Kai Tak River Green Art Fest 2012 Exhibition: Is/Is not Kai Tak River a Metaphor

Date: 22 June - 10 August 2012

Venue: 1a Space (Cattle Depot Artist Village)

Participating artists:

Overseas artists --- Alessandro Carboni(Italy), David Haley(U.K.), Ichi Ikeda(Japan), Yutaka Yano (Japan)

Local artists --- Annie Wan, Chris Chan, Kingsley Ng, Chung Wai lan, Lo Chi Kit

Artist profiles --- http://www.kaitakriver.com/participating-artists/

Opening cocktail: 6:30-9:30pm 22 June (With performance by participating overseas artists)

Curator's Note:

Kai Tak River is approximately 3 kilometers in length running through the old districts of Wong Tai Sin and Kowloon City in East Kowloon. Ten years ago or more, it was notorious for its stinky smell and as other things in Hong Kong, it was seen but not cherished, it was ordinary but without face. Now the nearby living space and ecological environments have been changing drastically. It stands there as a silent witness to all urban developments. The river is both the physical connection of geographies and the embodiment of the community's memory. When artists enter the environment, will turn it into a platform for playing imagination? Or to make a good intention come true? Is it a temporal metaphor for the communal life? How do artists instill their imagination of the future or critical perspectives into the locale with their creativity? Kai Tak River also mirrors many aspects of Hong Kong's spatial development. The surrounding fresco of schools, communities, housing estates, parks and major transportation routes sums up and reflects the life of old communities. Isn't its variety a metaphor for the constant transformation of local communities, and the future development of green lifestyle? As the artists enter the green environment to connect art with education--Is this just a story about symbols, or a source of artistic power that inspires, acts and opens up the public imagination and dialogue?