Art Publication
Feb 09, 2010 - Apr 20, 2010
@1a space
In the past decade, 1a space has been dedicating its time in staging exhibitions which introduce to the public different genres of arts. More than that, the gallery has published quite a number of arts publications. Some are informative, some are critical. In fact, other alternative art spaces and cultural institutions have been doing the same. As of today, we have accumulated voluminous information and knowledge.
Art spaces and various cultural institutions have been devoted in building an arts/cultural environment which is unique only to Hong Kong. What have been published is precious for their historical and research value. However, in a market-driven society, these publications are constantly being marginalized. The public have been having a hard time buying them or even knowing that they actually exist.
What is equally disappointing to us is, these publications are scattered without a system for collection, research and exhibition. We have to understand that these are not only precious works in the arts and literary circles, they reflect the development of local arts and changes in the trend of research. Inventing a systematic way of processing these materials would mean that local arts and literary talents are united in one for a future. Equally important is these publications are indispensible tools for looking back and looking forward. Seeing their importance, 1a space holds the belief that the relevant publications have to be “revealed” to the public – at the very least.
1a space is not new in organizing book fairs and sharing sessions. We are planning to stage the “Art Publication” exhibition in early February, 2010. The exhibition will showcase publications by various art spaces, which include magazines of literary criticism and self-funded arts/cultural works. Part of the publications are for sale. It will be an enjoyable experience for treasure hunt and reflection. In the same period of the exhibition, 1a space will invite local artists, writers and critics for forums and seminars.
Sideward Narration
Mar 06, 2010 - Apr 20, 2010
@1a space
“Sideward Narration” is a story-telling process of 6 artists through photography, sculpture, installation, painting and video. This is to echo with the “Art Publication” exhibition in the venue. In “Art Publication” exhibition, we are trying to study the collaboration and interrelation between art and publication with our displayed books, a forum, a talk and a reading club. While in “Sideward Narration”, artists are exploring a form of narration other then text and publication. Publication may be seen as a form of art. On the other hand, we may discover the delicate relations of the works by these artists and the characteristics of art publication.
The artworks displayed are for archive upon request. 1a space is a non-profit making organization aiming at promoting local contemporary visual art. We value the works by the artists, and like to encourage art collection in local community.
Against Easy Listening
Nov 19, 2010 - Jan 20, 2011
@1a space
Curator: Steven Lam (New York-based artist and curator)
Opening Reception
6.30-8pm, 19.11.2010
Artists
Cattle Depot Community Concern Group, Huang Xiaopeng, Phoebe Hui, Viet Lê, Anson Mak, Mixrice, Mieko Shiomi, Society for Experimental Cultural Production, The Propeller Group (Phunam, Matt Lucero and Tuan Andrew Nguyen), Adrian Wong, Lyota Yagi, Zheng Bo
The exhibition also features a collection of sound organized by Society for Experimental Cultural Production including:
Eric Anglès, Mary Walling Blackburn, Hitlike/ Zhang Liming, Jiang Zhi, Jaffa Lam, Viet Lê, Warren Leung, Anson Mak, Tuan Andrew Nguyen (with Wowy, Alan Hayslip, and The Propeller Group), Pak Sheung Chuen, João Vasco Paiva, Adrian Wong, Yao Chung-Han, Yeung Yang, Zhang Anding, Lee Kit and Su Wenxiang and others.
Exhibition Concept
Against Easy Listening is a group exhibition that scrutinizes the politics of listening and sound in everyday globalized life. With a roster of artists working in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, the exhibition consists of projects in installation, performance, sculpture, video, photography, and phonography.
The role of the aesthetic in this exhibition suggests other forms of knowing - how does one make sense of listening, what type of understanding is cultivated by the ear? How can hearing be a model for social engagement, a practice in tune with issues of community and locality, mediation and difference? Against Easy Listening is an exercise in polyphony: public speech turns into song, voices once dormant or unheard surface to the center for the ear rarely differentiates signal from noise.
Steven Lam, the curator
Steven Lam is a curator, artist, educator, and the Associate Dean of The Cooper Union School of Art in New York City, the United States. He has a MFA from the University of California, Irvine and currently teaches performance and sound theory in the Art History and Theory Department at the School of Visual Arts, NYC. Lam has developed exhibitions primarily for non-profit institutions and universities, often prioritizing his experience working in such pedagogical programs. Lam was a Helena Rubinstein Curatorial Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program as well as a Lori Ledis Curatorial Fellow at Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, and was a research curator for the Third Guangzhou Triennial (2008) with CURATORS Gao Shiming, Sarat Maharaj, and Chang Tsong-zung. Recent curatorial works and collaborations include “...in a most dangerous manner” with Sarah Ross at SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, OH (2010); ‘Tainted Love’ with critic Virginia Solomon at La MaMa La Galleria, NYC (2009); ‘Free as Air and Water’ (2009) and 'The Crude and the Rare" (2010) with Saskia Bos at The Cooper Union; and ‘For Reasons of State’ with Angelique Campens and Erica Cooke at The Kitchen, NYC (2008). This is his second exhibition at 1a Space.
