这么远，那么近
2024.04.05 香港巴塞尔艺术周
观众在香港巴塞尔刘茵作品海报前合影旲堂Thy Lab“贼-被盗艺术品拍卖”展览现场.由策展人黄子欣带领的深水埗艺术家营运空间探访.笹本晃在Para Site展览开幕表演现场张颂仁、乌利·希克和皮力在香港巴塞尔讲座现场.
LATE LAST YEAR officially marked the end of Covid in China, and it was also the post-pandemic return of Art Basel Hong Kong. Crowds donned masks and poured into Hong Kong’s long-lost, grandiose art affair while the virus wantonly huffed its last exasperated breath. I still remember the miserable state of my own post-infection body lingering for three months. The tight schedule of art-related activities in Hong Kong this March had obviously recuperated its pre-2019 vigor, with institutions and galleries organizing openings during the week leading to Hong Kong Basel’s arrival, while dinners and meetings filled the entire month. Clearly, the art world is gradually returning to the former rhythms dictated by the art markets.
New York–based artist Aki Sasamoto opened her first Hong Kong solo exhibition, “Sounding Lines,” on March 15 at Para Site. Her performance was an honorary commencement for the art pageantry in its entirety, and drew enormous crowds who—whether or not they were familiar with her works—were entranced by the infectious Zen-like qualities of her performance. Sasamoto applies her “Midas touch” to common objects, and in this performance spectators didn’t see anything resembling artwork on the ground—suspended and linked by metal Slinkys stretched through the space were what careful observation revealed to be common kitchen objects like spoons, strainers, and knives embedded in fish-shaped molds dangling like waves, echoing the harbor views outside Para Site’s windows. Sasamoto’s performance lasted twenty minutes, a process in which she walked and incanted softly to herself, drawing images on a blue acrylic board to document her meditations on various distances seen outside the window. When the performance was over, spectators could weave among the elongated metal springs and their “seafood” or take in Sasamoto’s newly commissioned video work Point Reflection, 2023. In the exhibition brochure, the artist shared some enlightening thoughts, which seemed to be a graceful summation of the past four years of life in “social isolation”:
Distance to a stranger, who behaves like a billfish.
Distance to a stranger, who acts like a mosquito.
Distance to a friend, who is honest like a bank statement.
I need to measure my distance to each character in my life.
That same day, the Centre for Heritage, Arts, and Textile’s (CHAT) MILL6 Foundation opened its fifth-anniversary exhibition. Following years of toil, the former Nan Fung cotton-spinning mill has been transformed into a local art destination, expatiating upon and supporting various art practices centered on weaving and the history of the textile industry. CHAT’s public programming also reflects its deep connections with the Tsuen Wan District. Its “Factory of Tomorrow” exhibition included many artists familiar to the international biennial scene and commissioned works resonating with the history of Tsuen Wan or Hong Kong in general. Ho Rui An’s Lining (2023) is a history of textile manufacture in the Pearl River Delta and tells the story of the Hong Kong textile industry’s rise and fall against a background of labor and technology developments from 1946 to 1996. It also describes Hong Kong’s evolution into a financial center centered on real estate transactions. Malaysian artist Yee I-lann’s practice intertwines craft, gender, labor, and a critical approach to local culture, all demonstrated in Cantopop Karaoke Mat, 2023, into which the lyrics of ten Cantonese love songs were woven. Takahiro Iwasaki’s Beyond Chaos (Change) silhouetted the Hong Kong skyline in thirteen cotton sculptures. Each artwork tells a story of Hong Kong using the language of textile arts.
