Lingnan University presents triple-themed art exhibition “Unfold City X Beyond Fonts, Beyond Signboards X C-Lab”

To propose a deeper understanding and appreciation of Hong Kong's urban landscape, Lingnan University is proud to present a tripartite exhibition at the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC) from 22 June to 30 June 2024 with three independent themes: "Unfold City", "Beyond Fonts, Beyond Signboards", and "C-Lab: Laboratory for Cultural Hybridisation". Works displayed are by 18 artists based in Hong Kong and Mainland China, and include The.Plumber.King at Tai Nam Street by Hong Kong's best-known graffiti artist and plumber, Yim Chiu-tong, who has already taken part in many major exhibitions, as well as Shun Hing Restaurant by local illustrator and silhouette artist Wai Wai. The exhibition leads the audience to explore, understand, and appreciate the urban landscape of Hong Kong from a contemporary art perspective.

The exhibition, jointly curated by 14 students from the Master of Arts in Curating and Art History (MACAH) of Digital Arts and Creative Industries Department (DA+CI) of Lingnan University, shows videos, paintings, installations, and the curators’ own research into Hong Kong's urban landscape and culture from several different angles, as well as the artists’ interpretations.

"Beyond Fonts, Beyond Signboards" shows how signage has evolved into the essence of Hong Kong's street culture and become a symbol of Hongkong-style aesthetics with respect to “modernology” (Wajiro Kon’s description of emerging urban space and people’s way of life in Tokyo in the late 1920s, representing critical aspects of social space and encouraging people to be more engaged with it). The exhibition "Unfold City" captures various aspects of Hong Kong's urban landscape through different media in diverse artistic expressions of past and present urban narratives. The symbols and stories are the artists’ allegories describing the current and future positions of Hong Kong. The third part of the exhibition “C-Lab: Laboratory for Cultural hybridisation" shows art related to cultural hybridisation and explores cultural diversity in Hong Kong through the artists' eyes.

The most recognisable piece is The.Plumber.King at Tai Nam Street, Yim Chiu-tong's classic signboard in "Beyond Fonts, Beyond Signboard" (Figure 1). By incorporating signboard fonts, Yim has transcended the utilitarian, and become a symbol of street art in Hong Kong. Shun Hing Restaurant by Wai Wai captures Hong Kong's now disappearing street signboards in the form of illustrations, providing a new perspective from which to appreciate them, and inviting the audience to take another look, and to rediscover the surroundings (Figure 2).

In "Unfold City", Merryn Trevethan, an Australian living in Hong Kong, who holds a 2005 Master of Fine Arts degree from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and has exhibited in Hong Kong, London, and Singapore, shows her installation, Frequently Lost, fluorescent acrylic sculptures of high-rise buildings (Figure 3). The layered installation highlights the different ways people observe and record the city. The video B¡n \o-o/ c|e was created by the Hong Kong duo Tracy Cheng and Shera Cho, who received the 2022 HART Award. It combines collage with documentary photography, soundtracks of white noise collected from the city, and games (Figure 4). The audience is invited to sit on a life raft and experience the world from the first-person perspective of a security guard.

Project supervisor, Prof Selina Ho Chui-fun, Assistant Professor of Department of Digital Arts and Creative Industries and Programme Director of the Master of Arts in Curating and Art History Programme, said, “The three exhibitions are discrete in their respective topics, but together they unfold Hong Kong’s diverse and culturally vibrant aspects. The three teams of MA students welcome the public not only to enjoy the vivid works of art in this exhibition, but also to examine their intellectual significance in relation to our city and its culture.”

The opening reception of the exhibition will be held on 22 June 2024, and the exhibition will be open to the public free of charge from 23 to 30 June 2024.

Opening reception of “Unfold City X Beyond Fonts, Beyond Signboards X C-Lab”

Date: 22 June 2024

Venue: L0 Gallery, Jockey Club Creative Arts Gallery, 30 Pak Tin Street, Shek Kip Mei

Time: 16:00

Fee: Free

Details of the “Unfold City X Beyond Fonts, Beyond Signboards X C-Lab” Art Exhibition

Date: 23-30 June 2024

Venue: L0 Gallery, Jockey Club Creative Arts Gallery, 30 Pak Tin Street, Shek Kip Mei

Opening Hours: 12:00 – 19:00 daily

Fee: Free