Sino Group proudly presents Reverse Reality, an exhibition curated by Selina Ho for four Hong Kong leading artists, Beatrix Pang, Doris Wong, Hanison Lau and Florian Ma to showcase their new works which have been informed and conceived by their experiences in Portland, the United States.

During their one-month residency in Portland which is a place well-known of its alternative culture, the artists have used a variety of on-site materials and mediums to address how they work across cultural borders and to negotiate spaces and ideas from a distance. Their works are now displayed to explore their relevance to the realities which are relegated in our culture, and how the artists approach the cultural difference.

Interested in history and memories of urban life of a city, Beatrix Pang undertook a tumblelog project, "Bear wants your story" (http://bearwantsyourstory.tk/) to collect stories from different walks of life in Portland, and present them in a soundscape. Doris Wong used to challenge the authoritative value and perception by using the strategy of original and copy. She has collected museum and gallery invitation cards in Portland since the residency, and created the replicas of these by-products of global art mechanism. Hanison Lau’s sculptural installation usually refers to Chinese cultural and poetic properties to fabricate ready-made materials and lost objects. He collected many discarded objects that he found near his living area in Portland, and then fabricated them into a miniaturized Chinese classical garden to ease cultural communication. Florian Ma is used to turn urban scenery into conceptual visual elements. Using the Worksound gallery as his laboratory, he worked out five installations by mediating between light and space, as metaphors of exchange between the two worlds.

It is the first time Hong Kong artists have been collectively shown in Portland. Born around the 1980s, and active in artistic creativity since early 2000, this group of artists are representing the leading young Hong Kong artists of contemporary art, and running their collective-initiative to extend their artistic dialogue and to confront their mobility.

In coincidence with the exhibition, the artists will share their exchange experience at the C&G Artpartment on 21 Feb, 2009. The talk will be moderated by the curator Selina Ho and be responded by guest artists Jaffa Lam and Warren Leung Chi Wo, both of them have been the recipients of Asian Cultural Council fellowship. Meanwhile, to document the artists’ works, words from the curator and reviews by guest writers, Ella Pau, Stella Fong, Vivian Ting and Yeung Yang, an exhibition tabloid will be launched at the opening.

Exhibition
Artists: Beatrix Pang, Doris Wong, Florian Ma, Hanison Lau
Curator: Selina Ho
Venue: OC gallery-G/F, Olympian City 1, 11 Hoi Fai Road, West Kowloon
Date: 30 Jan-1 March, 2009 ( Mon-Sun 9 am-9pm )
Opening: 30 Jan 2009 6:30pm-8:00pm
(Music performance by Brown Note Collective)
Enquiry: 2132 8718

Artist talk
Dialogue with Hong Kong leading young artists:
From American dream to reality
Speakers: Beatrix Pang, Doris Wong, Florian Ma, Hanison Lau
Guest respondents: Jaffa Lam, Warren Leung Chi Wo
Moderator: Selina Ho
Venue: C & G Artpartment ( 3/F, 222 Sai Yeung Choi Street S., Prince Edward, Hong Kong)
Date: 21st Feb 2009
Time: 3:30 pm-4:50pmEnquiry: 23909332

A Curator’s note

This exhibition took its point of departure from an artist residency and exchange project in which four leading young Hong Kong artists went to Portland of the United States for a month to create new works conceived by their experiences.

The participating artists, Beatrix Pang, Doris Wong, Hanison Lau and Florian Ma, set off to Portland in Oregon in early September 2008. During their residence they employed different media to address the ways they worked across cultural borders and negotiated spaces and ideas from a distance.

Portland was chosen as their destination for because the artists are fascinated by its alternative culture, towhich sis unique in America. , this place is different from the mainstream culture in America. Portland has been active in alternative movement,cultural do-it-yourself, DIY and, micro-business, and socially engaged , as well asand socially engagedthe community was enthusiastic about in environmental conservation and land-use planning. Its liberal social environment has nurtured a diverse culture and an organic art scene that have attracted flocks of young artists from other states and overseas. For the first time, works of Hong KongYet Iit is unprecedented that the works of Hong Kong visual artists have been collectively shown in Portland,,. and Theytheir works were displayed together with those of other two other artists from, of France and Portland respectively.

Born around the 1980s, these four artists started to develop their works since early 2000. They connected on this occasion to take a detour for artistic exposure, and confronted their mobility. The title of this exhibition, Reverse Reality, is adopted to express their attitudes and desires of intervention in their art practice contexts, life experiences, as well as local and global realities. Coincidently, the literary meanings of “Reverse” give an account for the context of this cultural exchange and the time and space replacement involved. In this context, the notion of reality is subjective, and provokes mutations in accordance with individual perceptions and experiences.

This group exhibition features the distinguished works they produced in Portland. I find myself asking these questions: What do their works mean to us if they are displayed in Hong Kong? Are these works relevant to the realities which are relegated in our local culture? How do the artists approach the cultural differences in their works? When revealing their cultural references, are the works connected with the artists’ development?

