2P Contemporary is pleased to present “Bright Light Has Much The Same Effect As Ice” a solo exhibition by Leung Chi Wo. Leung multi-disciplinary practices broach the realms of human connection, historical context, sensory perception and cultural identity across mediums such as video, photography and installation. His work is both reflective and contemplative often flipping conceptual ideals on their heads. Leung is adept at combining historical context with human experience contextualised within a contemporary narrative.
Created first for the Guangzhou Triennial 2012 Leung Chi Wo’s multidisciplinary installation “Bright Light Has Much The Same Effect As Ice” illustrates a project by the artist to re-investigate the lowest temperature ever recorded at the Hong Kong Observatory on the 18th of January 1893 and the “mythologised” notion that the renowned 19 Century photographers studio Pun Lun recorded the event.
A combination of multimedia photographic light boxes, journalistic text from the time and a silver coin minted in the 1983 make up this significant exhibition that will be on show in the gallery throughout Art Basel Hong Kong 2013. At the center of the exhibition lies a four-part light box installation illuminating an image Leung had in his possession of Pun Lun’s work.
“Everything started with this photograph” says Leung. For Leung the people shown in this image create an inarguable link between the modern day viewer and the Nineteenth Century sitters and photographer who experienced the seemingly snow-covered hills of Hong Kong. This creates a linear sense of visceral connection linking all participating parties and traversing a distance of over 100 years. It is within this notion that a conceptual transformation takes place and allows the viewer to see through the photographer Pun Lun’s eyes and experience the 1893 environment.
About the Artist:
Leung Chi Wo was born in Hong Kong in 1968. He attended and graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong with a Master of Fine Art. Notably in 1996 he co-founded Para-Site Art Space, Hong Kong and represented Hong Kong in the first ever Hong Kong pavillion at the 2001 Venice Biennale. Throughout Asia Leung Chi Wo has exhibited with Hong Kong’s Hanart TZ, Asia Art Archive and Para- Site as well as internationally at the Queens Museum of Art, New York and Rokeby Gallery, London. Leung Chi Wo has been included in the Guangzhou Trienniale (2008), the Busan Biennale (2006), Gwangju Biennale (2002), Shanghai Biennale (2000) and most recently the Marrakesh Biennale 2012.
Image: © Leung Chi Wo, 2P Contemporary Art Gallery
