Date :
2014.4.25 - 2014.5.17

Location :
CMC Gallery, L3, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre

Time :
12:00-19:00 (Closed on Sunday)

中文版本請按此

Opening Ceremony cum Book Launch of a new monograph of the same title published by Asia Art Pacific

Date: 24 April 2014 (Thursday)
Time: 6pm – 8pm
Venue: CMC Gallery, L3 Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre

The exhibition, titled after a 4 channel-video work commissioned for Marrakech Biennale 2012, brings together four recent installations; Sign(2008, Australia), Depot of Disappearance (2009, Austria), Sign Read(2011, Singapore) and So I don’t really know sometimes if it’s because of culture (2012, Morocco). Given that each work was conceived either for an overseas exhibition or during an international residency, the affect of foreign languages, cultures and societies are keys factors in the resultant work and their final interpretation. In each instance, due to the status of the artist as visitor, he was able to view issues familiar to the local audience as unusual, or even alien, resulting in original and often poetic interpretations of the local culture and, in instances, their differences.

This exhibition is part of CityU Cultural Festival to celebrate the University’s 30th anniversary.

Sign

HDV, PAL, 13 min., English subtitle, 2008. Video editing & music supervision by Samantha Culp; music by Lullatone

Sign is a 2-part video work exploring the idea of non-mainstream communication and the meaning of human reality overloaded by mass media.

Part I is an educational video featuring deaf teacher Laisarn(Laisarn Leong) and her shadow(Belle Reily) about the idea of baby signs in Auslan(Australian Sign Language) and the demonstration of basic signs with which parents can actually learn to communicate with their children whoever deaf or hearing. Whereas Laisarn communicates with the audience in Auslan, her shadow does it with her eyes and mind.

Part II is a fictional video showing a young mother in communication with her baby in Auslan. Though taking place in a peaceful and pleasant atmosphere, the mother tries to convey the words that she comes across every day, which can be harsh or discomforting. The juxtaposition of loving expression and hostile meaning depicts a surrealistic scene of our schizophrenic world. The vocabulary here is chosen from Canberra Times.

Sign Read

Photographic print (150x200mm), 29 sets of school desk & chair, each desktop with digital photo frame and laser engravings, dimension variable, 2011

Sign Read was created as an epilogue to Sign (2008) and both were exhibited together specially for the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2011 under the theme as Something About Education But Not Exactly... It contemplates the meaning and value of education projected as stereotypes in a highly capitalistic mass society. It allows the confrontation of mainstream and marginal values in the light of violence-free humour.

Based on the 29 keywords from Sign, 29 flickering film footages were generated from Google keyword-searched images. A group of students were invited to the screening of these footages and were requested to pen down their responses. All manuscripts were compiled together according to the keyword and were laser-engraved onto the school desks, where a digital screen finally showed the footage of the corresponding keyword.

Keywords: Happy baby, Beautiful girl, School exam, Tuition fee, Child abuse, Social isolation, Discrimination, Extra-marital affair, GST(Goods & Services Tax), Unemployment, Domestic violence, Mortgage, Superannuation, Stock market, Freedom, Global capitalism, Illegal immigration, Post-imperial nostalgia, Avian flu, Global warming, Intelligence agencies, Humanitarian disaster, Relief operation, Radicalism, Terrorist attack, Air strike, Ethnic cleansing, Rape and murder, Genocide mass grave.

Depot of Disappearance

Installation of single-channel video on LCD monitor and c-print mounted on Dibond, dimension variable, 2009

Depot of Disappearance is a text-based installation that addresses issues of memory, space and cultural policy. It takes as its focus an independent arts organization, Depot, which was located in the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna during 1994-2001. Fragments of personal memory and knowledge (or ignorance), be they contradictory or consistent, of Depot during this period from diverse individuals collectively suggest a metaphor for the independent cultural development in the times of socio-political changes. To recall the past is neither a relief from fear of disappearance or a pursuit for nostalgia. Instead, it is to contemplate disappearance in its own right. In fact, Depot continues to exist behind the MuseumsQuartier today.

The video was edited from still images (empty corners) of the old premises of Depot, which are generated into slow motion. The soundtrack is the monologue by the artist, compiled from the replies from more than 100 interested parties about their knowledge and memories of the old Depot (or their lack of it). It is about 40 min long and played in loops. Opposite to the video is a straight-shot photograph of the present Depot’s main room with a blank screen, measured the same size as the LCD monitor.

So I don’t really know sometimes if it’s because of culture

Installation of sound, 2 synchronized video projections and 2 single-channel videos on monitors, dimension variable, 2012

Commissioned for the Marrakech Biennale, it is a project to explore the notion of diasporas, intersected at the urban context of Hong Kong and reflected with post-colonial perspective and internationalism in a multi-layered reflexive narrative.