Amongst them, Hanison Lau is most concerned with confronting the cultural boundaries between the West and the East. Hanison has been interested in fabricating ready-made objects, and articulating the differences in materiality, to develop distinctive visual properties and sculptural characters. The “Portland Classical Chinese Garden” was completed by Suzhou craftsmen in 2000 to serve as a symbol of friendship between Portland and Suzhou which became sister cities in 1988. Having observed that Portland locals are unfamiliar with the garden, Hanison collected many discarded objects in his neighbourhood, and then fabricated the objects into a miniaturized garden. The mini garden, “Su Yuan Recreated” is based on his cultural decoding of the names of nine scenery spots of the Garden and transforming them into visual sculptural forms poetically arranged in a harmonious manner. Hanison tenderly employed familiar materials to build an intimate communication with Portland people, to evoke their imagination about Chinese culture, and shape his role of an interpreter between the two cultures.

As a contrast to Hanison’s translation of the complementary and communicative properties of objects, Doris Wong takes a critical view on the dogmatic value of objects that she conspicuously “displays” their copies in accordance with the context of the venue and exhibition. She copies original objects by hand to compel viewers to explore the intention of her works and her critical subjects which are usually drawn on authoritative and mundane objects. Pinning her criticism on the local institution of art, she has copied Hong Kong Biennial Art Exhibition catalogues, and has produced reflexive art museum mini models. In Portland, she collected and copied the flyers and invitation cards of the museums, galleries and art spaces, recycling the idea of this global art mechanisms. She framed the originals and copies of these by-products of art and displayed them as pictures. Although her copy is a direct reference from the object and proposes no change to the substance itself, her work accommodates a new meaning for interaction with a particular cultural context.

The other two artists, Beatrix Pang and Florian Ma are sensitive in their relations with the city in terms of time and space, and express themselves through the chants of immaterial “sound” and “light”. Beatrix explores the stories and memories of urban life through photography and video. Ambitiously interacting with the local people of Portland, she undertook a tumblelog project, "Bear wants your story" to collect the life stories of the common people by street interviews. Wearing a bear mask, a symbol of fairytale, for narrative and communication purposes, Beatrix was at first confronted by Portland people who hesitated to communicate, which made her critical to grasp the relational aesthetics of participation and human relationships. The role of the “Other” is relatively inevitable, and the position and view of an outsider/stranger are unveiled in her encounter with another society. Beatrix found her way out by intermingling the voices of passers-by with the city noise and composing them in spontaneous, repetitive and fragmented manners parallel to the trivial moments of her past works. Culturally transitional, her work renders the audible inaudible, offering us a soundscape of the city, both foreign and familiar to Hong Kong.

Florian Ma turns urban scenery into conceptual visual elements through image manipulation in order to examine different metaphors and methods. He is interested to manipulate western master imageries, including Disney and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Last year he created flashing neon signs of hidden porn advertising and Busty Hooker as a symbol of prostitutes to evoke a socially portrayal space of Yamatei. He also installed a lighting system repeating yellow and blue colour to represent the time and aura change from day to night in the district. Further to his light project, Florian made five site-specific installations at the Worksound gallery in Portland, exploring the metaphors of the exchange of two different worlds by negotiating their differences in time and space. He covered up the window facades of the gallery with blue and yellow digital printed transparent stickers, reversing the boundaries between the inner and the outer, artificial and natural, day and night. Other works are driven by motor and computer manipulation, to mobilize light and interplay colour and light, transmitting the rhythms and qualities of light and shadow, that we can contemplate two imagined territories. In addition to bowls of water and fish, obscure blubs light, and foreign objects, a transit landscape and unfamiliar romance are expressed.

As interpretation of the works could only be extended through dialogue, I particularly thank Ellen Pau, Yeung Yang, Stella Fong and Vivian Ting for their intelligent writings on the works for the exhibition tabloid. Thanks also go to the C&G Apartment for organising the Artist Talk (on Feb 21), and to the guest respondents, Jaffa Lam and Warren Leung Chi Wo. Above all, I wish to thank Sino Group’s ‘Art in Hong Kong’ for presenting this exhibition, and the Home Affairs Bureau and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council for their sponsorship.