About 1a space Curatorial Residency
1a space's inaugural Curatorial Residency, an initiative to elevate Hong Kong’s curatorship level and to establish an exchange platform of international standing, is finally awarded to Steven Lam, a New York-based artist and curator, out of the 20 applications received from around the globe. Against Easy Listening is his second exhibition.
*Exhibitions and events during Lam’s residency are supported by the Asian Cultural Council.
COLLECTIVITY
May 22, 2010 - Jun 01, 2010
@1a space
1a space is proud to be Schools and Youth Partner for Art HK 2010 and educational activity packs for use by primary and secondary school students will be available from 1a space’s Stand C1.
Virgile Simon Bertrand, Chris Chan, Enoch Cheung, Jaffa Lam, Lam Hiu Tung, Lam Wai Kit, Lau Ching Ping, Laura Li, Chris Lo, Ivy Ma, Phoebe Man, Hiram To, Annie Wan and Ki Wong.
In addition, 1a space will launch the exhibition COLLECTIVITY featuring the work of Hong Kong’s most prominent contemporary artists. The exhibition will be held in two locations, at Stand C1 at the Art HK and at 1a space. Part of the proceeds of sale will be used to support 1a space’s new curator initiative which will provide talented new curators in Hong Kong with the opportunity to curate their own exhibition at 1a space.
Please join us on Thursday 27 May from 6pm at the Cattle Depot to celebrate the launch of the exhibition and the COLLECTIVITY series with a special performance by artist Kelvin Cheung.
About Collectivity
COLLECT|IVITY
COLLECT|IVE
COLLECT|ING
COLLECT|ORS
1a space is pleased to announce “Collectivity”, a new series of events, including exhibitions, talks and other events for artists, collectors and the general public
Collectivity builds on 1a’s origins and continuing status as an artist’s collective, working to support and promote the work of artists in Hong Kong. We acknowledge the importance of collecting art as a means of enabling artists to earn a living and to support to the creation of new work. Collectivity is an initiative aimed at creating a dialogue between artists, collectors and the institutions that support the art industry in Hong Kong.
Special thanks: Davina Lee
Locations:
Art HK 2010
27-30 May (thu-sun)
Stand C1, Art HK 2010, Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, 1 Expo Drive, Wanchai, Hong Kong.
1a@Beijing Part 1: turning the pages．I see you see I
20.11- 29.01.2011
@1a space
Seminar Date: Spring 2011 (Date TBC)
Venue: Kubrick Beijing (Please refer to the Chinese version for the exact address.)
Curator: CHOI Yan-chi
Artist: HO Siu-kee, LAM Wai-kit, CHING Chin-wai
Writer & Critic: Long Tin
‘turning the pages．I see you see I’ is an artwork display from Hong Kong to Beijing and back to Hong Kong, join up with reading and dialogues.
‘turning the pages．I see you see I’ is an exhibition in a non-gallery space. The artworks will be shown in the bookstore Kubrick Beijing. They run into the viewers in between the books, the shelves and the space in the bookstore, reaching out to the readers who come to look for reading in this tranquil environment.
We would like to induce in-depth reading. From reading to seeing, it is not only viewing oneself, but also referencing me from the eye of yours and him/her. From Hong Kong to China, and China to Hong Kong; this is about how to analyze the multi-faceted aesthetic presentation in different aspects.
The Hong Kong cultural bookstore Kubrick has its branch opened in Beijing for around a year. In Bono LEE Chiu-hing’s words, “this is so ‘cool’. Even when joking with the Chinese name of Kubrick with the pronunciation as ‘too cool to the customers,’ we are referring to the attitude, but not the services here.” The bookstore is under the spotlight in the local cultural circle. ‘turning the pages．I see you see I’ is trying to place Hong Kong art in the map of China within this unique environment, for reading and thinking. The display of Hong Kong artworks in Beijing is expecting an unconventional experience and exchange from ‘I see you see I’.
There is always not enough, and even rare, reading, writing and discussing of Hong Kong art. For this time using Kubrick Beijing as showcase of Hong Kong art, or can we name it a re-importation, is meant to be an alternative exchange between Hong Kong and China. In some collective activities with exhibition, exchange, forum and publication, the exhibition is just a kick off. We are stressing both displaying of the context and the dialogues involved, in wish to bring out even more and further discussions. Even Kubrick Beijing is not a traditional exhibition venue, but it is a place for reading. 1a@Beijing wishes to meet with audiences from various backgrounds in this unique venue.
In ‘turning the pages．I see you see I,’ the pages is not what in a book. It can be a declaration of the rules, while art is often means to destroying and recreating the rules. Hong Kong-China, or China-Hong Kong, are two interrelating and yet paralleling tracks, varying in terms of distance and sameness from time to time. At the time in this post-colonial handovered Hong Kong, the lost of identity is no longer a controversial topic. From where I see you see I; our recognition have been levied by seeing. We open, and get to know. This is the first step towards an in-depth cultural exchange, while you will know me better through the eyes of I seeing you.
