Making Room For_

About

Making Room For_
Opening: 26th January 2018, 6:30 pm

Opening Dialogue: 26th January 2018, 7:30 pm

Discussants (in arbitrary order):

Benny Lam,

Cornelia Erdmann,

Jacky Y.F. Chan,

Rina Ko

On Tai

Honorary Guest Discussants:

Ms Corrin Chan (陳翠兒女士) , Chairlady of Hong Kong Architecture Centre,

Prof. Kurt Yu Keung CHAN (陳育強教授), Adjunct Professor, Department of Fine Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Host: Chang Ping-hung Wallace

Exhibition:

Date: 27th January 2018 – 25th February 2018

Time: Tuesday to Sundays 11 am – 7 pm ; closed on Mondays and Lunar New Year Holiday (16th – 19th Feb)

Address: 1a space

Unit 14, Cattle Depot Artist Village, 63 Ma Tau Kok Road,

To Kwa Wan, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Enquiry: 25290087/ info@oneaspace.org.hk

Facebook: 1a space
Instagram: 1a_space

Curatorial statement:
The idea of "room" is making room for E-pathy - Making Room for--you and me​​ ​is​ ​nestling​ ​our​ ​souls​ ​in​ ​place.​ ​Making​ ​Room​ ​for​ ​the​ ​self-regulated emptiness​ ​is​ ​to​ ​create​ ​a​ ​small​ ​universe​ ​for​ ​ourselves.​ ​If​ ​architects​ ​and​ ​artists​ ​can​ ​make​ ​room​ ​for​ ​people of​ ​all​ ​kinds,​ ​it​ ​should​ ​be​ ​more​ ​than​ ​a​ ​physical​ ​containment.​ ​Rather,​ ​should​ ​Art​ ​have​ ​power,​ ​our​ ​lives within​ ​the​ ​Room​ ​of​ ​four​ ​walls​ ​and​ ​a​ ​ceiling​ ​should​ ​be​ ​owned​ ​and​ ​enjoyed​ ​by​ ​us.​ ​​​Nowadays,​ ​amidst​ ​the ever-condensing​ ​urban​ ​concrete​ ​jungle​ ​of​ ​Hong​ ​Kong,​ ​we​ ​are​ ​confined​ ​within​ ​our​ ​‘luxurious’​ ​100-ft square​ ​footages,​ ​but​ ​our​ ​minds​ ​should​ ​step​ ​beyond​ ​these​ ​boundaries​ ​and​ ​reach​ ​out​ ​to​ ​where​ ​we​ ​are looking​ ​upon. The​ ​invited​ ​architects/​ ​artists​ ​of​ ​this​ ​exhibition​ ​include​ ​young​ ​talents​ ​who​ ​concern​ ​our​ ​living/​ ​dying environment. ​ ​​

Making Room for_ includes works of four Hong Kong and German artists. By rethinking the concepts of room, artists and curator attempt to explore the pressing social housing issue in Hong Kong. With​ ​their​ ​​personal​ ​interpretation​ ​of​ ​this​ ​‘room’,​ ​the​ ​team​ ​means​ ​to​ ​understand​ ​what​ ​and how​ ​we​ ​live​ ​and​ ​situate​ ​ourselves​ ​among​ ​given​ ​constraints​ ​or​ ​yet​ ​liberate​ ​other​ ​dimensions​ ​for​ ​hopeful lives.

Benny Lam has been active in a range of creative media over the last ten years, but recently has devoted his time to show, through photography, the condition of Hong Kong’s fringe communities. From affluent to fringe areas, from business to public good, he walks around the streets and alleys of older districts, using lights and viewpoints to capture scenes not usually seen in the city to record the lives of hidden communities.

Cornelia Erdmann focuses on the light medium, which inspires her to rethink the question of “If the eye is the window to our soul, what is the spatial opening to architecture? ” If window is not just a void that separates the inside from the outside, it will be the interface between public and private mediating between the two realms. For her, making room for the viewing sight bears burdens of emptiness; for the windows are facing Darkness, we are looking towards where we end.

Jacky Y.F. Chan interprets the idea of “room” in a psychological sense, demonstrates his artwork in three ways, including light & colour, visual and psychology. For him, making room for emotion combine only few architectural elements that may have an impact on our psychological senses; one space may also be read through these qualities, they allow us to delaminate spaces into layers of visual perception, in another word the physical space transforms into a perception space. The Artwork represents a space / room, in its limited boundary. There are objects for our interpretation, whether one would focus on the brighter object or the dimmer object, it is up to you, and your emotions.

Rina Ko explores the idea of “room” with a grain of Salt. Since salt is part of our physical make up, present in our blood, sweat, and tears. Its natural properties meant it has been used for ritual cleansing, preserving and seasoning of food, as well as antiseptic qualities for treating wounds. It is also one of the fundamental constituents of nature, and contains within it a microcosm of how our planet works. As both a natural defense and supplement for the human mankind, it signifies ritual cleansing and spiritual authenticity. The work not only wishes to celebrate the value of what has already been existed “salt” for centuries, but also the value of what life is, as a natural process and a collateral beauty. When one would be totally engaged in the work, its pure existence worth more than a thousand words.

On Tai wish to tell and share the stories of Hong Kong to others. Giving chance for people to look at the living problems in Hong Kong from different perspectives. Livelihood issues like housing, student’s stress and politics etc…. I especially like to use my works to tell the stories of our old Hong Kong, hoping to keep the diminishing Hong Kong's culture for our next generation through the miniature arts. Telling the stories of our old Hong Kong to our younger generation and exchange their stories with our predecessors …….. and so on and on …….

