“Attachment-Detachment: The fluxes of subjects and objects”
Hong Kong Taiwan Art Exchange Exhibition
Art and society: They are one?
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“When art is life, and when artistic spirit enters life, it turns an artist to be so charming, so romantic, so extraordinary and so mad that the artist would become so detached from the earth. While an artist creates the possible experience of the sublime and spiritual in the arts to enable audience to escape from daily struggles, this artist must, at the same time, be very socially engaged in order to fully understand the desire of audience.”
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“What is the spectrum of ‘attachment’ and ‘detachment’ when artists engage with community? What are their similarities and differences in terms of art practices? Through observing the fluxes of subjects and objects in Hong Kong and Taiwan — in particular To Kwa Wan and Wanhua, two districts at the brink of urban renewal — this exchange project hopes to inspire more diverse dialogues and thinking space.”
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"If ‘the masses’ think of art as if it sports a halo, it only means that they have fallen into the trap of the mystification of art by modern society. The essence of art and culture has always been hidden in everyday life, and at the same time differs from everyday life."
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Curator from Taiwan,
LIU Shing-You, Walking Grass Agriculture |
Curator from Hong Kong,
Vivian FUNG |
Writer-Respondent
CHAN Sai Lok (Ah 3) |
Following the ‘“Mobile Art Strollers” Hong Kong Artists-in-Residence Scheme’ in 2015, “Attachment-Detachment: The fluxes of subjects and objects” presents the second collaboration between Art Together and Waley Art in terms of art exchange between Hong Kong and Taiwan. In the exhibition, emerging curators Vivian FUNG (Hong Kong) and Walking Grass Agriculture (Taiwan) are invited to join 12 artists from the two cities for an extended dialogue on public and community art.
The first half of the exhibition theme ‘attachment-detachment’ is brought up by Walking Grass Agriculture, who became particularly interested in the complex linkages between ‘community engagement’, ‘community art’ and the autonomy of art after visiting local markets, farms as well as art exhibitions in Hong Kong during their residence in January 2017. By posing a series of shared questions on the engaging and detaching aspects of art, the team seeks to facilitate a continual discussion between Hong Kong and Taiwan artists. In response, Vivian FUNG looks into the practices of Hong Kong artists and poses further questions on the definitions of "attachment" and "detachment" when art interacts with communities, thus completing the second half of the exhibition theme – ‘the fluxes of subjects and objects’.
In October 2017, participating Hong Kong and Taiwan artists exchanged ideas in Taipei. From 11th November 2017 to 26th November 2017, they presented their work, meet the public and discover opportunities for public art in Cattle Depot Artist Village, To Kwa Wan.
The first half of the exhibition theme ‘attachment-detachment’ is brought up by Walking Grass Agriculture, who became particularly interested in the complex linkages between ‘community engagement’, ‘community art’ and the autonomy of art after visiting local markets, farms as well as art exhibitions in Hong Kong during their residence in January 2017. By posing a series of shared questions on the engaging and detaching aspects of art, the team seeks to facilitate a continual discussion between Hong Kong and Taiwan artists. In response, Vivian FUNG looks into the practices of Hong Kong artists and poses further questions on the definitions of "attachment" and "detachment" when art interacts with communities, thus completing the second half of the exhibition theme – ‘the fluxes of subjects and objects’.
In October 2017, participating Hong Kong and Taiwan artists exchanged ideas in Taipei. From 11th November 2017 to 26th November 2017, they presented their work, meet the public and discover opportunities for public art in Cattle Depot Artist Village, To Kwa Wan.