Selina Ho

策展人語

是次展覽伸延自四位香港年青藝術家在美國參與的藝術駐場及交流計劃。2008年9月初，彭倩幗、黃慧妍、劉學成、馬浩賢往俄岡勒州的波特蘭一個月，就地取材以不同媒介，表達個人處於不同時空、文化的經驗和回應。

波特蘭的另類文化在美國獨樹一幟，它開放的社會氛圍孕育出多元的文化，吸引了來自國內外五湖四海的年青藝術家，營造了一個有機活躍的藝圈。是以香港視覺藝術家屬意於波特蘭進行創作，在當地首度聯展。

這群年青藝術家均生於近八十年代，2000年開始一直持續發展視覺藝術創作。他們是次出走投射了香港年青藝術家的流動能量。Reverse Reality(逆向‧現實)就是引自出走作為一種態度，以及介入的意圖，尤針對創作環境、生活經驗、本土現實以至全球化的問題。另外，Reverse一詞有逆向和交換替置的含意，意味著兩地文化和時空的交錯；Reality同時強調現象學中個人對現實經驗的詮釋，以及他們對轉移現實的感知探索。

現正在OC藝廊展出的，大部分是這群藝術家在波特蘭完成的新作品。展品雖然創作於波特蘭，卻深深體現藝術家自身創作的脈絡，及在文化差異間的自處方式，正反映出藝術家與本地文化千絲萬縷的關係。

四名藝術家中，劉學成對中西文化的溝通尤為關注。他一直善長挪用現成物，特別是日常生活物件，透過重組物料的差異，創作出特殊的雕塑意象。在波特蘭駐場期間，他發現當地一座由蘇州藝匠於2000年建成的中國園林建築，旨在促進波特蘭與姊妹城市蘇州的文化交流和友好交往。學成聽聞當地人對這座外來的園林一直深感隔膜，於是取意該園九個景觀的中文名稱，將中國抽象的典故轉化為具體的意象，重組一個富有詩意的微型蘇州園林。他採用住所附近收集得來的棄置物件，對波特蘭巿民來說份外親切。作品不但發掘中西文化溝通的可行性，吊跪地展開對中國文化的想像，更強調我們乃置於文化夾縫中的註譯者。

當劉學成一直追求以物質協調和溝通的可能，黃慧妍卻質疑物件的價值規範和在非/展示場域所產生的變數。黃慧妍一直透過手作複製物品的方式，引發觀者注意她批判的對象和意圖。她複製的對象，一般是具權威或生活規條的物件。針對本土藝術機制，她曾複製香港雙年展特刊，以及製作博物館迷你模型。延伸至波特蘭，她收集了當地博物館、畫廊和藝術空間的邀請咭，然後進行手繪複製。針對全球化的藝術機制，她將藝術宣傳附屬品的正本和複製本像畫作般置於框架展示。雖然她運用直接參照的方法，複製對象本質上未有改變，可是在特殊的文化環境和展示情態中卻產生全新的互動意義。

其餘兩名藝術家彭倩幗和馬浩賢分別透過「聲」、「光」，審視自身在時間和空間上與城市的關係。彭倩幗的作品一直探討都市生活的記憶和故事。她今次在波特蘭進行《熊要你的故事》計劃，在街頭隨機地向過路人進行簡短訪問，收集他們日常的生活故事，以近距離接觸本地人。熊是童話故事的象徵，倩幗帶上了北極熊面具，吸引當地人跟她說故事。但溝通似乎失效，面對著一個陌生的社群，她處於「他者」的角色，一直跟強調群眾參與和人類關係的關係美學拉扯。倩幗最終收錄了波特蘭城市的聲音和一些路人的回應，一如她以往的作品，強調不可明釋、隨機且片斷地出現，以呈現跨時空的過渡和瞬間狀態。她以故事/記憶跟現實保持距離，最終還是棄用語言，反強調聲音對環境、身份的想像。

馬浩賢喜歡將城市的景象化為概念的視覺元素，運用機械及影像操作裝置以探索象徵意義及表現秩序。他多採用西方的象徵圖像，如迪士尼和雪姑七友等。去年他以光管製作隱喻黃色事業的「麻甩仔索油地」霓虹廣告和象徵妓女的「情迷大波雞」，並將展場燈光轉換，由黃變藍，反映油麻地日夜景況和社會空間的不同感官刺激。在波特蘭期間，馬浩賢為當地Worksound畫廊的特殊場地製作了五個裝置，以隱喻著兩地時空差異的磨合。浩賢在整個展場入口的正面窗排鋪滿以電腦打印的黃色和藍色透明膠貼，移換室內/外，人造/日光，晝/夜的關係，表達他對時空反差的感官和意義。另外，他亦透過摩達和電腦程式操縱，以光影的移動、光影和顏色的互動，變奏出兩個地域相遇所未完成的想像。加上水和游魚、燈泡和異地風物的擺設，為這時空磨合增添不少游移和陌生的張力。

對以上作品的詮譯只能透過對話得以伸延，為增加對作品解讀的層次，感謝資深策展人丁穎茵、方詠甄、楊陽和鮑藹倫，在展覽刊物中分別為這四名年青藝術家撰寫文章。四位藝術家也將(於二月二十一日)分享波特蘭的交流經驗，感謝分享會的協辦團體C&G藝術單位，以及資深藝術家林嵐和梁志和屆時擔任回應嘉賓。最後，承蒙信和集團「香港藝術」主辦是次展覽，以及民政事務局、香港藝術發展局的資助，計劃得以完成，謹此致謝。

何翠芬