2007/08/14
Dedicated to Local Action
Below is my Eng abstract for my Chi article written for the catalogue for the Shanghai Moca show “Reversing Horizon”:
“Local Action” and the Contemporaneity of Art in Post-Post 97 Hong Kong(English Abstract)
Jaspar LAU Kin Wah
If the paradigm of Hong Kong art in pre 97 era has been defined mostly by the “politics of disappearance” (Ackbar Abbas), “underground” and “soliloquizing” (Johnson T. Z. Chang), 2003 might be a year of paradigmatic shift (from the indefinite post97 to post post97, or 2003.7.1 for post-71), with which Matthew Turner advanced with the notion of “building on appearance.” Charting into the post 97 era, Hong Kong is no longer the colony of borrowed time and borrowed space. As the local born generation sees Hong Kong as their home, a different mindset is slowly in the brewing. They started to think in a longer perspective, that of a sustainable development. However, the colonial mindset paradoxically still lingers on to those in power. The conflict became obvious in the recent protesting against the torning down of the historical Star Ferry Pier in Central and the planned removal of the Queen’s Pier next to it for further harbour reclamation.
As a self-initiated protesting group, “Local Action” has been chosen here to illustrate how the social movement and contemporary art could actually come together in this new paradigm. The social movement tries to incorporating artistic input to give itself a form, the arts on the contrarily gain a contemporaniety foothold via engaging with the society. The occupied site of Queen’s Pier by Local Action could thus be seen in the lights of avant-garde artistic practice, such as that of “Utopia Station” in Venice Biennial 2003 (curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist), or various projects by Paris based Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn. (Or, as matter of fact, the vice versa is equally valid.) One could just feel the energy in the air, even a sense of carnivalesque, with all the flags, posters, banners, bricolage and do-it-yourself improvisations. Acting as a kind of platform for civil participation, they also provide a model for art making to go beyond the artist-centricism.
These “artivists,” if we are allowed to call them so, help advance a local sense of belonging, a belated “home-coming” (not in the private but) in the public sphere. In return, they join in the de-colonization process by tackling firstly, the de-politicization of art. Hong Kong avant garde art and political art are surely marginalized, but its marginal positioning has thus also activized the exploration of the experimental. To coincident with the 10th anniversary of the handover, one exhibition was held earlier at Manchester in the United Kingdom, then it is the turn for the Shanghai MOCA. How these Hong Kong art exhibitions are happening in both United Kingdom and China, yet not in their respective political capitals, might itself be a revealing fact over the character of art in Hong Kong.
The Chi full version of the article has been posted here in the last entry, with all the censored and removed phrases and paragraphs restored back in place and marked in red, while those few hidden references to 1989/6/4 Beijing Massacre that got smuggled in unnoticed, now marked in green.
An artist complained to me the other day, that part of the image of her artwork in the catalogue got removed. Allow me to say here, what a honour! I also hearsay that David Clarke has written something for the publication too, but there is not even a slighest trace of his article in the catalogue now, so I guess he surely derserved my even higher degree of salute!
“Local Action” and the Contemporaneity of Art in Post-Post 97 Hong Kong(English Abstract)
Jaspar LAU Kin Wah
If the paradigm of Hong Kong art in pre 97 era has been defined mostly by the “politics of disappearance” (Ackbar Abbas), “underground” and “soliloquizing” (Johnson T. Z. Chang), 2003 might be a year of paradigmatic shift (from the indefinite post97 to post post97, or 2003.7.1 for post-71), with which Matthew Turner advanced with the notion of “building on appearance.” Charting into the post 97 era, Hong Kong is no longer the colony of borrowed time and borrowed space. As the local born generation sees Hong Kong as their home, a different mindset is slowly in the brewing. They started to think in a longer perspective, that of a sustainable development. However, the colonial mindset paradoxically still lingers on to those in power. The conflict became obvious in the recent protesting against the torning down of the historical Star Ferry Pier in Central and the planned removal of the Queen’s Pier next to it for further harbour reclamation.
As a self-initiated protesting group, “Local Action” has been chosen here to illustrate how the social movement and contemporary art could actually come together in this new paradigm. The social movement tries to incorporating artistic input to give itself a form, the arts on the contrarily gain a contemporaniety foothold via engaging with the society. The occupied site of Queen’s Pier by Local Action could thus be seen in the lights of avant-garde artistic practice, such as that of “Utopia Station” in Venice Biennial 2003 (curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist), or various projects by Paris based Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn. (Or, as matter of fact, the vice versa is equally valid.) One could just feel the energy in the air, even a sense of carnivalesque, with all the flags, posters, banners, bricolage and do-it-yourself improvisations. Acting as a kind of platform for civil participation, they also provide a model for art making to go beyond the artist-centricism.
These “artivists,” if we are allowed to call them so, help advance a local sense of belonging, a belated “home-coming” (not in the private but) in the public sphere. In return, they join in the de-colonization process by tackling firstly, the de-politicization of art. Hong Kong avant garde art and political art are surely marginalized, but its marginal positioning has thus also activized the exploration of the experimental. To coincident with the 10th anniversary of the handover, one exhibition was held earlier at Manchester in the United Kingdom, then it is the turn for the Shanghai MOCA. How these Hong Kong art exhibitions are happening in both United Kingdom and China, yet not in their respective political capitals, might itself be a revealing fact over the character of art in Hong Kong.
The Chi full version of the article has been posted here in the last entry, with all the censored and removed phrases and paragraphs restored back in place and marked in red, while those few hidden references to 1989/6/4 Beijing Massacre that got smuggled in unnoticed, now marked in green.
An artist complained to me the other day, that part of the image of her artwork in the catalogue got removed. Allow me to say here, what a honour! I also hearsay that David Clarke has written something for the publication too, but there is not even a slighest trace of his article in the catalogue now, so I guess he surely derserved my even higher degree of salute!
