Matter Dis-Matter
Dec 03, 2004 - Jan 17, 2005
@1a space
Matter Dis-Matter, When Art Meets New Media
Participating Artists﹕Guy Cheung, Au Ka-yiu and Encoh Cheung
Following a series of exhibition presented by 1a space-Painting, Unpainting, Sculpture, Non-sculpture-we come to the recent one, Matter, Dis-matter-When Art Meets New Media. With the same stance, the intimate relationships between art and different medium are being questioned - what will happen when art meets "new media"?
Material, is traditionally considered to be the most important essence in art. Material influences the form, the presentation and even the artistic conceptions as it is the tool that the artist practiced and the bridge that links up art and media. Material, thus, changes the art-form directly. Under the umbrella of digital technologies, all forms of artistic media are possibly absorbed into digital medium, either by digitalization or the use of computer in specific stage of processing or production. Then, how about the use of material? It is "absence". The communication between the artist and the audience, and even the artist and the art-work is no more through a concrete object, but through machines-- computer languages, scripts and interfaces. Material becomes supporting element.
Actually, the use of material and the adaptation of digital technologies as tools in art are both significant. To trace back the relationships between the creation of concepts and the use of material, at least, Marcel Duchamp advocated the "ready-made", the emphasis of concepts and the possibilities of the reproduction of art, is interrelated to digital medium and the "absence" of material.
What is "new" when art meets new media? That would be the enormous possibilities for the creation and experience of art. During the exhibition, 1a space becomes an experimental space which explored the kinds of possibilities by three artists. Guy’s work is inspired by the Buddhists’ philosophy of "Impermanence". He tried to express the process of birth and death through the manipulation of the images of the dissolution process of a clay figure. Au Kai Yiu re-constructed a self-space through an image-scanner and digital camera. Enoch Cheung focused on photographic novelty and possibilities between traditional and new media by reproducing the classical imagery of Hong Kong on the light reflexive paper.
About the artists
Guy Cheung is a practicing dentist with diverse interests. He acquired his Bachelor Degree in Fine Art from the RMIT University. He has used drawing, painting, sculpture and video as his mediums of art. At the moment, he mainly works with choreographers in producing dance theatres and performances. Recent productions included "Ambiguity", "Metalove" and "Spiritual Girl".
A candidate of the Bachelor Degree in Fine Art at the RMIT University, Au Ka-yiu has been the participating artist of Paintography (2002) and My Dear OP (2004). Ever since he took the first photo in 1997, he is completely moved by the experience. And as time goes by, he starts to think about the relationship between light, time and space apart from mere instincts and feelings. Besides, he starts to put elements of the optics in his recent art work.
Enoch Cheung obtained Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art (Painting) and Master’s degree in Fine Art. His first solo exhibition, Digital All was held in 2001. His works have also been exhibited in several joint exhibitions, including I-Generations- Rewind (2001), Temporal Being - Microwave International Media Art Festival (2002); Mapping Asia - 18th Asian International Art Exhibition and Move On Asia Animation & Single Channel Video Art Festival (2004) etc.
Enoch is now teaching at the Art School, Hong Kong Arts Centre. He has also been actively involved in the productions of the different local artspaces and organizations like in the visual design of "The Yellow wallpaper" by Action Theatre (2002) and the editorial work in the publications of The Legends of Chinese Festival etc.
Matter. Dismatter is the first exhibition curated by Enoch Cheung.
Three Pieces of Thousand Layers Pudding
Jan 28, 2005 - Feb 17, 2005
@1a space
What are the Three Pieces of Thousand Layers Pudding? This is an exhibition searching the very beginning of pictorial narration. The participating artists are fresh and local, who devoted their passion in telling story through image and text; they are: Chihoi, Kongkee and Lic. All are welcome to explore their creative journeys! The exhibition starts from 28January to 17February 2005, at 1a space, Cattle Depot Artists Village. At the same time, the selected works of the artists will show at Cite Bookshop at Wanchai.
Don’t miss it!