The audio-visual installation is a dialogue constructed with two separate interviews with two Moroccan women who lived in Hong Kong, one Moroccan-born and one French-born, about their relations with the places where they lived and came from. Carefully transcribed, edited and re-arranged from the interviews, two monologues were written based on the interviewees’ original wording and recited by two Hong Kong-based French artists, Laurent Gutierrez of Map Office (b. 1966, Morocco) and Cédric Maridet (b. 1973, France). These monologues in English were edited into a dialogue and as voiceover of two synchronized video projections of Hong Kong’s Victoria harbour and peak overlaid with the Arabic translation.

Both Gutierrez and Maridet were also interviewed on their personal artistic career in Hong Kong. A monologue script was produced together with Leung and was read in front of the camera by the interviewee in their own voice in French (with English subtitle) and the videos were played with two separate digital monitors with headsets.

Artist biography

Born in Hong Kong in 1968, Leung Chi Wo’s reflective practice combines historical exploration with conceptual inquiry within a contemporary urban landscape. Ranging from photography and video to text, performance and installation, the artist is concerned with the undetermined relationship between conception, perception and understanding in the process of making sense. Leung was a co-founder of Para Site Art Space and represented Hong Kong in its first appearance in Venice Biennale in 2001. He is now Assistant Professor of the School of Creative Media.

Public Lecture: "Maybe it's because of culture" - a conversation on artistic practice in the foreign land

Date: 7 May, 2014
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: Screening Theatre(M1052), L1, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre
Free admission
Conducted in English

Speakers:

Inti Guerrero is an art critic and curator based in Hong Kong. He periodically works from San José, Costa Rica as the Associate Artistic Director-Curator of the independent art space TEOR/éTicawww.teoretica.org (founded in 1999). Recent exhibitions curated by him include: Josephine Baker and Le Corbusier in Rio - A Transatlantic Affair, (Co-curated with Carlos Maria), Museum of Art of Rio, 2014; A Chronicle of Interventions, (co-curated with Shoair Mavlian), Tate Modern, London, (May) 2014; A Journal of the Plague Year. Fear, ghosts, rebels. SARS, Leslie and the Hong Kong story (co-curated with Cosmin Costinaş), Para Site, Hong Kong, 2013 and Kadist. Guerrero has been a visiting professor a the Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam and a guest lecturer and symposium speaker at Chelsea College for the Arts, London; California College for the Arts, San Francisco; and The Getty, Los Angeles.

Elaine W. Ng is the editor and publisher of ArtAsiaPacific, a 21-year old publication dedicated to contemporary art from Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East. From the 2001-2002 Ms. Ng managed Videotage, one of Asia’s first non-profits for film, video and new media, founded in 1983. Speaking engagements include “Space Traffic: Artist-run Spaces” at Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong and “In-Between: Independent Art Spaces” at 1A Space, Hong Kong, “Contemporary Art + Philanthropy: Private Foundations Asia-Pacific Focus” at Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney, and “Forum on Art and Finance” at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence. Ms. Ng has also been a jury member of UNESCO Digital Arts Award (2003) at IAMAS, Gifu, Japan, Ars Electronica Prix Ars (2004, 2005, 2007) in Linz, Austria; Abraaj Capital Art Prize in Dubai, UAE (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011); and in Hong Kong, the SCMP Art Futures (2009, 2010), Societe Generale Chinese Art Award (2010); Lane Crawford Art Futures (2011) and Art Basel Hong Kong Discoveries Prize (2012, 2013).

Leung Chi Wo was a co-founder of Para Site Art Space and represented Hong Kong in its first appearance in Venice Biennale in 2001. He is now Assistant Professor of the School of Creative Media.

 

Media Support:

  

 

梁志和混合媒體展覽 :「那麽我有時真的不知道是否文化的緣故 」

開幕酒會暨展覽同名畫冊發表 (由《Art Asia Pacific》出版)

日期: 2014年4月24日 (星期四)
時間: 下午6時至8時
地點: 邵逸夫創意媒體中心3樓CMC Gallery

展覽作品都是梁志和近年於海外展出或駐場的創作， 計有《語符》（ 2008年， 澳洲） 、《消失倉庫》（ 2009年， 奧地利） 、《符讀》（ 2011年， 新加坡） 及《那麽我有時真的不知道是否文化的緣故》（ 2012年， 摩洛哥） — 2012年摩洛哥馬拉喀什雙年展委約的四頻錄像裝置作品， 展覽以此命名， 正是對文化差異的指涉。事實上， 外國的語言、文化和社會無可避免構成創作上的考慮甚至衝擊， 更會影響對作品的詮釋。藝術家作為訪客的身分好使當地觀眾慣熟的議題可以另眼相看， 當地文化及其差異也可有獨特、詩意的理解。

