The 2nd “CAFAM-Future” Exhibition: Observer-Creator

Moving through the narrow white space, which buzzes with sound coming in from the outside of shoppers and subway commuters, one can find highly sensitive works such as A Piece of Gold (2012)—a large, audaciously polished beeswax and gypsum plate by sculptor Yu Ji (who is also a co-founder of Shanghai’s Am Art Space). Also on view is Dong Dawei’s bright yellow, color-field abstraction, Distant Mountains No.2 (2012), which emphasizes the transformative and ephemeral process of artistic materials through a fine layer of pigment powder scattered on the floor in the shape of the framed work’s shadow. Most prominently featured at the far end of the space are video works documenting the development of the post-Cultural-Revolution generation, through scenes of urban construction, private storytelling or the recounting of Chinese folk traditions. The works on view range from Otto Li’s Developing Soundscapes (2014)—a multimedia and sound installation in which he recorded and combined sounds and blueprint maps of three major Chinese cities—to Kingsley Ng’s immersive, melancholic off-screen narration in a dark, curtained cabin, which imitates a moving train wagon.

Elsewhere in the art mall, amid an array of stores selling luxurious attire and delicacies, visitors or passersby are often seen wandering into the venue’s open, rectangular atrium space. Whilst most of the five works on display are clearly drowned out by the noisy commercial ambiance—namely, installation artist Luo Wei’s on-site performance Crystal Star Stage: White Theater (2013), which has resulted in an arbitrary assembing of “excellent” goods—Geng Xue’s video animation of a porcelain universe stands out from the group. The CAFA alumni’s dark and twisted Mr. Sea (2013–14), a take on the eponymous tale by Qing dynasty-era writer Pu Songling, tells the story of Mr. Sea’s journey to an ethereal island and his encounters with supernatural creatures. Geng’s meticulous stop-motion animation technique plays with the various material qualities of porcelain to create sound and visual sensations—like the distinctive clinking sound when one figure touches the other—which transform the film into a spellbinding, highly aestheticized telling of human and otherworldly encounters that oscillate between eroticism and violence.

The Piazza—an open-air, roofed area just outside of the mall—constitutes the third K11 art space that showcased the exhibition’s works, with an apparent focus on neon-light installations. Next to Shanghai-based Bi Rongrong’s angular and flashy plexiglass panels, 7:3 Colors (2013), which underline her focus on the perception of shadow and light, Wang Xin has placed her installation, We Create Future Artists Here (2014). Inside the neon pink booth, viewera are invited to sit on a suspended arm chair facing a neon screen. A cluster of abstract animated drawings, neon light and words, such as “now” or “inner creativity,” flash across the screen in a matter of milliseconds, to metaphorically stimulate an individual’s creative, mental output through fluorescent lighting and subliminal texts.

With a disproportionately large amount of works displayed throughout an environment designed more for limitless consumption than artistic contemplation, one is easily confounded by this exhibition of contemporary art, which could be mistaken for ding guagua, or “first-rate” merchandise. While most unconventional art shows aim at presenting a highly complementary dialogue between the works and their exhibition space, K11’s art scavenger hunt has the opposite effect. The outstanding CAFAM works are muffled by cramped spacing and the never-ending retail bustle—revealing a bleak glimpse of the commercially damaged perspectives that pervade the current art world, even in the most innovative of hubs like Hong Kong.

“Observer-Creator” is on view at K11 Art Mall, Hong Kong, until July 5, 2015.