Back from London, there are actually not much to talk about No Soul For Sale. Of course, it's such a rare opportunity to participate in anything hosted in the Turbine Hall, however for three days only.
Having received the e-news of Para/Site, I found myself a co-curator without my knowledge. For Para/Site's participation in NSFS, yes, I was asked to co-curate but immediately replied to turn down this conventional curatorial model (curator vs artist) with a proposal of collaboration, where everyone should be engaged in the process of conceptualization and realization.
I once was asked by the "curator" how I should be acknowledged in this project. Finally we settled with "a collaboration conceived by...." Personally I think "to curate" is not only the work of a curator (actually we always curate (to take care) ourselves as artists), but also to maintain a constructive link to the interpretation of the work. To be honest I had some gut feeling towards this project but felt not empowered enough to contextualize it. This is exactly what I expect a curator could contribute to this project.
Now looking back, it's a successful project for the artists in terms of the physical setting and the individual works we produced. As a collaboration, I guess we still have a long way to go to call it ok! The expected dialogue among all participants turned out to be limited. And the segregation between the "curator" and the "artist" was still obvious (at least as Para/Site suggested in its press release.) I think NSFS would be a good occasion to experiment as it's not even an exhibition. Perhaps we're simply too weak to champion this (or to deny it as an exhibition especially when asking for funding because "exhibition" always sounds bigger than just project or collaboration!)
Silent Impact: a collaboration conceived by Leung Chi Wo & Alvaro Rodriguez Fominaya, featuring works by Lam Tung-pang, Lee Kit, Leung Chi Wo, Cédric Maridat, Morgan Wong Wing-fat
"Harmony" and "deep-rooted conflict", are not only popular terms recently referred in local Hong Kong politics by different camps, but also highly charged expressions in a global context for various interpretations. More than static antithesis, between harmony and conflict is not a dichotomous concept. It is a continuum, which can be negotiated for a even bigger impact.
Silent Impact refers to a subtle social engagement within the spectrum between conflict and harmony, where art is positioned to explore various issues of our society, from city to environment and from history to language. It physically revolves around a double-cubic and half-open structure which contains individual contributions from five Hong Kong artists.