《語符》

HDV，PAL，13分鐘，英語字幕，2008年。錄像剪接和音樂監督：Samantha Culp；音樂：Lullatone

《語符》是 一件由兩個部分組成的錄像作品，探索另類溝通及過量大眾媒體資訊的現實意義。

第一部分錄像如電視教育，由聾人老師Laisarn(Laisarn Leong)及她的「影子」(Belle Reily)講述有關嬰兒手語的想法以及向家長示範一些容易學習的基本手語，使他們可以跟自己的孩子溝通。Laisarn以手語與觀眾溝通，她的影子則只用眼睛和心靈 。

第二部分是一個年輕母親以手語跟她嬰兒溝通的一個虛構故事。錄像中的環境雖然是發生於一個平和及愉快的氣氛中，但母親需要把她每天遇到的字句表達出來，這可以是一件苛刻及令人不安的事情。充滿愛的表情和難堪的語義並置一身，正是一個超現實又精神分裂的世界。所有關鍵詞選自《堪培拉時報》。

《符讀》

照片（150x200毫米），29套學校桌子和椅子，每個桌面均有數碼相框和鐳射雕刻，尺寸不定，2011年

《符讀》可被視為《語符》(2008)的下集，是特別為新加坡藝穗節2011中的個展「差不多教育」而創作 。作品深思教育在一個高度資本主義大眾社會裡典型的意義和價值，以毫不暴力的幽默讓主流和邊緣的價值對質。

依據《語符》中二十九個關鍵詞，以谷歌搜索到的圖像轉成二十九個閃爍的錄像片段。一組學生受邀到這個錄像放映會並寫下他們對片段的反應，根據每個關鍵字，所有筆跡集合起來並鐳射雕刻到課桌上，而每一個電子相框會根據相對應的關鍵字而播放錄像。

關鍵詞：快樂寶貝，美麗女孩，學校考試，學費，虐待兒童，社交孤立，歧視，婚外情， 商品及服務稅，失業，家庭暴力，抵押貸款，養老金，股票市場，自由，全球資本主義，非法移民，後帝國懷思，禽流感，全球氣候變暖，情報機構，人道主義災難，救援行動，激進主義，恐怖襲擊，空襲，種族清洗，強姦和謀殺，種族滅絕

《消失倉庫》

單頻錄像裝置，液晶顯示屏，彩色照片，鋁塑板裝裱，尺寸不定，2009年

《消失倉庫》是一個文字為本的裝置，以維也納獨立藝術組織Depot（倉庫）為焦點，探討一些關於回憶、空間及文化政策的議題。Depot由1994至2001年位於今日的MuseumsQuartier（博物館區），集合許多不同人物有關它的個人記憶、認識（或無知），不論是前後一致還是矛盾，都可構成一個在社會政治變幻年代對獨立文化發展的隱喻。回顧過去毋須是消解對消失的驚怕或追求沉醉於思念之中，相反可以是深思消失的本義。事實上 ，Depot遷到MuseumsQuartier的後方繼續營運至今。

本錄像是以許多Depot舊址（空置的角落）的硬照轉做慢鏡頭而成。錄像的聲道是藝術家的獨白，是以百多位人士回覆對Depot的認識和回憶（或不知及遺忘）彙編而成 。長約40分鐘，重複播放。錄像對面是一張直接拍攝的相片，中間顯示了今天Depot的一塊空白的布幕，尺寸跟對面顯示屏的大小一樣。

《那麽我有時真的不知道是否文化的緣故》

裝置：聲音、兩個同步錄像投映、兩個單頻錄像視屏，尺寸不定，2012年

這是摩洛哥馬拉喀什雙年展委約作品，穿梭於香港都市、後殖民和國際主義的語境，以多層自省的敘事方式來探討移民和流散的概念。

此錄像和聲音裝置的創作是以兩個分別居於香港的摩洛哥女性的訪問來展開。一位生於摩洛哥，另一位則生於法國，她們講述自己的過去和移徒經歴的英文訪問被逐字抄錄和編輯，分別成為兩段獨白，由兩位居於香港的法國男藝術家重新錄音。他們是Laurent Gutierrez（1966年生於摩洛哥）和Cédric Maridet（1973年生於法國），其獨白翻譯成阿拉伯文字幕，叠在香港維多利亞港和太平山的慢鏡投映上，與其英文之聲音演出同步，構成兩人的對話。

藝術家簡介

梁志和1968年生於香港， 其自省的創作手法包含對城市空間作歷史和概念上的探索； 通過攝影、錄像， 以至文字、表演和裝置等， 思考建構意義過程中觀念， 感知和理解的不確定關係。梁志和是Para Site藝術空間的創辦人之一， 於2001年代表香港首次參加威尼斯雙年展， 現為創意媒體學院助理教授。