journal | Euginia Tan

by Euginia Tan

Who would have thought that a periscope perched atop a potato balanced on needles would have made such a statement table top piece?

This was what Hong Kong was for us – creating a larger picture based on smaller snippets of links we might not have seen, if not for the perspectives offered in all of us.

With such colourful diversity in the group, we managed to look through different lenses, and at times collaborate kaleidoscopically. 

From ploughing through Asia Art Archive to getting immersed into Hong Kong’s steamy sex scandals at Para Site, we still found time to have a dubious meal which turned out to be as rewarding as it was challenging in getting to the first bite.

Again…. Cheese and instant noodles?! Really?

We were also extremely fortunate to have the best guides navigating us through Hong Kong’s thick foliage of lush art. Kudos to Heman, who doubled as both compass and mentor, who patiently walked us through each footpath such that we not only saw the art jungle as a whole working eco-system, but also, the micro-organisms of art practice were highlighted and magnified where we once might have been too green to appreciate.

Under everyone’s guidance and tutelage, I felt that this enabled us to reflect objectively about our own capabilities’ as potential curators, where we are tasked to show the forest not just for its trees. From these trees there too is the earth, the ground, and with this there is the water that passes through all that in order to allow birth. Art can be extremely murky when left to devices that derive out of instinct, because art is in itself a survivalist. It has been subjected to centuries of evolution. It has become adaptable to each passing millennium that has brought alongside change, countless unforeseen roadblocks that, if not for the sheer effort of the people, might cause it to deteriorate and eventually go into extinction.

We might not be able to comprehend every branch of art that has grown, much less its roots. What we can do is to explore. Despite the limited time we had, we managed to successfully cover a good overview of Hong Kong’s art map, and hopefully this starting blueprint might give rise to more thoughts we can continue to build upon. Within our nature, there has been planted, the first seeds of art. 

[Photos taken at Contemporary, by Angela Li]