Works
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Opening：11-11-2017（六 SAT）2:30pmExhibition Period：
11-11-2017（六 SAT）— 26-11-2017（日 SUN） Opening Hours：12am - 7pm Venue：Unit 12, Cattle Depot Artist Village, 63 Ma Tau Kok Road, To Kwa Wan, KLN, Hong Kong Curators：Vivian FUNG (Hong Kong), Walking Grass Agriculture (Taiwan) Co-curator: YANG Ya-Siang (Waley Art, Taiwan) |
Participating artists:
(Hong Kong) Kai Fong Pai Dong, CHEUNG Choi Sang Samson, MA Chi-hang, PANG Chun, Tap CHAN, Siu Lan (Taiwan) LI Yi-Fan, LO Yi-Chun, CHEN Han-Sheng, HUANG Po-Chih, LIU Yu, CHENG Ting-Ting Writer-Respondent： LIU Shing-You Vivian FUNG CHAN Sai Lok Stevie TSUI |
Walking Grass Agriculture (Taiwan)
‘The normal meridians of a body are like one’s drainage, while the extraordinary meridians are like a reservoir of a body. When the normal kinds are all full, the extra substances would overflow into the extraordinary meridians. Ancient physician, Qin Yue-ren described it as the overflow of drainage into lakes and reservoirs after heavy rainfall. This is the significant hint not being revealed in ancient medical literatures about spiritual pivot and questions of fundamental nature. The eight extraordinary meridians were only mentioned briefly and separately in different literatures only. Any doctors who do not understand them are not able to heal. Anyone who does not master this knowledge cannot make suitable medicine.’
Eight Extraordinary Meridians by Li Shi-zhen from Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
Eight Extraordinary Meridians by Li Shi-zhen from Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
The terms ‘worldly’ and ‘unworldly’ long existed. When both are discussed, the world becomes a passive entity being intruded or dismissed by humans: waiting for human beings to practically engage themselves in it, or to escape from it. Either way, when the world is gazed as an object, the terms, ‘socially detached’ and ‘socially engaged’ also become the adjectives for the objects.
When ‘socially detached’ and ‘socially engaged’ are applied to describe daily life activities, ‘worldly’ and ‘unworldly’ both suggest the ‘gesture’ and ‘attitude’ involved in the gaze of the subjects and the objects being seen. Being socially detached or socially engaged is a matter of being conscious or not in the process of seeing or being seen. No one can be excluded completely, although some may be considered as the outsiders. If the expertise of artists is seeing and the way of seeing can be understood as the eight extra meridians in society for the overflow, then what is the possible and significant role of artists in society for the suitable medicine?
When we hear that life is art, the nutrients of art enter the world. However, in this process, when artists become so charming and elegant, so strange and mad, artists are socially detached. When we learn that art can provide a sublime state for salvation and art helps a viewer to escape from the world, the artists behind must be very socially engaged. The necessity of art in life is questionable. Due to this doubt, art may become necessary. Art and life is the ‘little idea’* for each other. Following through would be ‘bridge seeking’ and ‘goal reaching’ in a series. The current Hong Kong-Taiwan exchange project is not merely an exchange platform for artists, nor a boring exhibition looking for exotic images from another region. Instead, it is probing questions through reviewing the one another.
(* ‘Little idea’, ‘bridge seeking’ and ‘goal reaching’ are three steps in the martial arts of Wing Chun Kung Fu. ‘Little idea’ is used here as an analogy to illustrate the delicate ideas of artists, whereas ‘bridge seeking’ and ‘goal reaching’ are like the art-making process and target audience in the artistic quest.)
When ‘socially detached’ and ‘socially engaged’ are applied to describe daily life activities, ‘worldly’ and ‘unworldly’ both suggest the ‘gesture’ and ‘attitude’ involved in the gaze of the subjects and the objects being seen. Being socially detached or socially engaged is a matter of being conscious or not in the process of seeing or being seen. No one can be excluded completely, although some may be considered as the outsiders. If the expertise of artists is seeing and the way of seeing can be understood as the eight extra meridians in society for the overflow, then what is the possible and significant role of artists in society for the suitable medicine?
When we hear that life is art, the nutrients of art enter the world. However, in this process, when artists become so charming and elegant, so strange and mad, artists are socially detached. When we learn that art can provide a sublime state for salvation and art helps a viewer to escape from the world, the artists behind must be very socially engaged. The necessity of art in life is questionable. Due to this doubt, art may become necessary. Art and life is the ‘little idea’* for each other. Following through would be ‘bridge seeking’ and ‘goal reaching’ in a series. The current Hong Kong-Taiwan exchange project is not merely an exchange platform for artists, nor a boring exhibition looking for exotic images from another region. Instead, it is probing questions through reviewing the one another.
(* ‘Little idea’, ‘bridge seeking’ and ‘goal reaching’ are three steps in the martial arts of Wing Chun Kung Fu. ‘Little idea’ is used here as an analogy to illustrate the delicate ideas of artists, whereas ‘bridge seeking’ and ‘goal reaching’ are like the art-making process and target audience in the artistic quest.)