Newly established this year, gallery association Supper Club provided art enthusiasts and collectors another interesting foothold during the fair. On March 25, en route to The Party at M+, we stopped at the Fringe Club to attend its opening. Supper Club is organized by two galleries, PHD Group and the Shophouse, and invited both select galleries included in Art Basel HK as well as some excluded from the fair to explore the local art economy. Some of these included 47 Canal (New York), Anomaly (Tokyo), P21 (Seoul), MadeIn Gallery and Vanguard (Shanghai), and Tabula Rasa (Beijing/London). Supper Club also invited art researcher Li Anqi to act as curator, who unexpectedly organized the site not by gallery booths, but in an exhibition format. She collaborated with the local architectural firm BEAU for spatial design, and followed a curatorial line of thought in scattering artworks across the Fringe Club’s four floors. The dialogues they hosted were also innovative, the first session bringing together young collector Qiao Dan of Tank Shanghai with Hong Kong–based collector Shane Akeroyd in an intergenerational and international dialogue. The cynicism in the name “Supper Club” demonstrated the ambitions of a new generation of galleries for new strategies in bringing together art, community, and young collectors.
It’s unclear when invitations to The Party at M+ and its exhibition opening became such a hot commodity. Apparently, the party had more than 2,500 attendees last year, and there were no fewer people here tonight. The M+ galleries didn’t require tickets during the event, and we were allowed to peruse all the exhibition rooms, including the “M+ Sigg Collection: Another Story,” “Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China,” and the recently opened “Shanshui: Echoes and Signals,” as well as Japanese artist Ay-O’s solo exhibition “Hong Hong Hong.” The first-floor exhibitions included “The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Noir & Blanc—A Story of Photography” and, most memorably, Primitive (2009), Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s immersive video installation in the performance space. Honestly, the M+ exhibitions shared a common formula, or “survival tactic,” that relied on outstanding artworks organized under weak exhibition themes. The art was classic, with solid international standing, such as Gu Dexin’s 2021-11-12 (2000/2023) in the Sigg Collection. Its sofa component was restuffed with animal entrails and pork fat, allowing visitors the rare experience of the artist’s original intent. But curatorially speaking, “Shanshui: Echoes and Signals” presented an ambiguous mash-up of interpretations on traditional Chinese ink landscapes with cyber-landscapes in digital media; the rich visual references of “Madame Song” impressively documented her arrival on the international stage in the 1990s, but the exhibition attempted to frame a macro-history of Chinese culture through the singular lens of a legendary figure; and in their midst, Ay-O’s exhibition lacked the language to engage in dialogue. Surmising from the curatorial themes circulating at M+, its public image is resting on volatile ground, and the institution seemed to be searching for a sustainable path somewhere between the authentic presentation of Chinese art and culture and the forging of a cultural juggernaut capable of engaging the rest of the world in that dialogue.
While perusing the island’s institutional exhibitions, there is one phrase that sticks in the back of my mind: Chinese elements. The topic lingers like a specter, hard to bring up and impossible to discuss. Hong Kong is no longer the Hong Kong of days past; it is in constant flux. The first dialogue hosted by Art Basel was a provisional response to some of my queries, a panel moderated by Pi Li, the “head of art” at Tai Kwun Contemporary, with Chinese-art mega-collectors Johnson Chang and Uli Sigg, who elaborated on their respective experiences under the rubric of “How to Build a Historical Collection of Chinese Contemporary Art.” Both collectors have been instrumental in shaping the landscape of contemporary art over the past thirty years, but have divergent ideas. Sigg maintained that his work as collector served as a conduit for people unfamiliar with China to understand its culture. He discussed the enduring influence of the “Mahjong” exhibition in Europe and the United States while Chang used the curatorial concept behind the Hanart TZ Gallery’s thirty-year retrospective exhibition, “3 Parallel Artworlds: 100 Art Things from Chinese Modern History,” to discuss how he established Chinese modernity at the level of visual culture, promoting a “Chinese Renaissance.” Asked to respond to critical takes on their work, both cleverly avoided the historical problem of using wealth to formulate Chinese contemporary art narratives; both described their collecting habits as idiosyncratic cultural interests. Perhaps the era of art trends fueled by private collectors is over, and the contemporary art discussed today is no longer “Chinese contemporary art,” but rather contemporary art in China. In the foreseeable future, establishing the popular perception of China’s art will be tasked to public institutions.