Alternating between reality and imagination, between words and images, Three Pieces of Thousand Layers Pudding-The Recipe of Pictorial Narration is presented through their works made since the beginning of their creative career. The organized space and sequenced images and texts, suggest a network of interconnected lives and stories of the three artists. The same character, same color, same lines, same composition may re-appear at different stages of production, is it a coincidence? Or, instead, they are absorbed in the artists’ own worlds? The exhibition provides us an alternative view of everyday existence and a chance to explore the creative journey of the artists.
About the artists
Chihoi
A comics artist, critics and writer. His works are published in various newspapers and magazines, including: Cockroach, Mingpao; and also some overseas media, such as Stereoscomic (2001) and Comix 2000. His own publication includes: Still Life (2003), Whisper(2003), Piece of Mind(2000),The The Writer and Her Story (1999) and The Writer (1998) The blueness of his works attract or exclude by audiences, while it is not related to the artists own characteristics.
www.chihoi.net
Kongkee
’Once upon a time, there is a little boy who devoted his leisure time to The Fist of North Star. Bloody and violent images filled up his mind in the world of comics. He drew and drew and drew, to express his passion to comics, those bungle binding white papers became his first self-published comics. This little boy was born in 1977, if he knows that when he grows up, all the bloody and violent scenes have been vanished in his drawing, maybe he will wonder and disappointed about his own work Imperfect Shoes.’
Comics writer Kongkee is going to share the original work of Imperfect Shoes II, which will be published soon! The other hand-made cover Imperfect Shoes available foe sale.
www. shiningsummer.com
Ng Lic
Major in Fine Arts, this background is significant to his creative career as drawing is his favorite and beloved medium. Apart from his preferred colour pencil, he also employs oil painting and mixed media in his works. Since 1999, he devoted his career in theatre decor and art direction.
Lic is going to show the sketches and preparation works, such as pencil drawing, character setting, and colour testing; which is the process of the birth of a pictorial narration.
www.wretch.cc/blog/dogduckhen
If Hong Kong, A Woman / Traveller | Schema: a traveller's approach
Feb 26, 2005 - Mar 16, 2005
@1a space
A lot of room exists for ’journey’ to be regarded as ’Hongkongness’ when it is placed in a specific time and place - it is post-1997, post-July 1st.
It is diaspora, and transfer of the inherent; what did artists experience, and what is the meaning behind their moving into arts.
Those artists who have a preference for patterns, when they arrange their images,
they replicate senselessly - never proceeding forward, yet always moving on, here is the mysteriousness of creating images.
This is no traveller’s map; it is pre-conceived (apriori), an imaginary expedition, heading in the direction of an unknown destination...
’Journey’ conceives the possibility for subjective uncertainties and changes,
carrying also the implications of forever shifting time and space, and a search into unknown parameters.
’Women’ who find fulfillment through ’journey’ use images to portray the self and the changes in life.
’Women’ construct images through engaging in imaginary ’journey’ and with prevision made possible by past experience.
If Hong Kong, A Woman / Traveller
Artist:
Cheung Wan-man, Amy
LAM Wai-kit
LAM Yuk-lin, Pauline
LEUNG Mee-ping
Schema: a traveller's approach
Artist:
AU Hoi-lam
LEE Mei-kuen, Carol
SHEK Ming-wai, Zoe
TANG Ying-chi,Stella
“City Illusion”
Apr 01, 2005 - Apr 06, 2005
@1a space
“City Illusion” - Chan Kwong Wah Mixed Media Works
Count down to the Millenium
The whole world is celebrating with open arms
That night, the fireworks spread across the sky
We celebrate the coming of a new era
Five years later
At this moment of time
We have more vibrant city light, we have higher skyscrapers
Consumption, development, consumption, development, development, consumption, development, consumption
The city is real, yet illusional
It is seductive, yet aimless
It is familiar, yet alienated
City, city, Love you. Love you not.
Count down to the Millenium
The whole world is celebrating with open arms
That night, the fireworks spread across the sky
We celebrate the coming of a new era
Five years later
At this moment of time
We have more vibrant city light, we have higher skyscrapers
Consumption, development, consumption, development, development, consumption, development, consumption
The city is real, yet illusional
It is seductive, yet aimless
It is familiar, yet alienated
City, city, Love you. Love you not.
