Gallery EXIT announces the inaugural exhibition of SOUTHSITE, a space dedicated to inter-media art practices located in Tin Wan, Aberdeen on Hong Kong Island South. The understated opening on 2 March will feature works by Roy Ng, Vivian Poon, Wun Ting Wendy Tai and a performance by Hong Kong New Music Ensemble (HKNME). Over the course of two months, the exhibition will grow to include over twenty artists. The grand closing on 5 May, 5 p.m. will be the first but final chance to view the exhibition in full.
The exhibition title, Why Do Trees Grow Till the End?, takes its inspiration from the notion that perennial life forms continue to grow unless terminated by external factors. In Black Cloud a kinetic installation by Roy Ng, a plastic bag warps in a placid rhythm as if caught by a breeze in slow motion. In Untitled (snow) and Untitled (4mm snow) , Vivian Poon takes the cotton tree as metaphor for snow in her native south China and paints passive scenes of the plant viewed through net curtains. Salt Water by Wun Ting Wendy Tai is a two part apothecary-esque installation. With suspended glass funnels, the first part extracts salt by evaporating brine collected along Cape Cod, US and the second tardily dissolves mounds of salt rock with small beads of water.
At the opening, the HKNME will perform Patangis-Buwaya by Jonas Baes. It is a work that involves four wind instruments and, with the audience's participation, whistles. The title literally means "sound that makes even the crocodile weep."
As the show proceeds to grow, two complimentary works will be added and announced each week. The blog whydotreesgrowtilltheend.blogspot.com will be updated on a weekly basis to document the on-going exhibition. Works will be contributed by Chen Wei, Silas Fong, Hsu Yinling, Kong Chun Hei, Kong Yiu Wing, Kwan Sheung Chi, Elise Lai, Sarah Lai, Lewis Lau, Lin Xue, Him Lo, Ivy Ma, Ng Ka Chun, Roy Ng, Vivian Poon, Wun Ting Wendy Tai, Cam Wong, Wong Wai Yin, Trevor Yeung and Samson Young.
This exhibition is curated by Pui Pui To (2P Contemporary) and Aenon Loo (Gallery EXIT). The performance series is curated by William Lane (HKNME).