On March 29, for my last stop during art week, I chose an event distant from the fairgrounds, a tour of artist-run spaces in Kowloon’s Sham Shui Po organized by AFIELD. Chantal Wong led our group of more than twenty people on foot to three independent artist spaces: THY LAB, Parallel Space, and Halfcupsquat. The founder of THY LAB, Alberto Gerosa, gave a humorous introduction to the tenth-anniversary exhibition “Thieves—An auction of stolen artworks,” where all the artworks were “stolen” (invisible), including Andy Warhol’s Invisible Sculpture, and all the auction proceeds went to benefit THY LAB’s operating budget. Gerosa has been hosting screenings, performance workshops, and documentaries for a decade in this repurposed former rooftop slum; he calls Sham Shui Po the “shadow of Hong Kong,” because Chinese, Vietnamese, African, and South Asian immigrants can quickly find a place to stay here.
Organized by the anonymous artist collective PHEW, Parallel Space’s exhibition “Fast Forward” collected images and video from local news media from 1984 to 2024: Hong Kong’s 1997 handover ceremony, Deng Xiaoping toasting Margaret Thatcher, the closure of Kai Tak Airport. Chantal spoke with teary eyes about the “Things that can happen” space that she co-opened with Li Jie in 2015, and I couldn’t help but think of Hong Kong’s other alternative spaces that have since disappeared: Woofer Ten (2009–2015), Green Wave Art (2016–2019) . . .
Our last stop was Halfcupsquat, a corner teahouse/bookstore/community shop owned and operated by local artist and literary worker Li Weitai. Her practice appears relatively commonplace and gentle—operating a teahouse, selling secondhand books and handicrafts—but she is also a community organizer of reading groups, workshops, and lectures, and has made Halfcupsquat into a neighborhood arts information hub. When the context and direction of larger art institutions remains