5th element too sweet
It's the gigantic colourful chocolate pill-like vacuum capsules (when the lift door accidentally opened) which drew me to the graduation exhibition of The Arts School. The exhibition was titled
The 5th Element, as pop as the welcoming art work at the lift lobby.
The number of students graduating from the private institution was a surprise: 40 something! Their works occupied the entire Pao's Gallery at the
Arts Centre (till 28 Sept), divided thematically into 5 or 6 sections including Pop Art, Fragmentation, Nature, Body, etc. Like any form of entitling, such division and the signages on the floor helped to put the works into more accessible frameworks, and the exhibition itself into an organization, but unavoidably limited certain imagination at the same time. Theme-based, in this case, and too easily picked.
Most of the works were quite presentable in terms of their forms, some with good mastery of the media. However, perhaps for the bias of a graduate from another institute, I kept thinking the works were lacking sufficiently profound exploration of the subjects or some personal touches. Of course, they were part-time students only, who showed actually much greater perseverance and enthusiasm if one refers to the backdrop of the incredibly busy working world of the city.
There were a few works which I liked quite well, like the white plastic flower components in form of mock-up. Probably for its nostalgic quality with not too much sentimentality, the size just larger than life was also working well with some surrealist flavour. Another flower sculpture using concrete and the texture of steel was comparatively on the side of cliche. Other works showed too obvious traits of their references of some famous art pieces. Worth a visit as a whole.
MOCA Shanghai
The art field on the mainland seldom regards Hong Kong as a significant component for the art and cultural development of the continent. Neither traditional nor contemporary fields. It's of course not difficult to postulate why Hong Kong is like of a different root in terms of culture, or of another category in terms of artistic pursuit... especially in the years when "Chineseness" simply added artistic values to artworks.
Although more friends made their names audible in important events in the country recently, the appointment of Oscar Ho as the Director of the new
MOCA Shanghai still revealed itself as a very interesting notion. There was a mixed reaction of pride and lost when the news was announced in June. My drafted blog entry which I never finished is brought about again when the invitation card to the opening of the privately funded set-up arrived today. Pierre and Gilles. Hmm.
Oscar has been an influential artist-curator in Hong Kong after he became more and more active being the head of the exhibition department of Hong Kong Arts Centre. Extending the notion of curatorship in Hong Kong since late 80's, his several crucial exhibitions opened up many provocative discussions in and beyond the field, especially those remarked the complex of identity around the time of the handover. When HKAC changed its policy, he disappeared into the "backstage" for a while, which created an impression that curatorship had come to a different phase in the local scene, with his re...viewing (not "retrospective" - he regarded as too early to use that word)
exhibition being held last year at Para-site.
Two years ago when I was visiting some friends who moved their studios or had their works being exhibited in Shanghai, it's not difficult to feel the apparent convergence of the two hybrid cities in terms of contemporary art development, and at the same time the possible migration of local creative taskforce northward. Yet, the exchange seemed not so much bilateral since then, which seems somehow unfulfilled.
With Oscar becoming a leading figure in one of the very few contemporary art entities in the country, would it mark a change for the pending dialogue between here here there there? The coming exhibitions listed on the website at the moment do not reveal such direction, yet. Instead, they remind me of
our Museum which aroused some noise when it was officiated with the exhibition "Too French!".
Flash site with taste
Taste Osaka from Pong...I am sure the Master will say something when I post (any) Flashy site like it's
really tasty, again.
Too much creativity, too little time
Everyone involved found the atmosphere "campy" in the first morning, when we entered the theatre with not-so-familiar artist friends scattered around stretching their bodies lazily. The feeling was almost nostalgic but everyone was relaxed and open. After some warm-up in yoga style (initiated by Eve) and physical games (by "Van Gogh"), we briefly talked about the "rule" of this last phase of the
Directors Lab and the three texts chosen for the experiment:
- "The Wanderer" by Luxun (a short playscript)
- "The Bucket Rider" by Kafka (a very short story)
- "Sleepless Night of the Princess" by a young Taiwanese writer (a poem from his awarded book)
Then every two of the six directors were allocated to a separate studio with 3 performers. In 3 days every director would have worked through all the 3 texts in one or two sessions, while all performers would have experienced different methods and approaches of 6 directors in one single piece. It sounded impossible but when (positive) people came together things found their ways naturally.
