of them hadn't ever taken that kind of elevators or walked on those metal corrugated flooring before. The stuffy smell, the dark creepy stairs, the half-domestic-and-half-working area were all new adventures to the students. Secondly, that was their first encounter with so many professional artists, such as Man Fung-yi and Danny Lee. Listening to their own introduction of their work and their art-making process greatly enhances students' interest and appreciation ability.

Other than art promotion and education to the public, what I noticed was that name card exchanging was taking a more important role in the whole open studios programme. This was no doubt a good way for arts enthusiasts to build up a stronger network, but on the other hand, I should say that some particular artists or studio managers were there just to entertain potential buyers. You can tell the obvious difference when the artists greeted a potential buyer and when he met just the public.

Anyway, let's not forget that most studios are accessible to the public all year round, as long as we make advanced appointment with the studio, we are usually welcome to pay it a visit, not to mention that some studios actually organise solo or collective exhibitions regularly. The annual open studios programme is just the most significant event which unites almost all artists in that community for a big show. We should always make good use of these well-established public resources and treasure and support our local art development.