Count down to the Millenium
The whole world is celebrating with open arms
That night, the fireworks spread across the sky
We celebrate the coming of a new era
Five years later
At this moment of time
We have more vibrant city light, we have higher skyscrapers
Consumption, development, consumption, development, development, consumption, development, consumption
The city is real, yet illusional
It is seductive, yet aimless
It is familiar, yet alienated
City, city, Love you. Love you not.
Gum Gum and Ka Ka : Beyond Words
Apr 10, 2005 - Apr 30, 2005
@1a space
Curatorial Statement
The ambiguity between text and expression has long been a panic to writers and readers. In this exhibition of text display, the words by two women of different background and generation will be presented with the aid of audio and visual element of theirs. But with these elements and the use of space, will the meaning of the text be more honestly displayed to viewers? Or will the text be further mis-read?
Kobe Ho
About "Corner of Dialogue"
"Corner of Dialogue" (CoD) is an exhibition series letting two artists of different generation to exchange dialogues with their creative work. They use similar media but with variation in content and form. The series have started since 2003. The first dialogue was exchanged between Kwok Mang-ho and Leung Chin-fung on conceptual art and the second was between Tsang Chui-mei and Yeung Tung-lung on painting.
Curatorial and Editorial Advisor: May Fung
GUMGUM (Mary Ann King)
http://www.be-more.net
Before "gumgum", I was nameless and faceless to the point that even I could not recognize myself in the mirror. After being named as "gumgum" by a dear friend, I got a name and a role on stage, but then I could not act "myself" anymore. May be, "self" is merely the reflection of countless "others", and has never really existed in the wheel of time.
+ + KAKA (aka,Edine)
http://www.themarshmallowkisses.com
My myth of language
I always doubt the accuracy of language communication.
I therefore deliberately provoke the gap lying between the implicit mind and explicit words. I write in order to explore my inner self, but language is no mirror which fails to reflect actuality.
I am twisted with my own words. At one time they are bounding my way out of the maze but at another time they are the footprints guiding me to the exit, to the sky, and to the paradise.
I am happy to leave a void in my writings. It is like the stroke-less clouds between land and sky in a Chinese painting. Just before the diminishing of hope, the ambiguity of words will be led by imagination. The mechanism of writing and reading is nothing more like the process of puzzling.
A member of a local band, the marshmallow kisses. Playing around with words, music and visual images, she is inviting readers to join her journey of endless imagination.
A poem as painting, a song with void.
活在視覺藝術中—「印象牛棚」繪畫比賽師生展覽
May 4, 2005 - May 7, 2005
@1a space
Please refer to the Chinese Version!
Walk! Don’t Run
Jul 15, 2005 - Aug 14, 2005
@1a space
Walk! Don’t Run - Demonstration Photography by 7 Artists
Almond Chu, Yvonne Lo, Ducky Tse, Tse Pak-chai, anothermountainman, Vincent Yu and Danny Yung. Seven artists use the camera to document or assess the birth and growth of Hong Kong’s civil society. There are celebrations, evaluations, and reflections. This is the first project of pH5 after its formation. Hosted by 1aspace.
Curatorial Statement
Growing up with Demonstrations
Edwin K. Lai@pH5 Photo Group
The history of Hong Kong as a city began in 1841, which only a few years later protests and strikes started to happen. But it is until about 1980 that demonstrations are generally accepted as a legitimate means to fight for our rights and ideals. Especially after 1997 and during the eight years’ reign of Tung Chee Hwa, the Special Administration Region’s first Chief Executive, demonstrations are really taking place every month. Some people have even mockingly labeled Hong Kong as ‘the capital of demonstrations’. Noting this social situation, when early in this year 1a Space contacted us for the organization of a photography exhibition concerning social and political gatherings in Hong Kong, demonstrations naturally become selected as our theme.
In recent times photography is always closely associated with demonstrations. Needless to say, the organizing bodies frequently use cameras and video cameras to document the demonstrations from their beginnings to their completions. Only a few years ago, the SAR Government and its police force often send many of their staff to photograph or videotape the demonstrators in a highly open and visible manner, adumbrating that the pictures or film-stocks produced will be used for future prosecutions/persecutions.
Participants who dare to go to the streets of course are not deterred or threatened, indeed they also take photographs for their own keepsakes. Certainly or perhaps more importantly, news media have their photojournalists reporting on location, and the images they make will later appear on the television in the evening news, on the pages of the next day’s newspapers, or will transmit to elsewhere of the world through the internet, interpreting or even evaluating the events.