Vivian FUNG (Hong Kong)
Feeling the limits of the spoken language, I left the commercial sector to join the art world to learn the visual language. I hope that the distance created by art, can inspire connections among individuals and things, whereby fostering new angles of reflections and new levels of discussions.
‘Attachment’ and ‘Detachment’ are seemingly two opposing vocabularies. But after spending a morning at Kai Fong Pai Dong (KFPD), an alternative art space managed by an invisible organizing committee in Yau Ma Tei, I realized most people not only don't refer them as opposing terms, their meanings are deadlocked and vague, and at times their concepts are interchangeable.
When artists choose to manage a stall in a community and co-create with grassroots, it’s a very attached action. But when KFPD does not have regular opening hours, does the operation become detached?
When PANG Chun studies his wandering subjects in his field research, his actions are attached to the city. But after understanding the internal logic of those commonly seen as ‘weird’, his line of questioning turned to the notion of ‘normality’. Are his thoughts detached from our daily understanding?
After moving to Hong Kong, Siu Lan worked for 40 years as a seamstress, attached to a factory. But when she turned 70, she launched her own series of “Old Fashioned Wearables”. Is her entrepreneurial venture defining, or detached from the world?
MA Chi Hang spent four years looking for ballads sung by fishermen in Hong Kong. But after attaching with all the elderlies who could sing the tunes and improvise the lyrics, he questions whether the Tanka culture could be conserved if sea life no longer exists.
Tap CHAN usually explores liminality embedded in daily lives, where most feels detached. But when revisiting To Kwa Wan where she spent her childhood, her installation is rooted in the boundaries of fiction and history, where people seems attached.
Two years ago, Samson CHEUNG spent days during his residency attaching to the neighbourhood to find the origins of the local plant where the district is named after. Two years later and detached from Wan Hua District, he attempts to use sound to address the sentiments of the neighbourhood.
What is the spectrum of ‘attachment’ and ‘detachment’ when artists engage with community? What are their similarities and differences in terms of art practices? Through observing the fluxes of subjects and objects in Hong Kong and Taiwan – in particular To Kwa Wan and Wan Hua, two districts at the brink of urban renewal – this exchange project hopes to inspire more diverse dialogues and thinking space.
‘Attachment’ and ‘Detachment’ are seemingly two opposing vocabularies. But after spending a morning at Kai Fong Pai Dong (KFPD), an alternative art space managed by an invisible organizing committee in Yau Ma Tei, I realized most people not only don't refer them as opposing terms, their meanings are deadlocked and vague, and at times their concepts are interchangeable.
When artists choose to manage a stall in a community and co-create with grassroots, it’s a very attached action. But when KFPD does not have regular opening hours, does the operation become detached?
When PANG Chun studies his wandering subjects in his field research, his actions are attached to the city. But after understanding the internal logic of those commonly seen as ‘weird’, his line of questioning turned to the notion of ‘normality’. Are his thoughts detached from our daily understanding?
After moving to Hong Kong, Siu Lan worked for 40 years as a seamstress, attached to a factory. But when she turned 70, she launched her own series of “Old Fashioned Wearables”. Is her entrepreneurial venture defining, or detached from the world?
MA Chi Hang spent four years looking for ballads sung by fishermen in Hong Kong. But after attaching with all the elderlies who could sing the tunes and improvise the lyrics, he questions whether the Tanka culture could be conserved if sea life no longer exists.
Tap CHAN usually explores liminality embedded in daily lives, where most feels detached. But when revisiting To Kwa Wan where she spent her childhood, her installation is rooted in the boundaries of fiction and history, where people seems attached.
Two years ago, Samson CHEUNG spent days during his residency attaching to the neighbourhood to find the origins of the local plant where the district is named after. Two years later and detached from Wan Hua District, he attempts to use sound to address the sentiments of the neighbourhood.
What is the spectrum of ‘attachment’ and ‘detachment’ when artists engage with community? What are their similarities and differences in terms of art practices? Through observing the fluxes of subjects and objects in Hong Kong and Taiwan – in particular To Kwa Wan and Wan Hua, two districts at the brink of urban renewal – this exchange project hopes to inspire more diverse dialogues and thinking space.