unclear, the community-based practice of a single artist is often the most effective strategy. Art Basel’s presence still illustrates Hong Kong’s role as the most robust art market in greater China, and fortunately the many tireless art laborers still working in its shadows are still visible.
Translated from Mandarin by Lee Ambrozy
去年底是新冠疫情在中国大陆正式结束的时刻，同样也是巴塞尔香港在大流行病后首次回归线下。大家戴着口罩涌入香港参与久违的艺术盛事，病毒在肆意传播它最后的余热，我还记得当时身体感染之后的糟糕状况持续了三个月之久。今年3月的香港艺术季行程安排已经明显恢复到2019年前的常态，各机构和画廊默契地将开幕安排在巴塞尔艺术博览会前的一周，饭局、会议填满了艺术周开始前的一个月。很显然，艺术世界正在逐步回到过去跟随博览会展开的节奏。
3月15日，常驻纽约的艺术家笹本晃（Aki Sasamoto）在Para Site呈现了她在香港的首次个展“测深线”（Sounding Lines），开幕表演拉开了整个艺术季的序幕。她的表演吸引了大量观众，不管是第一次看还是熟悉艺术家的观众，都会被她作品中的幽默和禅宗气质所感染。笹本晃擅长将日常物品“点石成金”，这次的表演现场，观众在地面上看不到一件作品，所有的物品都被长长的金属弹簧串联起来，悬浮于空中，如同交叠的海浪线，与Para Site窗外的一线海景遥相呼应。仔细观察每个悬浮的物件，是一个个在厨房常看见的勺子、筛子、菜刀等，它们嵌入不同的鱼型模具之中。笹本晃的表演持续了大约20分钟，过程中她念念有词，边走边利用窗户上的蓝色亚克力板，用图像写下了她关于不同“距离”的思考。表演结束，观众可以穿梭行走在金属弹簧和“海鲜”之中，或观看本次新委托的影像作品《点反演》（Point Reflection，2023）。艺术家在展览小册子上写的句子同样精彩，仿佛是对过去四年“社交隔离”生活的精妙总结：“与我有距离的陌生者，其习性如旗鱼；与我有距离的陌生者，其行径像蚊子……出于恐惧和尊重，我必须量度生命中所有登场角色与我的距离。”
同一天是CHAT六厂五周年展览“明日工厂”的开幕，可以看到这个由南丰纱厂历史建筑改造而成的艺术目的地经过五年的努力，已经成为了一个在地艺术空间，围绕编织工艺和纺织工业的历史议题展开各项实践。其公共项目也体现了与荃湾地区市民的深厚连结。“明日工厂”展览中有不少国际双年展常客，受委托创作关于该区域或香港纺织工业的主题作品，何锐安的作品《衬》（Lining, 2022）以1946年至1997年间香港地区与中国大陆之间劳动、技术及资本的变迁为背景，以香港纺织业的兴衰为主线，讲述了改开之后的香港及珠三角的纺织业发展史，同时也描述了一个朝向以地产交易为主的金融中心的香港进化史；关注于编织手工艺、性别、劳动与地方文化批判的马来西亚艺术家于一兰展示了一张编织有10首广东歌词的席垫《对你爱爱爱不完》；岩崎贵宏（Takahiro Iwasaki）的《混乱以外（变迁）》则以13件棉质雕塑勾勒香港地景。这些作品都以织物语言讲述着香港故事。
今年新成立的画廊组织Supper Club给艺术爱好者和藏家增加了一个博览会期间有趣的落脚点。3月25日，在去M+派对之前，大伙都首先抵达位于中环的艺穗会参加Supper Club的开幕。Supper Club由PHD Group和The Shophouse两家画廊主办，邀请那些错过了香港巴塞尔主展区的画廊来探索本地的艺术市场，参与的国际画廊包括47 Canal(纽约)、Anomaly（东京）、P21（首尔）等，内地画廊包括没顶、Vanguard，Tabula Rasa(北京/伦敦)等等。展览邀请了艺术史研究者李安琪策划，现场意外地不按照画廊作为区域划分，而是采用了展览模式，策展人与本地建筑设计事务所BEAU展开空间设计合作，让不同艺术家的作品以策展的思路分散于艺穗会上下四层历史空间。对话环节也颇有新意，第一场便请来了上海油罐空间负责人、青年藏家乔丹与香港资深藏家安定山（Shane Akeroyd）进行跨代际的对话。“晚餐俱乐部”这个戏谑的名字打出了以艺术+社交+年轻化收藏社群的新策略，成功地展示了香港新生代画廊的野心和号召力。