‘turning the pages．I see you see I’ will be showcased from Winter 2010 to Spring 2011 at Kubrick Beijing, while the same exhibition can also be seen at 1a space, Hong Kong. A forum at Beijing will signal the finale of the program. (Program details will be announced later.)
HO Siu-kee, LAM Wai-kit, Luke CHING, Annie WAN, Enoch CHENG, LAU Ching-ping and Lukas TAM are the artists invited to the exhibition. The seven artists are not the newest generation, but their developed artistic styles, which hinting the trend of contemporary Hong Kong art from 90s to 2000s, are the main reason for involving them here. I have also invited some writers from overseas, Mainland China and Hong Kong. They are KOO Yee-wan, Steven LAM (New York based curator), Long Tin, Kurt CHAN, CHAN Ning, Bono LEE and LO Yin-shan. The context and writings will be the reference of the forum in following year. I look forward to the opening of the program, and even more to the discussions of the context and its further development.
Curator: CHOI Yan-chi
Beijing Kubrick Bookstore, Beijing
From the Vanishing Point – Demolished Public Housing Estates in Hong Kong
Jun 05, 2010 - Jun 18, 2010
@1a space
Partner: 1a space
Presented by Asia One Books
A photography exhibition by Eddie Chan/John Choy/Michael Wolf
On Saturday, June 5, 2010, 6-8pm, Asia One Books will host a photography exhibition – From the Vanishing Point – Demolished Public Housing Estates in Hong Kong – at 1a space. Accompanying the exhibition opening will be the launch of Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate, a new book by John Choy.
From the Vanishing Point - Demolished Public Housing Estates in Hong Kong is a last lingering look at a disappeared Hong Kong. Eddie Chan’s images gather up fragments of life from where he grew up in Sau Mau Ping; John Choy captured the shops and neighbourhood atmosphere of Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate in his panoramic photos; Michael Wolf went door-to-door at the Shek Kip Mei Estate to take portraits and family pictures of its residents.
The low-cost housing estates developed by Hong Kong’s then-colonial government once provided affordable accommodation for the ‘grassroots’ of the territory’s society and thousands of new immigrants. Despite the estates’ high density and spartan amenities, they gave families a chance to live in peace; an important factor in stabilising society and fostering economic growth. Life for estate residents was hard, but at least tempered by the concept of home.
But even the cramped, densely packed reality of the city is not immutable. As Hong Kong’s old estates tumble down one-by-one to the wrecking-ball, people flock to preserve them at least in image and memory; perhaps trying to record history, or simply cherishing the old days. The new public housing supplanting the estates offer better conditions in every measurable way – and yet, the community itself has become somehow colder and more alienated.
All three photographers witnessed the process of disappearance as it happened; and now they share the imprint of the experience. Each of them contributes his own version of reality – a fusion of physical surface and form, emotion and memory.
Seminars:
Topics: Is Documentary Photography Dead?
Speakers:Dr Lai Kin Keung, Mr Dustin Shum
Date & Time: 3-4pm June 6 (Sunday)
Topics: From the Vanishing Point — A dialogue between John Choy and Simon Chung
Speakers: Mr John Choy, Mr Simon Chung
Date & Time: 3-4pm, June 13 (Sunday)
Music Jam: Fat Kee Music Band, music producers of ’90s
Date & Time: 4-5pm, June 13 (Sunday)
About Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate by John Choy (Asia One Books, 2010)
The Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate was constructed in the 1960s as one of Hong Kong’s earliest public housing developments. Just prior to its scheduled demolition four decades later, John Choy was commissioned to photograph the soon-to-be deserted estate. To his surprise, Choy found himself deeply affected by the crumbling housing blocks and their residents. He became determined to create an in-depth record of not just the estate, but a unique way of life.
Created over a period of a year, Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate gives a sense of how the human spirit transcends the narrow physical confines of the man-made environment. By keeping the spotlight firmly and intimately on the estate’s residents, Choy’s photographs build an unusually full impression of individual subjects and the bonds between them.
About the participating photographers
Eddie Chan has worked as a press photographer for more than a decade. His images often capture pivotal moments of trivial things – an approach that has won numerous awards locally and internationally. His publications include Edigest Photo Gallery, Lao Jia, Ten Years Ago and Digital SLR Photography Workshop. He is currently a guest instructor of photojournalism at the Kwun Tong Vocational Training Centre.
Currently a freelance photographer, John Choy was born in Hong Kong in 1966. From 1989 to 2001, he worked as a photographer for a series of local newspapers and magazines, as well as the government’s Information Services Department. Along the way, he encountered people from all walks of life, and their stories in turn provided him with inspiration. As a photographer, Choy is obsessed with the ‘unseen landscapes’ of the city, and documenting these using experimental new techniques and forms of expression.