There had been a lot of challenges still. How are two directors without previous discussion and compromise work together in the same rehearsal room? How are the artistic "languages" communicate with one another in the piece? (This may be problematic, with the assumption that 1 director has 1 particular style/way to work 1 piece out) What are the characteristics and quality of the performers for possible development? What is the best way to deal with the developed parts which one does not agree/prefer much?
If one consider the programme as a whole: shall we try to leave "traits" in every piece as a signature? -No, that's not the objective aligned with "searching" (for theatre narrative) Shall we let the piece be inconsistent and "broken"? If we shall execute the director's job in editing, how far can it go bearing the collaborative nature in mind? Is it feasible for the performers to shift their methods during a piece so short? Or that should succumb to the artistic exploration in the experiment instead?
It WAS very interesting and inspiring experience and exciting. Every stage/session you had quite different challenges. Curator Chan Ping Chiu was right: it gave us at least incessant reflections on how one worked in the theatre and their relationship with the performers and the audience, then opened up more possibilities by the very natural response of the co-director under the same roof and holding the same text.
Another utterly amazing part was the performers work while facing a handful of different instructions from all directors. They constantly digested various approaches and magically applied them in one body, their performance. Some audience found at least the two stories were too "completed" out of their expectation which gave the impression that the artistic clashes were subtly diminished or avoided. The poem which gave many directors a hard time, in contrast, created obviously diverse and conflicting styles in fragments which triggered and exposed the relationship between theatrical narrative and text to a certain extent quite interestingly.
Hong Kong is too hectic to accommodate elaborated project (over a year) like this, unfortunately. Encore, Chan Ping Chiu gained my total respect in making this near impossible long-term experiment happen, meaningfully.
Update (18 Sept): my article on the project is published on Mingpao today, you can read it on
inmedia too.
-Photos by
Chi Wai
Directors Lab is JUST over
Not without surprise, the year-long project has succeeded in accomplishing all the planned events since the preparation involving my
show of angels last year .
I really wanted to document the
last 3 days in the form of journal as one of the 6 participant directors for the very inspiring exchange and creation process. Just the intensity of the programme has exhausted all my energy. Later (yawning)...
Post a present and wish
With sporadic incoming greetings from friends, a heartfelt feeling for being 33 in its first hour gave me an impulse to "construct" this post (like the work of these monks). The beauty of this meditative creation serves well as my dedication to the compassion and peacefulness of all sentient beings (有情: I always find this term poetic and concise) at this grateful moment.
The extraordinary perseverance and astonishing elaboration from a sense of total veneration to the subject has given the static "performance" its power. This mandala was constructed in more than 3 weeks at
Ackland Art Museum in 2001. (I saw a similar one when I met the Dalai Lama the first time in Taiwan.) The
destruction of it, cruelly, took only a minute, if not less. Such a seducing reminder of
impermanence... which I take as a brilliant present to myself.
Note on Mandala from
Ackland Online:
Mandala, a Sanskrit word that means "circle," is a sacred diagram created in sand or paint. It symbolizes the pure, perfected universe, and provides a visual framework for establishing feelings of peace, well-being and wholeness. Composed of millions of grains of dyed sand, the mandala is believed to have a positive effect on all who see it as each particle personifies goodness. Created by Buddhist monks and nuns, the mandala is part of initiation ceremonies -- accompanied by other ritual art objects, costumed dancers, music and chanting -- that grant the initiate the privilege to study and practice the teachings of a sutra or tantra, sacred texts that are guides to visualizing a particular deity.