M+的展览开幕和派对邀请不知道什么时候成为了城中抢手货，有没有收到M+的入场邀请成为大家见面的热门话题。据说去年的M+派对人数多达2500人，今年目测只会多不会少。派对期间的展览是免费的，大伙可以在觥筹交错间参观正在展出的所有展览，包括二层的“M+希克藏品：别传”、宋怀桂和近期开幕的“山鸣水应”，以及日本艺术家叆呕（Ay-O）的个展“虹 虹 虹”，一层则展出了“香港赛马会呈献系列：黑白──摄影叙事”，而本季展览中最令人难忘的则是展演空间的沉浸影像装置：阿比查邦· 韦拉斯塔古的《Primitive》（2009）。说实话，M+今年的展览都呈现出一种好作品、弱主题的求生欲，展览作品大多是经典之作且具有不错的国际水准，例如希克藏品展中顾德新的作品《2021年11月12日》经过修复，坐垫内重新填入猪内脏脂肪，观众可以在艺术季期间感受这件作品的原貌。但在策展主题方面，“山鸣水应”指向不明地把对山水的传统理解与当下电子产品所塑造的赛博风景拼贴在一起；宋怀桂展览中关于中国时装在90年代走向国际舞台的丰富视觉元素让人印象深刻，展览试图通过一个传奇人物的历史来塑造一个更宏大的中国文化史；而日本艺术家叆呕的个展在这里与其他的展览都无法形成有效对话。从今年的展览议题来看，M+的对外形象似乎更为摇摆，在展示中国的文化艺术与塑造一个能与国际对话的文化机器之间寻求生存之道。
在看香港本地机构展览的时候，我脑海中常常浮现出一个词：中国因素。这是一个如幽灵般萦绕在大家脑海的话题，却难以启齿、无法辩论——香港已经不是过去的香港，每时每刻都在发生着变化。博览会的第一场讲座多少回应了一些我的思考，这场由大馆艺术总监皮力主持，以”如何打造具有历史意义的中国当代艺术收藏”为题的对话邀请收藏家张颂仁和乌利·希克一起谈谈各自的中国当代艺术收藏经历与理念。两位在过去三十年间塑造了中国当代艺术景观的藏家有着截然不同的思路，希克一如既往地介绍自己的工作是为了将中国当代艺术介绍给那些不了解中国的人，并介绍了“麻将”展览后来在西方的持续影响力；而张颂仁则以汉雅轩三十年回顾展“三个艺术世界：中国现代史中的一百件艺术物”的策展理念，介绍自己的工作是如何从视觉文化层面建立中国现代性，推动中华文艺复兴。当被问及如何应对外部批评时，两位都巧妙地避开了如何运用资源建构中国当代艺术这个历史议题，而将收藏行为描述为与个人文化趣味相关。也许，由私人收藏推动的艺术潮流已经过去了，在今天所讨论的当代艺术也已经不再是关于中国的当代艺术，而更多是关于当代艺术在中国。在可见的将来，如何建立中国的艺术形象将由大的机构来实现。
3月29日，作为艺术周的最后一站，我选择了一场远离博览会的活动，参加了由AFIELD组织的深水埗艺术家营运空间探访。从黑窗里出发，黄子欣（Chantal Wong）带着一行20多人走访了深水埗的三个独立艺术空间：旲堂Thy Lab、Parallel Space和半杯寮（Halfcupsquat）。旲堂Thy Lab（旲，粵音：台）的发起人Alberto Gerosa幽默地介绍了空间正在举办的十周年Gala“贼-被盗艺术品拍卖”，展品全是被“盗”而来的（隐形）作品，包括安迪·沃霍尔《看不见的雕塑》等多个大师作品，所有拍卖所得将会用来支持Thy Lab的运营。Alberto在此开展放映、表演工作坊、纪录片拍摄活动已有十年时间，他称深水埗是香港的暗面（shadow of Hong Kong）, 那些初到香港的中国人、越南人、非洲人、南亚人都可以在这里快速找到落脚点。Parallel Space正在展出“快速搜画”，展示了香港从1984至2024的新闻报道图像、影像，艺术家是名为PHEW的匿名团体。看到展览中的97回归仪式、邓小平与撒切尔夫人举杯、启德机场关闭等历史影像，Chantal热泪盈眶地谈起了她与李杰2015年曾经在深水埗经营的“咩事艺术空间”，我也禁不住想起了那些已经消失的替代空间：活化厅（2009-2015）、“碧波押”（2016-2019）……活动最后一站是半杯寮，一间街角的茶室/书店/社区小店，主人李维怡是一个社区艺术家和文字工作者，她的实践显得最为日常与温和，平日以经营茶艺、二手书、手工商品为主，一边自营小店，一边开展社区读书会、工作坊、讲座等活动，半杯寮也成为街区的信息交换中心。当大环境和艺术机构方向不明朗的情况下，一个人的社区实践依然是最有效的行动。巴塞尔博览会依然展示了香港是大中华地区最活跃的艺术品交易地，我们所幸在看到香港的明面的同时看到它的暗面有着许多艺术工作者还在坚持不懈地努力。