Michael Wolf was born in Munich in 1954 and was raised in the USA. He studied at the University of California in Berkeley and the University of Essen (Folkwang school) in Germany with Professor Otto Steinert. He has lived and worked as a photographer and author in China since 1994. His works have been shown in museums around the globe, with many being represented in important collections. To date, Wolf has published five books on China: China im Wandel (Frederking und Thaler, 2001), Sitting in China (Steidl, 2002), Chinese Propaganda Posters from the Collection of Michael Wolf (Taschen, 2003), Hong Kong front door/back door (Thames and Hudson, 2005; Steidl, 2006). His book on Chicago architecture, The Transparent City about architecture in Chicago (Aperture, 2008) and the latest two-volume set Hong Kong Inside Outside (Asia One Books and Peperoni Books, 2009).
About the curator:
Carl Cheng graduated from RMIT University’s Master of Fine Art Programme and gained his BBA from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. As well as being an artist of note, he has since worked as a creative director and art director for the Chinese edition of Reader’s Digest. Cheng has received a number of art and design awards both locally and internationally, and displayed his works in solo exhibitions in 1998, 2001, 2008 and 2009. In the latter year, he was selected as one the ‘Bloomberg Emerging Artists’. To further promote visual art in Hong Kong, he has actively participated in major local publications such as Oasis – Artists’ Studios in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong/China Photographers series.
In Details
Jun 12, 2010 - Aug 28, 2010
@1a space
Artists: Choi Yan Chi, Ivy Ma and Wai Kit Lam
Exhibition concept: ivyma
Exhibition Opening: 11.06.2010
Exhibition venue: agnès b.'s LIBRAIRIE GALERIE (1/F, 18 Wing Fung Street, Wan Chai, HK)
Co-presenters: 1a space, agnès b.'s LIBRAIRIE GALERIE
With keen perceptions of all things delicate, attuned to the realm of the miniscule and sensitive to the emotional shifts brought about by slight changes in one’s environment, the three female artists, Choi Yan Chi, Ivy Ma and Wai Kit Lam, presented in this exhibition, In Details, use their work to “pin” and carefully display – like a butterfly collector – small but significant details from their lives’ experience.
Details here refers to those particular moments that typically pass unnoticed in the course of one’s daily life; those moments in-between other moments which are easily forgotten or ignored: a fragment of a pop song heard in passing, the color of a shard of broken glass, a tiny bird hidden in the tangle of a bush, the breeze stirring the pages of a book, the sheen of water on just-washed tiles. All of these tiny “events” lie hidden in plain sight, surrounding us and playing upon us just beyond the realm of consciousness. Nevertheless they are always somehow “sensed” and when they do capture our attention they provoke moments of child-like wonder or Surrealist marvel.
In Details speaks of another way of addressing the world, reconsiders the notion of time, and challenges us with off-kilter perspectives. Here the nature of things seen takes on an alien atmosphere- sometimes dreamy, occasionally horrific. More than simply transforming such minor epiphanies into representational ‘art objects’, these artists’ practices engage in a pure pursuit of knowledge, making discoveries which are rooted in a phenomenological, sensual realm.
The artists’ emphasis on details does not consist in the too-easy (and god-like) gesture of enlarging the small but rather consists in physically getting closer to the seemingly insignificant. It’s a gesture of supplication, a humble bending and stooping that literally brings one in closer contact with the world.
Thus, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s famous statement “God is in Detail,” is reversed in the hands of Choi, Lam and Ma, who search not for perfection but find, in imperfection, a real beauty and a poignant echo of our very human relationship to the world. Starting from an empty place and refusing pre-conceived ideas, their work is neither “conceptual” nor “political” (though it is, in fact, both) but rather an “embodiment” or “incarnation.” Refusing to make statements (which are always, at heart, justifications), their work aspires to a condition of facticity or state of being that is, quite simply, undeniable.
Spectral Evidence
Jul 14, 2010- Sep 05, 2010
@1a space
Exhibition details
Curator: New York-based artist and curator Steven Lam
Artists: US-based artists Sreshta Rit Premnath, Simon Leung, Lin + Lam
Opening reception: 14 July 2010, 7pm
Exhibition Concept
Spectral Evidence, a group exhibition curated by New York-based artist and curator Steven Lam, features projects by US-based artists Sreshta Rit Premnath, Simon Leung, and Lin + Lam. Works in video, photography, and installation examine how the present contains an accumulation of traces that are often hidden or omitted by violent and oppressive forces.
As a historic term, ‘spectral evidence’ was first legally recognized during the Salem Witch Trials in Salem Town, Massachusetts, in the 17th century. In these proceedings, accusers testified that witches possessed and terrorized them in their sleep. U.S. Chief Justice William Stoughton, known at that time more for his witch-hunting than for his juridical duties, expanded the law to admit hearsay, unofficial stories, and gossip as proper material evidence. The artists in Spectral Evidence expand on these ideas, reimagining the haunted subject and its role in social and political life. Works that address the residual violence of war, colonialism, and globalization rupture conventional notions of temporality. By exploring narrative, speculation, and abstraction, as spectral witnesses to the past, projects in Spectral Evidence complicate what the present holds as self-evident.
The ghost, as the theorist Avery Gordon has eloquently written, is not merely an absent figure outside the reality of empirical certitude. Its presence suggests other forms of knowing, sensing, and seeing. “Being haunted,” Gordon writes, “draws us affectively, sometimes against our will into the structure of feeling of a reality we come to experience, not as cold knowledge, but as transformative recognition.”
