[Project] Powerpoint Script

Good morning. I would like to introduce you all “Hong Kong Map of Out of Sight, Out of Mind in Place” by Ho Sin Tung, a local full-time artist, today.

I believe everyone has their own Utopia in their minds, which are different from one to another. Ho’s Utopia shown in this project is quite different from what I expect or believe. After doing the interview and more research, I understand more and more about the reality of this world. “The Hong Kong Map of Out of Sight, Out of mind in Place” is one of the two most colourful works in the project. It is easier for us to interpret, as well as to understand the artist and her deep thoughts about society and philosophy. Also, mapping is one of the most essential elements in Ho’s works while the way she made this map is far distinct from the other maps she did before. Therefore I have chosen this work to do further exploration.

Ho Sin Tung can be said as one of the most active local artists. She once mentioned in an interview saying she has to join at least seven to eight exhibitions a year, while some are the sole ones and some are group exhibitions. Since 2010 she has at least one sole exhibition every year, with “Hong Kong Inter-vivos Film Festival” being the most recent one. She has just won the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Award 2012 by Hong Kong Museum of Art.

Ho’s works are detailed. In an interview she did for Huanan Artron Net, she pointed out that Hong Kong people in fact are highly influenced by Japanese culture, which is the reason why her works are detailed and exquisite. At the same time, both Eastern and Western cultures, as well as the political condition of Hong Kong, affect her philosophy and art works so much.

In an art-promoting TV programme by RTHK, she said she always do reading rather than drawing most of the times. She reads so that she would know more and deep about this world. She also learns others’ experience. She also mentioned that the media of art works is not important to her. She simply wants to find the most suitable way to express her thoughts and words.

Before the map I am going to introduce, she has done some other maps before. Rather than a geographical map, her maps are more about her private experience, memory and feeling, like she may put Mong Kok and Causeway Bay together on the map though the two places are actually far from each other.

The work I introduce today is included in the project “On Utopia”. According to the interview I have done, Ho doesn’t see these eight works included as a series but simply a project. She has also said that she will not work on the same topic afterward as this project is created only for the exhibition hold by Goethe institute.

So first we have to understand the deep meaning of the word “Utopia” before we move on. It is very important to prevent us from going off track.

In today’s society. Utopia means an ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political and moral aspects.  But there is more in the word. According to Collins' English Learner’s Dictionary, if you refer to an imaginary situation as a Utopia, you mean that it is one in which society is perfect and everyone is happy, but which you think it is impossible. In fact, when we go back to the origin of the word, we find that “ou” means no or not while “topos” means place.

In the statement of the project, Ho said “It is just a wall. Things behind it are always there.” It is also what Ho always says, out of sight then out of mind, and then you attain your utopia. However, she cannot turn a blind eye to the “bad things”. They are always there. How can you ignore all these near you?

In the view of Ho Sin Tung, people simply shut their sense and pretend if there is nothing bad in the way finding their Utopia. She strongly believes that Utopia is always related to power and politics. It is not as simple as to have Donald Tsang and Henry Tang on the work. More is over there.

First, Ho reversed the Hong Kong map.

Second, she has marked all the unpopular places with stickers. Those places include hospital, cemeteries, prisons, military camps and many other unwelcome places.

Third, Donald Tsang and Henry Tang are on the two sides of the map. The setting of the map is grand as if this is presented by two most powerful government officers.

Fourth, she has put a bible verse above the map, which is from 1 Corinthians 4:9 :

For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

Last but the least, Ho presents her work in a vintage style.

What have you thought about knowing the major features of this map?

At the first sight, I doubt what kind of map it is. I wonder if the artist try to create a new Hong Kong with her imagination.  Yet it can’t explain why she has to stand out all places like hospitals, military camps, cemeteries and prisons. I didn’t realize it is the reversed Hong Kong after going detailed about the site names. 