12/10/2017 - 15/10/2017
台灣台北市 Taipei, Taiwan
台灣台北市 Taipei, Taiwan
Attachment-Detachment Art Activities @ Cattle Depot
Artist Dialogue
藝術家對談 Artist Dialogue
11-11-2017（六 SAT）3pm – 4:30pm
（香港）馮穎君、街坊排檔、張才生、彭震、陳沁昕、小蘭
(Hong Kong) Vivian FUNG, Kai Fong Pai Dong, CHEUNG Choi Sang Samson, PANG Chun, Tap CHAN, Siu Lan
（台灣）走路草農藝工作室、李亦凡、羅懿君
(Taiwan) Walking Grass Agriculture, LI Yi-Fan, LO Yi-Chun
11-11-2017（六 SAT）3pm – 4:30pm
（香港）馮穎君、街坊排檔、張才生、彭震、陳沁昕、小蘭
(Hong Kong) Vivian FUNG, Kai Fong Pai Dong, CHEUNG Choi Sang Samson, PANG Chun, Tap CHAN, Siu Lan
（台灣）走路草農藝工作室、李亦凡、羅懿君
(Taiwan) Walking Grass Agriculture, LI Yi-Fan, LO Yi-Chun
Made in Hong Kong & Hand-made by Taiwan
思箱計畫 – 香港製造 Made in Hong Kong & Hand-made by Taiwan
11-11-2017 (六 SAT) 4:30pm – 5:30pm
藝術家 Artist：陳漢聲 CHEN Han-Sheng
I still remember my surprise visiting Kam Tin for the first time. It was so unlike my stereotypic impression of a highly urbanized Hong Kong. Its countryside landscape, architecture and farmland, reminded me of Kaohsiung, my hometown in Taiwan. But when I returned to the city and visited Hong Kong’s wet markets, I was also surprised that almost all fruits and vegetables were imported from Mainland China.
Linking these experiences with my agricultural family background, I conceptualized ‘Made in Hong Kong – Hand Made by Taiwan’, a shopping project involving hand-crafted silk-screen printing on paper boxes (a common farm produce packaging in Taiwan). Those who wish to get my silk-screen printing on paper box artwork will also get some authentically ‘Made in Hong Kong’ produce. Through this creative process, What is localization? What is national sovereignty? What counts is determination and confidence. The project of “Made In Hong Kong & Hand Made By Taiwan” discusses interpersonal relationships and context.
11-11-2017 (六 SAT) 4:30pm – 5:30pm
藝術家 Artist：陳漢聲 CHEN Han-Sheng
I still remember my surprise visiting Kam Tin for the first time. It was so unlike my stereotypic impression of a highly urbanized Hong Kong. Its countryside landscape, architecture and farmland, reminded me of Kaohsiung, my hometown in Taiwan. But when I returned to the city and visited Hong Kong’s wet markets, I was also surprised that almost all fruits and vegetables were imported from Mainland China.
Linking these experiences with my agricultural family background, I conceptualized ‘Made in Hong Kong – Hand Made by Taiwan’, a shopping project involving hand-crafted silk-screen printing on paper boxes (a common farm produce packaging in Taiwan). Those who wish to get my silk-screen printing on paper box artwork will also get some authentically ‘Made in Hong Kong’ produce. Through this creative process, What is localization? What is national sovereignty? What counts is determination and confidence. The project of “Made In Hong Kong & Hand Made By Taiwan” discusses interpersonal relationships and context.
Sound Performance: ‘Transition’
場域展演：「過渡」 Sound Performance: ‘Transition’
19-11-2017（日 SUN）3pm
藝術家 Artist：張才生 CHEUNG Choi Sang Samson
The belated railway development has reached the aspirations of numerous residents in the area of South Wanhua in Taipei and To Kwa Wan in Hong Kong. The lengthy project has brought the two places into a kind of “temporary" and "transitional" status. The artist takes his own ambivalence with hope and worries of this kind of new sight. This performance reflects the artist’s listening experience as a Hongkonger in To Kwa Wan and South Wanhua District during his artist residency in 2015.