Steven Lam, the curator
Steven Lam is a curator, artist, educator, and the Associate Dean of The Cooper Union School of Art in New York City, the United States. He has an MFA from the University of California, Irvine and currently teaches performance and sound theory in the Art History and Theory Department at the School of Visual Arts, NYC. Lam has developed exhibitions primarily for non-profit institutions and universities, often prioritizing his experience working in such pedagogical programs. Lam was a Helena Rubinstein Curatorial Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program as well as a Lori Ledis Curatorial Fellow at Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, and was a research curator for the Third Guangzhou Triennial (2008) with Gao Shiming, Sarat Maharaj, and Chang Tsong-zung. Recent curatorial works and collaborations include “...in a most dangerous manner” with Sarah Ross at SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, OH (2010); ‘Tainted Love’ with critic Virginia Solomon at La MaMa La Galleria, NYC (2009); ‘Free as Air and Water’ with Dean Saskia Bos, The Cooper Union (2009); and ‘For Reasons of State’ with Angelique Campens and Erica Cooke at The Kitchen, NYC (2008).
Seminar
The Absence of Ruins: A Conversation with Sreshta Rit Premnath and Lin + Lam
Panelists: Sreshta Rit Premnath, Lin + Lam, and Ms. Mirana May Szeto, Assistant Professor in Comparative Literature at the University of Hong Kong
Moderator: Steven Lam
Date: Thursday, 15 July 2010
Time: 6 – 8pm
Venue: Central Courtyard, Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC)
30 Pak Tin Street, Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon
The seminar will consider how historical memory is constructed through the development of place. By investigating how sites of heritage and commemoration are often coupled with trauma and conflict the panel suggests that artistic practice has a voice in offering alternative narratives and contestations.
Lecture/Performance
Proposal for Squatting Project / Hong Kong by Simon Leung
Host/Performer: Simon Leung
Date: Sat, 17 July 2010
Time: 3 – 5pm
Venue: Osage Kwun Tong
6/F, Kian Dai Industrial Building, 73 – 75 Hung To Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon
Between 1994-2008, Simon Leung created five ‘Squatting Projects’ in five cities: Berlin (1994), New York (1995), Chicago (1997), Vienna (1998), and Guangzhou (2008), each taking a specific form (public poster, video installation, sculpture, etc) to address the issues and concerns generated by the contexts and conditions of the site. ‘Proposal for Squatting Project / Hong Kong’ is a demonstration performance in the form of a lecture/performance/conversation/workshop, designed to investigate possibilities of making a new squatting project for Hong Kong. Audience members are invited to join the performance by participating in a workshop for the new work after the formal presentation.
About 1a space Curatorial Residency
1a space's inaugural Curatorial Residency, an initiative to elevate Hong Kong’s curatorship level and to establish an exchange platform of international standing, is finally awarded to Steven Lam, a New York-based artist and curator, out of the 20 applications received from around the globe. During his residency, Lam will co-organize with 1a space two exhibitions: Spectral Evidence and Against Easy Listening which is an exhibition on aurality and sound scheduled in November 2010 with artists from Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta area. It seeks to introduce social and historical theories of aurality to an art world frequently moved by the display, spectacularity and dominance of visuality.
*Exhibitions, seminars and workshop during Lam’s residency are supported by the Asian Cultural Council.