Then the second comes into my mind: Ho has mentioned in the statement of the project saying she put pixelate on all the sensitive things. She did in other works in the project too. And I think this wall of pixelate is really a powerful idea. People put pixelate often on the things that are not generally accepted.  We pretend that we don’t know what is behind the little spots but we do actually. And sometimes, things are not necessary unacceptable. But when you put pixelate on it, you immediately put all your focus and effort on it and guess what is behind it. It is a kind of self-deception in certain situations. It is then quite ironic to put pixelate on these things that people pretend they don’t know and don’t want to know. I believe the places Ho marked on the map are sensitive subjects and topics as well. Why don’t she apply the same idea on this map? Why has she shown all these sensitive sites to us with those eye-catching stickers?

Another question rose though the last one is not solved: what is the point to have Donald Tsang and Henry Tang here? Are they shouting to each other? It is possible that they are not as close as on the television. You know, politics is quite a complicated game. And they said 吹咩. Why do they say something like this beside a map? What are you talking about and who are they talking to?

After all the interview and research I have done, I interpret this map differently. During the interview, Ho simply said using map to express her idea is a usual way and it is for convenience. She said once you have left something you will love old things more. In the book review of The Power of Maps, she wrote that maps help her to manage her things tidily; a map itself is a combination of symbols that she can put varied emotions and thoughts inside the space of geography; It seems that it is more peaceful and quiet, though its power is still there. She said, a more unusual way of drawing of a map is more powerful against the official one. A map would explain one’s thoughts and even complaints peacefully.

I believe I will find more and more inside this map when I grow older, who will then have more life experience.

If I have to present the idea Utopia, or a similar one as Ho Sin Ting’s, I would first draw the map, and then use black color to cover the whole map. I really like the idea of “the wall and things behind”. Remembering the hot topic of Edison and his sexual partners during which people use black colors to hind all the sensitive parts of the photos, I think black color is more powerful than pixelate. And I want to cover the whole map because Hong Kong is quite a sensitive issue to me in all aspects. For example, whether Hong Kong itself is as powerful as a country or still is belong to China; does Hong Kong still a place we can earn a living and enjoy a good life; the environmental issue; the educational system; the future. Every times when I want to touch these topics, I think of escaping from this little city. And there are plenty of problems and issues that may not be solved in the coming future. Hong Kong people who stay still may only because they have no money to emigrate or they pretend there are no such problems. How many there are who are really optimistic about the future of Hong Kong?  In my map, there will be Donald Tsang and Henry Tang not standing beside but drinking wine. I do think Hong Kong comes to such a poor situation is all because of the weak and short-sighted government. They know only how to enjoy their own life but never care about the low and middle classes. 

Anyway, I love Ho Sin Tung’s work. At first I think there is no much to talk about, especially after the interview in which her answers are always short and unclear to certain extent. However, when I read more about her background and her work, including interviews, book reviews, blogs and whatever, I learn how to read her works. Her works are really provoking thoughts and let me think about how we should live for a better life deeply. I found this project more amazing as this is not something she is initiative to do. She did this project for an invited exhibition.

I wouldn’t compare people’s presentation of a same topic. In fact, what I have learnt is that what media or materials you used to present your ideas is not that matter. The presentation of a work refers one’s philosophy and therefore you can’t compare. Ho Sin Tung presents her thoughts in this way due to what she has experienced before and her background and many other things. I think I can’t judge whether she has done a good presentation or not as I was not her and I don’t know her and herself so much that I would say this art work can or cannot refer her. Despite the reasons why she has to work on this topic, all these art works are part of her in the past, present and future. No one, including the artist herself, does not know if such a presentation is the best one presenting her. I think that why we always believe there is a room for improvement. Human beings are ever-changing.

Artists are easy to forget things, even their own ideas. It may because they have got too much to finish. And sometimes it is really true that they got nothing to tell you. They create a work in such a way for something they cannot really explain, or sometimes for no reason indeed. They simply want to do it in this way. I agree that it needs quite a long time to really understand an artist’s work.