NEW HAVEN GREEN & i

The performative sculptures and public installations Debe SHAM have developed in the past several years have grown out of her artistic exploration of the role of public art. Specifically, SHAM has focused on interactivity as a means of generating dialogue between art and its audience; the ambiguity of interpersonal communication in different social situations; and the history and culture of the Hong Kong public playground. Taking as a reference the physical construction and real-life environment of the public playground, SHAM tries to transform interpersonal communication in a site-specific space, especially among kids, into some form of artistic expression. While the scale of the resulting sculptural structure may not compare with an actual playground, by repositioning it in another context as a public art piece, it opens up the dialogue to even broader groups of participants, and allows the general public in these communities to experience art in daily life.