（Chinese version only)
土人土事
Sep 21, 2010 - Sep 28, 2010
@1a空間
土人土事──牛棚藝術村社區藝術計劃2010
通過藝術來記錄、表達、分享社區生活，有100位「土人」試過了！
100位街坊、6位藝術家、60場工作坊，百多件展品，分享獨一無二的土瓜灣人與事。
由牛棚藝術節協會主辦的「土人土事」社區藝術計劃，於9月舉行展覽，把過去兩個月由土瓜灣街坊親手創製的不同形式的藝術品，公開展示，讓公眾更了解在舊區生活的喜怒哀樂。
這批作品，由區內的新移民婦女、南亞婦女、本地婦女、關注舊區重建的長者、南亞和本地青少年等街坊所創作。7至8月期間，他／她們分別參加了不同藝術類型的工作坊，包括攝影、版畫、工藝與創意寫作、雕塑、形象設計與針孔攝影、書法，學習基本創作技巧，繼而從社區生活出發，尋找創作靈感，在導師協助下，創作及完成屬於自己的作品。
牛棚藝術節協會首次與服務土瓜灣多年的明愛九龍社區中心合作。藝術網絡與社區組織共同建立緊密的夥伴關係，讓「土人土事」得以在一個最貼近生活的基礎上開展。明愛社工劉守德先生說：「這次合作經驗實在無語倫比，藝術與社會工作的結合，既能讓愛與關懷的訊息傳遞到服務對象，亦讓街坊們學到新的表達方法及技巧，更可貴的是建立了持續發展的基石，日後可以令到更多街坊受惠。」
土瓜灣是一個正在經歷轉變的舊區；新落成豪宅及大型連鎖式商店為舊區生活文化帶來不少衝擊。跟其他居於舊區的人士一樣，「土人土事」的參加者不屬於生活優渥的一群，往往奔波於家庭與生計，營營役役；他們從不是意見領袖，卻敢於為爭取更好的生活條件和社區支援，而站出來說話。從這一班「土人」的「土事」中提煉而來的藝術創作，正是見證社會發展的生活寫照。
主辦：牛棚藝術節協會
（成員包括：1a空間、藝術公社、前進進戲劇工作坊、錄映太奇）
協辦：明愛九龍社區中心、社群藝術網絡
資助：香港藝術發展局
「土人土事」參與藝術家及工作坊簡介
曾翠珊
流動影像創作人，2001年畢業於香港演藝學院電影電視系，主修音響設計。05年完成香港城市大學創意媒體學院碩士課程。曾創作多部不同風格的短片，以其女姓敏感細膩的鏡頭下遊走於紀錄與虛構之間。作品曾於意大利、德國、波蘭及英國等地展出。除電影創作外，曾氏近年亦活躍於影像創作教育，現為香港藝術學院的客席講師。
攝影工作坊（對象為新來港及本地婦女）
從鏡頭內外看小社區大世界。每人心裡都有他的大世界，工作坊將給予學員一人一相機作工具 (Lomo Diana Mini)，以陌生的目光遊走熟悉的角落，把日常生活的角落作不一樣的展現。當中將穿梭個人小故事及四周的街角。
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陳麗娟
又名死貓。前八零。出生及成長於九龍城，現蝸居元朗。對貓、雞、魚、花布、花燈和老舊衣服有特殊癖好。畢業於香港中文大學英文系及皇家墨爾本理工大學(香港)，主修繪畫。文字創作散見於《字花》、《明報星期日生活》、《秋螢》、《小說風》、《素葉文學》、《呼吸詩刊》等。詩集《有貓在歌唱》將於2010年夏天出版。現從事寫作、翻譯及寫作教育，偶然畫畫。部落格:littledeadcat.blogspot.com。
工藝、文字工作坊（對象為南亞及本地婦女）
寫作源於生活，我們的生活看似平凡—買菜、煮飯、上班、帶孩子……—裡面都蘊藏著無數個故事，好像一本本獨特的自傳。而我們生活的地區，每一條街道、每一間茶餐廳都是我們故事的舞台；我們煮的菜每一樣材料都可以是一句詩。簡單的文字、畫公仔、小手工，甚至家常用品，都是我們創作的素材。這個工作坊希望讓姊姊妹妹們無拘無束地重拾文字的快樂，例如以物件講故事、雪櫃詩(磁石貼自由組合文字)、虛構自傳、食物詩……
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葉浩麟
出生至今居住土瓜灣。近年少回家，每次回家都發現該區多了幾座樓，和自由行專用的酒家士多停車位。最近透過寫橫額、大字報及牌匾，將學習多年的書法學以致用。
書法工作坊（對象為南亞青少年及關注舊區重建街坊）
學習中國書法技巧，走訪土瓜灣，從社區街道和居住空間的物件中搜集資料，製作自己的招牌、圖咭、字畫等。
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花苑
05年離開設計工業以後開始自學版畫，直至現時版畫仍是陳氏最常用的媒介，作品主題以社會及身邊事物為主，主張作品風格帶有人文關懷及生活感。作品曾於一些主流及非主流雜誌刊出，及散見於社會運動出版物。網頁：http://kardenc.net
版畫工作坊（對象為本地婦女及關注舊區重建街坊）
以版畫作為主要媒介（另加其他媒介和材料拼貼，如：水彩、可塑性高的物料）製作一些日常又附帶訊息的平面圖像，承傳版畫傳統以外再為媒介本身賦予新意義。希望參加者最後能製作個人化的門神∕春聯∕大門掛畫∕標示∕紙牌等等。
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梁廣耀(灰熊)
1996年畢業於香港科技學院(青衣)平面設計。曾從事平面設計及櫥窗設計，現為自由工作者，主要從事藝術教育工作，服務對象為特殊學校、復康中心及醫院等，亦同時參與設計工作，曾為醫院設計壁畫，亦替展覽作教育活動教材套設計內容，及擔任展覽導賞員。
雕塑工作坊（對象為本地青少年）
如何以毫不起眼又亳無價值的物料，創作最有價值的藝術品？「美與醜」，「平與貴」，可以有不一樣的定義。
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程展緯
上過2-3次《Milk》和4-5次《U magazine》時尚雜誌；反對過藝術館搞LV show；中學時喜歡譚詠麟但也可接受張國榮，大學後欣賞張國榮而討厭譚泳麟；心思細密，三心兩意；2008年他終於分清誰是阿嬌，誰是阿Sa；一櫃T- shirt牛仔褲，好久沒有熨衫，志願是時裝設計師。
形象設計及針孔攝影工作坊（對象為長者及本地青少年）
現代社會很需要形象設計，藝員、區議員、補習老師、豪宅保安和曾特首，背後都有一個形象設計師全力支持。你有否想過在沉悶的生活中為自己轉換一下形象？短短四堂課，你將學到形象設計技巧，包括如何拍攝造型照、時裝設計、演講技巧……課程參考書為蔡子強的《新君王論》。
Simulated Alternative Realities
Oct 05, 2010 - Nov 10, 2010
@1a space
Opening reception: Friday 8 October 2010 7pm
Curator:
Davina Lee
Participating Artists:
David Boyce (Hong Kong/New Zealand)
Nick Cheuk (Hong Kong)
Graeme Cooper (Great Britain)
Evangelo Costadimas & Syren Johnstone (Hong Kong/Canada/Australia)
Peter Fraser (Great Britain)
Anthony Lam (Great Britain)
Stephen Lam( Hong Kong/United States)
Noel Manalili (France)
Riddick Douglas Ning (Hong Kong)
Hiram To (Hong Kong/Australia)
Kurt Tong (Great Britain)
Bruce Yonemoto (United States)
Simulated alternative realities can take many different forms. They can be found everywhere– in the elaborate utopias and dystopias created in books, magazines and films, in our belief or denial in the existence of an afterlife, in our very dreams and aspirations. We create alternative realities for ourselves each time we imagine the things that might have been, the half-remembered past, events that never happened but we believe to be true. Simulated alternate realities make strange and unfamiliar the things that we thought we knew.
