In this iconic performance artist South Ho stands before a sparkling Victoria Harbour while building a phone booth-sized wall around himself, brick by brick. As curator Chan notes, "There have been lots of voices saying we should keep the mainland Chinese away from Hong Kong, but what if we really do that? By building walls around you, you might have trapped yourself inside too."<br />
South Ho - Defense and Resistance —
In this iconic performance artist South Ho stands before a sparkling Victoria Harbour while building a phone booth-sized wall around himself, brick by brick. As curator Chan notes, "There have been lots of voices saying we should keep the mainland Chinese away from Hong Kong, but what if we really do that? By building walls around you, you might have trapped yourself inside too."
south ho / asia society
South Ho's outdoor sculpture is a reference to Taiwanese Buddhist neon lights and a spin on selfie culture: the idea is that visitors can snap a pic with the glowing halo to attain enlightenment for themselves.
South Ho "Buddha's Light is Shining" —
South Ho's outdoor sculpture is a reference to Taiwanese Buddhist neon lights and a spin on selfie culture: the idea is that visitors can snap a pic with the glowing halo to attain enlightenment for themselves.
south ho / asia society / Scott Brooks
This interactive installation is a visceral metaphor of the external pressures that we cope with every day.
Chilai Howard "μm (micrometer)" —
This interactive installation is a visceral metaphor of the external pressures that we cope with every day.
Scott Brooks
In this piece commissioned for Asia Society, Chilai Howard piles humanoid figurines into a square glass case -- another metaphor for Hong Kong's cramped living situation.
Chilai Howard "μm (micrometer)" —
In this piece commissioned for Asia Society, Chilai Howard piles humanoid figurines into a square glass case -- another metaphor for Hong Kong's cramped living situation.
Scott Brooks/artist Chila Howard and courtesy of Asia society
Artist Chilai Howard, a public housing resident, documented the opening and closing doors and windows in one of the first housing estates in Hong Kong, Nam Shan Estate, and remixed the recording into a choreography of vertical living.
Chilai Howard "The Doors" —
Artist Chilai Howard, a public housing resident, documented the opening and closing doors and windows in one of the first housing estates in Hong Kong, Nam Shan Estate, and remixed the recording into a choreography of vertical living.
Asia society / chilai howard
In a riff on the myth of Pandora's box, Andio Lai's digital installation generates "random" words programmed from the artist's stream of consciousness, from the names of Greek gods to neighborhoods in Hong Kong.
Andio Lai "Pyxis 44" —
In a riff on the myth of Pandora's box, Andio Lai's digital installation generates "random" words programmed from the artist's stream of consciousness, from the names of Greek gods to neighborhoods in Hong Kong.
Andio Lai/courtesy of Asia Society
Cheuk Wing Nam's installation fills a dark room with whirling mechanical "moths" trapped inside glass bottles, creating a shriek that's part wind chime, part metal grinder.
Cheuk Wing Nam "Avaritia, Silent Greed" —
Cheuk Wing Nam's installation fills a dark room with whirling mechanical "moths" trapped inside glass bottles, creating a shriek that's part wind chime, part metal grinder.
Scott Brooks/Artist Cheuk Wing Nam and courtesy of Asia Society
Chloe Cheuk's outdoor sculpture creates a lens-like device from three crystal balls, capable of being swiveled and rearranged to distort and flip different parts of the city skyline. One can swing the contraption toward the harbor — or toward Hong Kong's government building itself.
Chloe Cheuk "Until I am found" —
Chloe Cheuk's outdoor sculpture creates a lens-like device from three crystal balls, capable of being swiveled and rearranged to distort and flip different parts of the city skyline. One can swing the contraption toward the harbor — or toward Hong Kong's government building itself.
Scott Brooks/artist Chloë Cheuk/courtesy of Asia society
In this installation by Chloe Cheuk, a pane of glass traps a Japanese wooden kendama toy, its ball trying to break free. But the kendama is only a projection; any hope of escape is futile. Cheuk says she was inspired in 2014 to do the piece by pro-democracy students trying to smash the glass windows of Hong Kong's government building.
Chloe Cheuk "If the moment came" —
In this installation by Chloe Cheuk, a pane of glass traps a Japanese wooden kendama toy, its ball trying to break free. But the kendama is only a projection; any hope of escape is futile. Cheuk says she was inspired in 2014 to do the piece by pro-democracy students trying to smash the glass windows of Hong Kong's government building.
Asia society / chloe cheuk
Ko Sin Tung's installation spells a common real estate catchphrase - "spectacular seaview" using Hong Kong's iconic neon lights. The rueful joke: the installation is mounted in the corner of a drab white windowless space.
Ko Sin Tung "Spectacular Seaview" —
Ko Sin Tung's installation spells a common real estate catchphrase - "spectacular seaview" using Hong Kong's iconic neon lights. The rueful joke: the installation is mounted in the corner of a drab white windowless space.
Scott Brooks/courtesy of asia society/artist ko sin tung
Wong's eerie installation dangles a blanket from colonial-era Britain from a thick knotted rope, dragging it back and forth along the ground using a motor. It's a commentary on Asia Society Hong Kong's location, which was built on a former British armory.
Magdalen Wong "Blanket" —
Wong's eerie installation dangles a blanket from colonial-era Britain from a thick knotted rope, dragging it back and forth along the ground using a motor. It's a commentary on Asia Society Hong Kong's location, which was built on a former British armory.
Scott Brooks/asia society/artist magdalen wong
Artist Siu Wai Hang's "Inside Outland" tries to reimagine his father's swim from mainland China to Hong Kong as a refugee in the 1970s. In a silent film, Siu dives into the waves with a camera at night, the grainy footage recording an emotional more than physical landscape. Still photographs including this one, taken by a small creek in Hong Kong looking across the border to Shenzhen's shining new skyline, seem to reverse the journey.
Siu Wai Hang "Inside Outland" —
Artist Siu Wai Hang's "Inside Outland" tries to reimagine his father's swim from mainland China to Hong Kong as a refugee in the 1970s. In a silent film, Siu dives into the waves with a camera at night, the grainy footage recording an emotional more than physical landscape. Still photographs including this one, taken by a small creek in Hong Kong looking across the border to Shenzhen's shining new skyline, seem to reverse the journey.
SIU WAI HANG PHOTO
A dystopic, Eschersque aluminum sculpture by Vaan Ip evoking the dizzying urban verticality of the city becomes far more effective when viewed with Hong Kong's actual skyscrapers jutting into the sky right behind it.
Vaan Ip "Lost city no. 52" —
A dystopic, Eschersque aluminum sculpture by Vaan Ip evoking the dizzying urban verticality of the city becomes far more effective when viewed with Hong Kong's actual skyscrapers jutting into the sky right behind it.
vaan ip / asia society
"Living in Hong Kong, you get that kind of claustrophobic feeling," says curator Dominique Chan. In Vaan Ip's paintings, "You see some buildings flying in midair, perhaps that's his hope of escaping."
Vaan Ip "Lost city no. 1 and 4" —
"Living in Hong Kong, you get that kind of claustrophobic feeling," says curator Dominique Chan. In Vaan Ip's paintings, "You see some buildings flying in midair, perhaps that's his hope of escaping."
vaan ip / asia society / Scott Brooks