Exhibition of “The very happy wonderful celebration of the return of Artist Commune and the 18th anniversary of Hong Kong handover, with cheerful music and songs all over the world”

Around the year of 1997, there was a new wave of art in Hong Kong, to envision the future of Hong Kong through reflections upon the city’s history and various social issues. This new wave of art generated a great amount of ‘97 art,’ and significantly changed the boring art scene in Hong Kong. Art finally stepped out of the ivory tower and entered the public sphere to interact with the public. Artists pro-actively participated in the process of social sculpting. ‘97 art’ injected new energy into the Hong Kong art scene and constructed a new discourse for the contemporary art scene. 

As one of the earlier artist-run spaces in 1990s, Artist Commune actively pushed forward ‘97 art,’ ever since its establishment. Addressing the election scheme of the Hong Kong Chief Executive, Artist Commune has hosted five art exhibitions before each previous C.E. election, ever since 1997. It aims to encourage more artists to express their ideas about democracy and the C.E. election, through their arts, and also to provide an open platform for related discussion. The political and social specificity of Hong Kong generated a kind of art that could not escape from the contemporary discourse. ‘97 art’ gave birth to a new generation of Hong Kong contemporary artists and art organizations. ‘97 art’ was strongly engaged in society, participated in the democratic movement and helped shape the important cultural characteristics of Hong Kong contemporary art. 

At the 18th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover and the establishment of Artist Commune, 10 artists (with many of them being previous member of Artist Commune) initiated the current exhibition, titled ‘The very happy wonderful celebration of the return of Artist Commune and the 18th anniversary of Hong Kong handover, with cheerful music and songs all over the world’, in order to have reflections on the democratic movement from 1997 to 2015. Facing all the problematic issues about politics and cultures, we attempt to open up imaginations of the identity and cultural values for Hong Kong people. With the independent, critical and creative perspectives of the artists, we hope to help provide more platforms for dialogues in the public sphere about the future of Hong Kong. 


Participating artists:
WONG Shun Kit, CHAU Shek Hung, Clara CHEUNG, CHENG Yee Man (Gum), TO Wun, CHAN Pui Leng(Peggy), YU Pui Shan, LAU Hok Shing (Hanison), CHAN Ching man, LEE Chun Fung 

http://news.mingpao.com/pns/展覽推介﹕回歸18年%20%20回歸創作/web_tc/article/20150704/s00005/1435945928756

Opening: 1 July 2015, 5pm

Venue: Fringe Club (2 Lower Albert Road, Central, Hong Kong)

Exhibition Date and Time: 1 – 12 July 2015 (10:00am – 10:00pm)