The works in this “Walk, Don’t Run” exhibition all carry a certain sense of retrospection or reflection. Rather than a preoccupation of the curators, this is really a general tendency amongst the exhibitors. There seems to be a consensus that we need to view the demonstrations in Hong Kong from a higher or more profound vantage point, which may also help us to see the future of this city or community. Our exhibitors include two photojournalists, a professional photographer, a photography lecturer, a graphic designer, a social activist, and an artist. Their works show a variety of themes and styles, all asking us to engage a deeper understanding of demonstrations.
The current trend of globalization also urges us to develop a better understanding of demonstrations. The themes of struggle for most demonstrations in the past have been immediate and focused on economic or personal interests. Concerns for bigger issues such as political and human rights, freedom and equal opportunities are rarely until about twenty years ago, but yet they remain mainly local or regional. For those parades that express solidarity with struggles in other parts of the world, the number of participants is invariably small and the media coverage rare. One can easily point out that a thorough understanding of the subjects of struggle, the participation of demonstrations, and the reflections about them are part of the growing-up process of members of a civil society. In the coming December Hong Kong will host the annual conference of the World Trade Organization, perhaps the demonstrations that will take place at that time, in terms of their themes, styles and perspectives, can bring us to a broader view of the world.
(Chinese version only)
「集體空間」Collective Space
Aug 17, 2005 - Sep 09, 2005
@1a 空間
「集體空間」一詞可能顯得陌生，但在這個空間中，人們可以找到自己的定位，發現自己的價值，實現自己的夢想。所以，它盛載的，除了人民，還有集體回憶。而這十一位藝術家，正是以攝影、油畫與裝置等視覺形式演繹着於他們自己的「集體空間」的思考。
「我的新聞攝影」攝影比賽作品展
Sep 11, 2005 - Sep 18, 2005
@1a space
Please refer to Chinese Version.
Cattle Depot Book Fair 2005 - Reading ．Bodies
Sep 30, 2005 - Oct 3, 2005
@1a space
Please refer to Chinese Version.
Muse Gaze
Nov 11, 2005 - Dec 04, 2005
@1a space
Curatorial Statement
Muse Gaze is one of the highlighted programme under the photography-series this year. After the success of Walk! Don’t Run and Collective Space, this time we have invited seven female photographers of a new generation to show their works at a different perspective.
The female community have rarely been active in the Hong Kong photographic scene, let alone the younger generation. Yet, there are still women who choose to keep capturing images, and use photography as their creative media.
Seven female photographers with different backgrounds have been invited in this exhibition. These female individuals include photojournalist, an artist and an amateur, student from photography, as well as graduate from photography,. These seven female individuals from the new generation attempt to “see” this world and look for their own spheres.
These women reveal the viewpoint of those of us who are in our late 20s and 30s, with the matters we concern. The term “Gaze” would be very suitable for describing the works in this exhibition. As it reflects the concentrated moment on photographing the subject they care with full of passion. By fabricating images and picking certain episode from the real world, their artworks can reveal their unique and delicate feeling by gazing through the camera to the issues they concern. These seven photographers create their microcosm with their surroundings and allowing us to “see” more on your passion for “relationships between people, matters or relationships with yourself.
Narrative Three Generations
Dec 17, 2005 - Dec 25, 2005
@1a space
This is a story telling exhibition, from telling and listening to the stories, we discover the common memory with the unknown others. We build a subtle sensibility connection though sharing the unspoken personal memory. And though this memory of sensibility, we experience and witness the interaction between a person, a family and the society.
The exhibition is structured with a huge pictorial Chronology of the three generations of a family, and harmony with the surrounding pictures drawn by the grandmother and granddaughter. The pictures and typography narrates a family’s story, a reflection of a typical 80’s Hong Kong family. The curator said, “A lot of my co-workers and circle of friends who trained in the professional art schools keep equipping themselves with the latest art skills, cutting-edge techniques, and most charming ideas and exposures. However, I believe the enjoyment of art is the drive to propel us forward to the unbounded creative world. I hope my little story can touch and inspire you.”