fluktor -|||- study - office - newsletter December 16, 2005

SCMP, December 16, 2005
New media the buzz at biennial
by Victoria Burrows

[image] : Winning works ... Zheng Bo's Family History Book (top) and Cedric Maridet's Huangpu.

If you're looking for mental stimulation this holiday, spend a few hours digesting the entries in this year's Hong Kong Art Biennial exhibition, which opens today at the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

The exhibition gives a good sense of the art being produced in Hong Kong today.

The organisers received 1,544 entries this year, out of which 231 works were selected by eight local judges. A panel of international and local judges then chose the 109 works by 86 artists now on display.

Out of 10 possible prizes for excellence, only six were awarded this year. Two of these were for traditional Chinese art forms - calligraphy and seal carving and painting - while the others were for photography, video and installation.

Zheng Bo's Family History Book (installation) and Cedric Maridet's Huangpu (video and digital art) are two of the judges' favourites.

Zheng's work is an interesting blend of old and new, personal and social. The installation comprises video footage and a book in which members of his family talk about their history.

There are two versions of the video - one features the voices of his family members and the other Zheng has dubbed with his own voice. He puts himself in their place so their stories become his.

He has set the ancient art of storytelling within the modern technology of video.

Maridet's work is also a sophisticated reworking of old ideas into a new format. He presents a video of a journey on the Huangpu River but alters the space and sound of the footage. The sounds are reprocessed to create different kinds of music.

The "music" is closely linked to the visuals, and Maridet says the work is based on the concept of synaesthesia (the relationship between the eye and ear), which ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle studied. Zheng and Maridet's works won an award for excellence, along with Ching Chin-wai's No 6 Wai Ha Village, Tung Tsz Rd, Tai Po, NT, HK and Yau Wan-kei's Old Building (photography), Kan Chi-hung's Wandering (Chinese painting) and Fung Yat-fung's Handscroll in Running Script (Chinese calligraphy and seal carving).

The exhibition runs until March 5, 2006. Opening hours are 10am-6pm daily, except on Thursdays and the first two days of Chinese New Year when the museum is closed.

__________________

with kind regards,

Matthias Arnold
(Art-Eastasia list)

http://www.chinaresource.org
http://www.fluktor.de

__________________________________________

An archive of this list as well as an subscribe/unsubscribe facility is
available at:
http://listserv.uni-heidelberg.de/archives/art-eastasia.html
For postings earlier than 2005-02-23 please go to:
http://www.fluktor.de/study/office/newsletter.htm


	December 16, 2005: [achtung! kunst] Hong Kong Art Biennial

	SCMP, December 16, 2005 New media the buzz at biennial by Victoria Burrows [image] : Winning works ... Zheng Bo's Family History Book (top) and Cedric Maridet's Huangpu. If you're looking for mental stimulation this holiday, spend a few hours digesting the entries in this year's Hong Kong Art Biennial exhibition, which opens today at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. The exhibition gives a good sense of the art being produced in Hong Kong today. The organisers received 1,544 entries this year, out of which 231 works were selected by eight local judges. A panel of international and local judges then chose the 109 works by 86 artists now on display. Out of 10 possible prizes for excellence, only six were awarded this year. Two of these were for traditional Chinese art forms - calligraphy and seal carving and painting - while the others were for photography, video and installation. Zheng Bo's Family History Book (installation) and Cedric Maridet's Huangpu (video and digital art) are two of the judges' favourites. Zheng's work is an interesting blend of old and new, personal and social. The installation comprises video footage and a book in which members of his family talk about their history. There are two versions of the video - one features the voices of his family members and the other Zheng has dubbed with his own voice. He puts himself in their place so their stories become his. He has set the ancient art of storytelling within the modern technology of video. Maridet's work is also a sophisticated reworking of old ideas into a new format. He presents a video of a journey on the Huangpu River but alters the space and sound of the footage. The sounds are reprocessed to create different kinds of music. The "music" is closely linked to the visuals, and Maridet says the work is based on the concept of synaesthesia (the relationship between the eye and ear), which ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle studied. Zheng and Maridet's works won an award for excellence, along with Ching Chin-wai's No 6 Wai Ha Village, Tung Tsz Rd, Tai Po, NT, HK and Yau Wan-kei's Old Building (photography), Kan Chi-hung's Wandering (Chinese painting) and Fung Yat-fung's Handscroll in Running Script (Chinese calligraphy and seal carving). The exhibition runs until March 5, 2006. Opening hours are 10am-6pm daily, except on Thursdays and the first two days of Chinese New Year when the museum is closed. __________________ with kind regards, Matthias Arnold (Art-Eastasia list) http://www.chinaresource.org http://www.fluktor.de __________________________________________ An archive of this list as well as an subscribe/unsubscribe facility is available at: http://listserv.uni-heidelberg.de/archives/art-eastasia.html For postings earlier than 2005-02-23 please go to: http://www.fluktor.de/study/office/newsletter.htm