Dreamworlds, hopes and fantasies, these alternate realities are created as survival strategies
for our daily lives.
The simulated alternative realities depicted within this exhibition exploit the problematic
dialectic inherent in photography, the fallacy of photographic truth. By its very nature, a photograph will always be someone else’s version of the truth, the word “composition” an abbreviation for the complex process of subjective selection and elimination integral even to so-called “documentary photography”. Whilst we cannot authenticate reality through the photograph, at the core of each simulation is an element of the real, the point from which subjectivity and imagination combine to create a distillation of reality or a declaration of intent. Within these simulated alternate realities, anything is possible.
About DIORAMA PROJECTS
DIORAMA PROJECTS was established in Hong Kong in 2008 by Davina Lee as the exhibition and events division of Words For Pictures Limited. The objective of DIORAMA PROJECTS is to identify, develop and realize unique projects that will stimulate artistic and cultural exchange and collaboration. DIORAMA PROJECTS seeks to provide physical and virtual spaces for groundbreaking work from new and established artists. In addition to the ongoing series of monthly screenings DIORAMA PROJECTIONS, previous projects include the exhibitions Chroniques Hongkongaises, part of Festival Voies Off, Arles, July, 2010, Proxemics, Hong Kong, October 2009, The Mother of All Journeys, Hong Kong, September 2009 and Distance Decay, Festival Voies Off, Arles, 2009. At the core of each project is the desire to engage audiences at all levels, from passive observation to active critical debate. www.dioramaprojects.org
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For all enquiries regarding the exhibition, including interview availability and high resolution images please contact:
Davina Lee of DIORAMA PROJECTS
info@dioramaprojects.org
www.dioramaprojects.org
+852 9196 5934
This event is supported by
RED DESERT LTD
DIORAMA PROJECTS
Against Easy Listening
Nov 19, 2010 - Jan 20, 2011
@1a space
Curator: Steven Lam (New York-based artist and curator)
Opening Reception
6.30-8pm, 19.11.2010
Artists
Cattle Depot Community Concern Group, Huang Xiaopeng, Phoebe Hui, Viet Lê, Anson Mak, Mixrice, Mieko Shiomi, Society for Experimental Cultural Production, The Propeller Group (Phunam, Matt Lucero and Tuan Andrew Nguyen), Adrian Wong, Lyota Yagi, Zheng Bo
The exhibition also features a collection of sound organized by Society for Experimental Cultural Production including:
Eric Anglès, Mary Walling Blackburn, Hitlike/ Zhang Liming, Jiang Zhi, Jaffa Lam, Viet Lê, Warren Leung, Anson Mak, Tuan Andrew Nguyen (with Wowy, Alan Hayslip, and The Propeller Group), Pak Sheung Chuen, João Vasco Paiva, Adrian Wong, Yao Chung-Han, Yeung Yang, Zhang Anding, Lee Kit and Su Wenxiang and others.
Exhibition Concept
Against Easy Listening is a group exhibition that scrutinizes the politics of listening and sound in everyday globalized life. With a roster of artists working in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, the exhibition consists of projects in installation, performance, sculpture, video, photography, and phonography.
The role of the aesthetic in this exhibition suggests other forms of knowing - how does one make sense of listening, what type of understanding is cultivated by the ear? How can hearing be a model for social engagement, a practice in tune with issues of community and locality, mediation and difference? Against Easy Listening is an exercise in polyphony: public speech turns into song, voices once dormant or unheard surface to the center for the ear rarely differentiates signal from noise.
