Being controlled to control
Wong Chun Hei's Solo exhibition Bystander Somewhere
Artist Commune, Hong Kong
2nd to 8th May, 2008
The exhibition of Wong Chun Hei, Bystander Somewhere, is an attempt to explore the relationship between a work, the audience and the bystander. The works are inspired by a display window composed of two pieces of grid-grain glass and a work in between from Peninsular Hotel. Passer-bys would see the illusion that the grid-grain is wavering.
This exhibition chooses to present this phenomenon with the maze which could be played with, coupled with the visual effect from the display window in Peninsular Hotel. The work to be exhibited in Artist Commune is largely composed of transparent plastic blocks with the image of maze printed on them. At the back of the maze is a red dot as the focus point, and the audience are required to move their bodies or heads in order to control the red dots and then discover the way out. Bystanders, in comparison, are able to see the audience facing the static work and shaking their bodies.
The work is also a response to the social affairs in Hong Kong, including the news about an A380 airplane flying above the city and the route for transferring the torch of the Olympic Games 2008 at Hong Kong.
Bystander Somewhere mainly uses mixed media in its creation. It also contains video and photographic works, and even sets up a maze, which allows the participants to lose themselves in it, or become bystanders, who take up the role of observing others. Either you would like to be the former or the latter; one shall not miss the exhibition.
Opening Date: 2nd May (Friday), 2008, 5:00p.m
Exhibition Date: 2nd to 8th May, 2008
Venue: Artist Commune, Unit 12, Cattle Depot Artist Village, 63 Ma Tau Kok Road, Kowloon, HK
Public guide-tour: 4th May, 2008, 4:00 p.m
Enquiry: 6171 3598(Chun Hei)
E-mail: http://hk.mc559.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=stephenshame@yahoo.com.hk
About the artist:
Wong Chun Hei is interested in how the sense of "control" could be shown. Many past works attempt to control the audience participation into the work, and the experience of the display window enables him to reflect upon the intimate relationship between controlling and being controlled: every time we think that we possess the power to control (viewing the work), we are in fact restrained somehow. We try to obtain something out of the work, only to be manipulated eventually.
Wong Chun Hei's Solo exhibition Bystander Somewhere
Artist Commune, Hong Kong
2nd to 8th May, 2008
The exhibition of Wong Chun Hei, Bystander Somewhere, is an attempt to explore the relationship between a work, the audience and the bystander. The works are inspired by a display window composed of two pieces of grid-grain glass and a work in between from Peninsular Hotel. Passer-bys would see the illusion that the grid-grain is wavering.
This exhibition chooses to present this phenomenon with the maze which could be played with, coupled with the visual effect from the display window in Peninsular Hotel. The work to be exhibited in Artist Commune is largely composed of transparent plastic blocks with the image of maze printed on them. At the back of the maze is a red dot as the focus point, and the audience are required to move their bodies or heads in order to control the red dots and then discover the way out. Bystanders, in comparison, are able to see the audience facing the static work and shaking their bodies.
The work is also a response to the social affairs in Hong Kong, including the news about an A380 airplane flying above the city and the route for transferring the torch of the Olympic Games 2008 at Hong Kong.
Bystander Somewhere mainly uses mixed media in its creation. It also contains video and photographic works, and even sets up a maze, which allows the participants to lose themselves in it, or become bystanders, who take up the role of observing others. Either you would like to be the former or the latter; one shall not miss the exhibition.
Opening Date: 2nd May (Friday), 2008, 5:00p.m
Exhibition Date: 2nd to 8th May, 2008
Venue: Artist Commune, Unit 12, Cattle Depot Artist Village, 63 Ma Tau Kok Road, Kowloon, HK
Public guide-tour: 4th May, 2008, 4:00 p.m
Enquiry: 6171 3598(Chun Hei)
E-mail: http://hk.mc559.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=stephenshame@yahoo.com.hk
About the artist:
Wong Chun Hei is interested in how the sense of "control" could be shown. Many past works attempt to control the audience participation into the work, and the experience of the display window enables him to reflect upon the intimate relationship between controlling and being controlled: every time we think that we possess the power to control (viewing the work), we are in fact restrained somehow. We try to obtain something out of the work, only to be manipulated eventually.
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