Paintings, Installation and Video by Marc Schmitz and Kingsley Ng. Marc Schmitz and Kingsley Ng have met at the 2nd Land Art Biennial in Mongolia in 2012 where they have worked in the rocks of the Gobi desert. On the ocassion of a residency programme Schmitz works together with Ng again on the topic of hills and heights in Hong Kong, where the two reflect upon the images of nature with a focus on the mountains and hills in the dense area of the city.

According to Schmitz, mountains are symbols for the desire of superiority which has found its impression in arts, literature and religion. "What we are looking for is: images, ideas, patterns, paintings, imaginations and symbols of mountain peaks and above. The mountain symbolises calm, immobility, wisdom - close to the sky. From a social-economic point of view we are used to images of rise throughout our life. Advancement, progress - the history of mountaineering reads like a chronology of the conquest of peaks. After the heights are defeated, the requirements increased to enable further records. The paradox is that on the one hand the mountain height is a constant, but on the other hand, the mountain is a permanently compelling slant."

Marc Schmitz is a Berlin-based artist and Director of Land Art Mongolia. He studied Philosophy and Fine Art in Munich and Berlin. Marc participated in Busan Biennial, Beijing Biennale, the Sculpture Quadrennial in Latvia and exhibited at the Zendai MoMA in Shanghai and Concert Hall in Perth as well as in the Academy of Arts, in Baku amongst others and was residence artist on several occasions like Yatoo in Korea, and in Peace Art Hotel in China. 2013 Marc Schmitz was presented at Venice Biennial in Giardini and at Sculpture by the Sea in Aarhus and UBE Biennial in Japan. He was awarded with the first prize for Art For Expo 2000 World Expo and with the special prize of the jury at the 10th Cairo Biennial, and the Turgut Pura Art Prize at the Museum of Sculpture Izmir 2012, amongst others.

Kingsley Ng is an inter-disciplinary artist and lecturer at the Hong Kong Baptist University Academy of Visual Arts. He received postgraduate training at Le Fresnoy - National Studio of Contemporary Arts in France and graduated with the highest honors (les felicitation du jury à l'unanimité). Ng is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards, including the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Best Artist Award of the year 2013, Asian Cultural Council Fellowship Grant 2013, and the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Biennial Awards 2009.

-Goethe-Gallery, Goethe-Institut Hong Kong

Image: © Marc Schmitz
Courtesy of the artist and Goethe-Gallery, Goethe-Institut Hong Kong