19-11-2017（日 SUN）3pm
藝術家 Artist：張才生 CHEUNG Choi Sang Samson
The belated railway development has reached the aspirations of numerous residents in the area of South Wanhua in Taipei and To Kwa Wan in Hong Kong. The lengthy project has brought the two places into a kind of “temporary" and "transitional" status. The artist takes his own ambivalence with hope and worries of this kind of new sight. This performance reflects the artist’s listening experience as a Hongkonger in To Kwa Wan and South Wanhua District during his artist residency in 2015.
Screening: Ballad on the Shore
《岸上漁歌》放映會 Screening: Ballad on the Shore
26-11-2017（日 SUN）7:30pm
藝術家 Artist：馬智恆 MA Chi-hang
On the small isle of Tap Mun, the ocean breeze gently lifts up strands of grey hair on Lai Lin-shau’s head. He quietly sings in the characteristic tones of the fisherman’s ballads: Anchor large boats at the tip of To Nin, a sampan sends the lover to Sai See Island.....”. The melody alters with his moods and, seemingly without rules, the pitch and tones alternate and repeat themselves as if they were synchronising with the ocean waves. The lyrics of these ballads tell the stories of the trials and tribulations of the life of the fisherman. The Lai family had, for generations, fished for a living in the waters of Tap Mun, their ballads are passed down from one generation to the next, but the songs are finding fewer and fewer listeners today. Born before WWII, Mr. Lai has been wed to his wife for over 60 years. He is one of the few people alive who knows the fisherman’s ballads intimately. None of his children followed the ancestral path of a fisherman, and none experienced the harsh and unforgiving life at sea. They are not even aware of his singular and priceless knowledge of the ballads.
The deeply tanned skin with a whiff of sea salt coming off their bodies are the distinctive signs of an ex-fisherman to the city dwellers. As the fishing community shrinks, they found new ways of life on land. One performs and teaches the ballads to young children; another uses the ballads to spread her Christian faith. The ballads have become a spiritual harbour for these landed fishermen and appear to offer solace and certain selective nostalgia to a life of hardship. These ballads were once part of the nautical landscape of Tap Mun and as the memories of the fishermen’s past lives fade, the words and melodies have come ashore bringing spiritual serenity to those who would hear the songs of the sea.
26-11-2017（日 SUN）7:30pm
藝術家 Artist：馬智恆 MA Chi-hang
On the small isle of Tap Mun, the ocean breeze gently lifts up strands of grey hair on Lai Lin-shau’s head. He quietly sings in the characteristic tones of the fisherman’s ballads: Anchor large boats at the tip of To Nin, a sampan sends the lover to Sai See Island.....”. The melody alters with his moods and, seemingly without rules, the pitch and tones alternate and repeat themselves as if they were synchronising with the ocean waves. The lyrics of these ballads tell the stories of the trials and tribulations of the life of the fisherman. The Lai family had, for generations, fished for a living in the waters of Tap Mun, their ballads are passed down from one generation to the next, but the songs are finding fewer and fewer listeners today. Born before WWII, Mr. Lai has been wed to his wife for over 60 years. He is one of the few people alive who knows the fisherman’s ballads intimately. None of his children followed the ancestral path of a fisherman, and none experienced the harsh and unforgiving life at sea. They are not even aware of his singular and priceless knowledge of the ballads.
The deeply tanned skin with a whiff of sea salt coming off their bodies are the distinctive signs of an ex-fisherman to the city dwellers. As the fishing community shrinks, they found new ways of life on land. One performs and teaches the ballads to young children; another uses the ballads to spread her Christian faith. The ballads have become a spiritual harbour for these landed fishermen and appear to offer solace and certain selective nostalgia to a life of hardship. These ballads were once part of the nautical landscape of Tap Mun and as the memories of the fishermen’s past lives fade, the words and melodies have come ashore bringing spiritual serenity to those who would hear the songs of the sea.
guided school tour
學校導賞 Guided School Tour
22-11-2017（三WED）
藝術家 Artist：街坊排檔 Kai Fong Pai Dong
22-11-2017（三WED）
藝術家 Artist：街坊排檔 Kai Fong Pai Dong
“Attachment-Detachment: The Fluxes Of Subjects And Objects”
Hong Kong Taiwan Art Exchange Documentation
主辦 Presented by
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資助 Supported by
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鳴謝 Special Thanks to
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