ArtAsiaPacific: M Pavilion Inaugural Exhibition Features Tsang Kin Wah

External view of M+ Pavilion and the entrance to TSANG KIN-WAH’s exhibition, “Nothing.” All photos by Katherine Volk for ArtAsiaPacific.

After ten editions of the Mobile M+ series of pop-up exhibitions, September 8 marked the opening of the inaugural exhibition at the M+ Pavilion, the first official site to open as part of M+, Hong Kong’s much-anticipated contemporary art institution slated to fully open in 2019. For its first show, M+ Pavilion is showcasing a local artist who represented Hong Kong at the 2015 Venice Biennale. Tsang Kin-Wah’s show, entitled “Nothing,” presents a reinterpretation of his Biennale work, Infinite Nothing (2015). The installation encompasses the entire M+ Pavilion, making use of the internal as well as external space to create an immersive experience that speaks to the human condition. The exhibition explores allegories taken from philosophy, literature and religion, such as the Christian Tree of Life and the Buddhist Bodhi Tree, as well as film and literature, including Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971), Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse (2011) and Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Following Tsang’s show, exhibitions will be hosted at the Pavilion until the M+ museum opens in 2019.

ArtAsiaPacific visited the M+ Pavilion on the occasion of its inaugural exhibition opening. Here are some highlights from the show.

M+ deputy director and chief curator Doryun Chong introducing the external space of “Nothing.” A platform area of the museum that is usually open to the public has been closed off by the artist for the exhibition.

TSANG KIN-WAH’s 2D text that wraps around the outdoor platform. Reading the text, which wraps around in clockwise direction, will lead the audience to the entrance of the internal portion of the exhibition.

A view of the platform area with the reflection of a tree, which is an important part of TSANG KIN-WAH’s installation.

A part of TSANG KIN-WAH’s interior installation is a projected image of a donkey, from Béla Tarr’s 2011 film, The Turin Horse.

Internal view of “Nothing,” where a tree is positioned to correspond with where the tree is situated outside, creating an alternate reality on the museum’s glass windows, which are coated in screens.

Situated behind pillars, some purposely constructed for the show, is a looping image repurposed from Stanley Kubrik’s Clockwork Orange (1971), which shows prisoners pacing back in forth in the courtyard.

A bookshelf situated in the M+ Pavilion lobby, which holds books that inspired “Nothing,” or are related reading for the public to enjoy. On top of the shelf are “seed cards” that have quotes that inform the exhibition. Once soaked in water the seeds are to produce wild chrysanthemum plants, which are in reference to the tree in TSANG KIN-WAH’s installation.

Tsang Kin-Wah’s “Nothing” is on view at the M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong, until November 6, 2016.

Katherine Volk is assistant editor at ArtAsiaPacific.

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Jun 2012

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M+ Pavilion’s Inaugural Exhibition Features Tsang Kin-Wah