Press interviews are welcomed

Press enquiry

Ms Eugenia Law

Programme Manager

Tel: 2334 1906/ 9156 5157

Email: eugenia@oneaspace.org.hk

Short biographies of the artists and curator (in arbitrary order)

Curator:

CHANG Ping Hung, Wallace
Fellow of HKIA; Registered Architect in Hong Kong and China; Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, HKU; Chairman of 1a Space; Director of the Urban Place Research Unit; Visiting Scholar in Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University; Advisory Committee Member on Revitalization of Historic Buildings. He is both an architectural practitioner and theorist on urban design, cultural conservation and community participation. His award-winning designs range from urban washroom to university academic building. Also, he is a social activist to promote a civil consciousness on urban environment, community conservation and sustainable planning, including his recent advocacy on the redevelopment planning and architecture of Shek Tsai Leng [Dills Corner Garden] Elderly Caring District.  He has been conducting research with exhibition in Habitat City and Bamboo Theatre.  His latest research, Kai Tak River Green Corridor Community Education Project [HKADC 2013 Award of Arts Education, International Award for Public Art 2015], focuses on cultural identity and urban sustainability issues during the urban transformation process in Hong Kong and southern Chinese cities. To recognize his contribution to the promotion of cultural conservation, he was awarded Certificate of Commendation by the Secretary for Home Affairs in 2015.

Participating artists:

Benny Lam

Benny Lam, professional Hong Kong-based photographer, graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design, Canada. He is a member of HKIPP, works for multiple local and international brands and advertising agencies. Over the last ten years Benny has been active in a range of creative media, but recently has devoted his time to show, through photography, the condition of Hong Kong’s fringe communities. From affluent to fringe areas, from business to public good, he walks around the streets and alleys of older districts, using lights and viewpoints to capture scenes not usually seen in the city to record the lives of hidden communities.

For years, he has won numerous local and international awards, such as The Best Photography in HK4As Kam Fan Awards, the Communication Arts Award, Grand Prix in ADSA International Non-profit and Social Advertising Award, LongXi Awards, and Award of Excellence in Photography at Global Society for News Design Awards. His works were been published in Archive,and European Photography etc., and exhibited in the DOX Centre of Contemporary Art in Prague, Czech and Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Cornelia Erdmann,
Cornelia Erdmann is a German visual artist based in Hong Kong. With her background in fine art as well as in architecture she likes to blur the boundaries between creative disciplines and subjects specialising in public art and commissions.

She uses light as an integral medium in her pieces. The intangible light and the physical space have reciprocal qualities and depend on each other which in combination with other materials and/or technologies she employs to create playful site-specific installations that interact and surprise the audience on various levels. She enjoys to collaborate with communities to co-create public artworks that help to build and generate collective memories.

Jacky Y.F. CHAN
Jacky Y.F. CHAN is an artist and architectural designer with a diverse background from the U.K. and his hometown Hong Kong. He studied his Bachelor degree at the Bartlett School of Architecture, U.C.L. (U.K.) and has received his Master of Architecture at the HKU recently. Jacky’s work focuses on the interplay between light and colour, and has always questions how these qualities may inform and impact our psychology and emotions. His humanistic design approach has led him to address and look into some of the current social issues in Hong Kong. Jacky’s latest work ‘The Living Room’ – thesis exploring the perspective spectrum of a dying person through light & colour; has successfully raised awareness on the topic and was celebrated with a nomination for the RIBA President’s Silver Medal.

Rina Ko
Rina Ko completed her Master in Architecture in Chinese University of Hong Kong and was the recipient of the Student Medal of the Year in 2014 in the Annual Award held by the Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA).  Her projects, primarily addressing on values in life, received the Best Studio Awards both in 2013 and 2014 within the School, as well as being nominated and shortlisted for the President’s Medal for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in both years in the United Kingdom.

She worked as a Junior Architect in Herzog & de Meuron for two cultural projects in Hong Kong, the Central Police Station Revitalisation Project in Central and M+ Museum in West Kowloon Cultural District from 2014 to 2017.  During these few years, she has also participated as exhibitors in different events including, Bi-City Biennale of UrbanismArchitecture in 2015, and REVEAL 2 Exhibition in 2016. In earlier years, she had an apprenticeship to an Italian marble sculptor, Cynthia Sah and Nicolas Bertoux, in Tuscany, Italy in 2011. 

On Tai (TAI Yau On)
Born in 1979, authentic Hong Kongers

Hong Kong native photographer, working in photography for over 18 years. He is a person who pays attention to detail and quality. Since childhood, he has become obsessed with the miniature things. With his working relationship and dedication to detail, he has gradually become a passion for making miniature artworks. In the choice of subject matter for his artworks, because of his childhood experience and his obsession with old Hong Kong, it always appears the shadow of old Hong Kong in his interests, works and artistic creations.

The purpose of On Tai’s miniature art production, is to trace the past stories through miniature artworks, arouse people's memories of the past and pass on the feelings and culture of old Hong Kong from generation to generation.

In December 2017, On Tai has organized a “Mini Movements”, which is a voluntary visit program based on the theme of “miniature art”, and hopes to share and express the concern and care for people with mobility problems and those in need through this program. Visiting children to promote Hong Kong culture and miniature art to our next generation.

In addition to miniature art, On Tai is actively involved in the creation of various topics on old Hong Kong, including installation art, product design and photography etc, hoping that more people could know the wisdom of their predecessors, hence continuing and passing on the traditions of old Hong Kong continuously.