Open the Door of Hong Kong Arts Centre;
Come and Explore the Destiny of A Physical & Online Journey

2021 does not seem to be the way that we would have imagined and expected. The city has departed further away from its original shape, while the people inside are overwhelmed with unspeakable fear, restlessness and anxiety. The Hong Kong Arts Centre Open House & Late Night Series 2021 will bring you a participatory art journey titled “On the Edge”. Through thick and thin, and along the edges, you will be responding to all different cumulated emotions, in hope of a brighter scenario yet to be unfolded.

The Hong Kong Arts Centre, throughout its over 40-year-long history in the Hong Kong art scene has always been presenting experimental and edgy artworks in response to the contemporary happenings. “Art is life” is never a mere slogan. In this moment in time where crisis and hope coexist, you will be assigned with a role that has a slightly unconventional connection with the Hong Kong Arts Centre. By wandering through our online experiences and different sites of the building, you will be experiencing various artistic sessions including site-specific installations & happenings. In the end, we hope you will walk away with courage and wisdom, even if it’s just a little more than before.

Artist Statement - Santayana Li

A door that leads one into a scenario of turmoil. There’s no time to hesitate but to react according to one’s gut feelings to all despairing and raging matters. Another door leads to another seemingly clear scenario, where the true self is hidden, hoping time would be the ultimate solution to dismantle and transform the situation. Both the unknown and the already known coexist behind the two doors with signs indicating “push” and “pull”. The mechanics of asserting force might be different, but they both lead to the same result: open. As the saying goes, “leave the door open”, only if we take the move, there are possibilities. Let’s go.  

Artist Statement - Tang Kwok Hin

Umbilical Cord

In a time of  quarantine, people flow with constraints for their living. People who work, who eat, who are considering their future, strive to find a way for a brighter scenario.

Situated somewhere tranquil,  I attempted to make sense of the place but in vain. Is it time? But my body is deteriorating, my mind worn out. Or is it in the air?  The suffocating wind is so fierce that all soil of vanity is blown into the air but there is no turf underneath.

This is an era where taking a breath has become such an act of uncertainty, will one find accompany in other entities? Be it an orange, or an exhibition, these moments to be spent together will turn into nutrients for us to hang on.

Or haven’t my umbilical cord been cut? The other end has long been hidden inside my stomach, keeps reminding me of the hunger for my mother’s milk when I was in her arms – the desire to live on.

Mom, the sun is so strong, if I were a tree I would have been cut down; if I were a human, I would have been caught.

Would there be gentle wind among skyscrapers? So that rotten wood would be allowed to grow lissome stems which can fly away with the kites.