Steven Lam, the curator
Steven Lam is a curator, artist, educator, and the Associate Dean of The Cooper Union School of Art in New York City, the United States. He has a MFA from the University of California, Irvine and currently teaches performance and sound theory in the Art History and Theory Department at the School of Visual Arts, NYC. Lam has developed exhibitions primarily for non-profit institutions and universities, often prioritizing his experience working in such pedagogical programs. Lam was a Helena Rubinstein Curatorial Fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program as well as a Lori Ledis Curatorial Fellow at Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, and was a research curator for the Third Guangzhou Triennial (2008) with CURATORS Gao Shiming, Sarat Maharaj, and Chang Tsong-zung. Recent curatorial works and collaborations include “...in a most dangerous manner” with Sarah Ross at SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, OH (2010); ‘Tainted Love’ with critic Virginia Solomon at La MaMa La Galleria, NYC (2009); ‘Free as Air and Water’ (2009) and 'The Crude and the Rare" (2010) with Saskia Bos at The Cooper Union; and ‘For Reasons of State’ with Angelique Campens and Erica Cooke at The Kitchen, NYC (2008). This is his second exhibition at 1a Space.
About 1a space Curatorial Residency
1a space's inaugural Curatorial Residency, an initiative to elevate Hong Kong’s curatorship level and to establish an exchange platform of international standing, is finally awarded to Steven Lam, a New York-based artist and curator, out of the 20 applications received from around the globe. Against Easy Listening is his second exhibition.
*Exhibitions and events during Lam’s residency are supported by the Asian Cultural Council.
1a@Beijing Part 1: turning the pages．I see you see I
Nov 20, 2010 - Jan 29, 2011
@1a space
Seminar Date: Spring 2011 (Date TBC)
Venue: Kubrick Beijing (Please refer to the Chinese version for the exact address.)
Curator: CHOI Yan-chi
Artist: HO Siu-kee, LAM Wai-kit, CHING Chin-wai
Writer & Critic: Long Tin
‘turning the pages．I see you see I’ is an artwork display from Hong Kong to Beijing and back to Hong Kong, join up with reading and dialogues.
‘turning the pages．I see you see I’ is an exhibition in a non-gallery space. The artworks will be shown in the bookstore Kubrick Beijing. They run into the viewers in between the books, the shelves and the space in the bookstore, reaching out to the readers who come to look for reading in this tranquil environment.
We would like to induce in-depth reading. From reading to seeing, it is not only viewing oneself, but also referencing me from the eye of yours and him/her. From Hong Kong to China, and China to Hong Kong; this is about how to analyze the multi-faceted aesthetic presentation in different aspects.
The Hong Kong cultural bookstore Kubrick has its branch opened in Beijing for around a year. In Bono LEE Chiu-hing’s words, “this is so ‘cool’. Even when joking with the Chinese name of Kubrick with the pronunciation as ‘too cool to the customers,’ we are referring to the attitude, but not the services here.” The bookstore is under the spotlight in the local cultural circle. ‘turning the pages．I see you see I’ is trying to place Hong Kong art in the map of China within this unique environment, for reading and thinking. The display of Hong Kong artworks in Beijing is expecting an unconventional experience and exchange from ‘I see you see I’.
There is always not enough, and even rare, reading, writing and discussing of Hong Kong art. For this time using Kubrick Beijing as showcase of Hong Kong art, or can we name it a re-importation, is meant to be an alternative exchange between Hong Kong and China. In some collective activities with exhibition, exchange, forum and publication, the exhibition is just a kick off. We are stressing both displaying of the context and the dialogues involved, in wish to bring out even more and further discussions. Even Kubrick Beijing is not a traditional exhibition venue, but it is a place for reading. 1a@Beijing wishes to meet with audiences from various backgrounds in this unique venue.
In ‘turning the pages．I see you see I,’ the pages is not what in a book. It can be a declaration of the rules, while art is often means to destroying and recreating the rules. Hong Kong-China, or China-Hong Kong, are two interrelating and yet paralleling tracks, varying in terms of distance and sameness from time to time. At the time in this post-colonial handovered Hong Kong, the lost of identity is no longer a controversial topic. From where I see you see I; our recognition have been levied by seeing. We open, and get to know. This is the first step towards an in-depth cultural exchange, while you will know me better through the eyes of I seeing you.
‘turning the pages．I see you see I’ will be showcased from Winter 2010 to Spring 2011 at Kubrick Beijing, while the same exhibition can also be seen at 1a space, Hong Kong. A forum at Beijing will signal the finale of the program. (Program details will be announced later.)
HO Siu-kee, LAM Wai-kit, Luke CHING, Annie WAN, Enoch CHENG, LAU Ching-ping and Lukas TAM are the artists invited to the exhibition. The seven artists are not the newest generation, but their developed artistic styles, which hinting the trend of contemporary Hong Kong art from 90s to 2000s, are the main reason for involving them here. I have also invited some writers from overseas, Mainland China and Hong Kong. They are KOO Yee-wan, Steven LAM (New York based curator), Long Tin, Kurt CHAN, CHAN Ning, Bono LEE and LO Yin-shan. The context and writings will be the reference of the forum in following year. I look forward to the opening of the program, and even more to the discussions of the context and its further development.
Curator: CHOI Yan-chi
Beijing Kubrick Bookstore, Beijing