This exhibition presents two sets of études. Originally meaning “study” in French, the word is widely adopted to describe a short musical composition, typically for one instrument, written as an exercise to improve one’s technique, while also played for its artistic value.

The practice of art, regardless of media or form, can be said as a lifelong endeavour to advance oneself technically, aesthetically, intellectually, ethically and spiritually.

As parallels in this exhibition, the two sets of études are the results of collaboration with international and local art and cultural practitioners, whose reflective practice casts light upon the ontology of art and the oscillating forces between the sublime and the quotidian.

One austere and self-contained, the other light and open, Études for the 21st Century and Études for the Everyday are contrasting and complementary studies on the essence of art, living and being in time. While the former contemplates life and asks what it takes to be human, the latter is about experiencing life and living as a human. For the 21st Century generates practice for the future and the eternal. Everyday is practice for the transitory present.

Departing from, in John Conomos’s words, “the whirlwind of the last century’s aesthetic, cultural, political and technological revolutions, a century of manifestos and paradigm-shifting creativity of art, culture and knowledge,” how do we move forward from “art for art’s sake” to “art for the sake of life”?

Through art, how do we learn about life and living? How do we learn to look, reflect on, and manifest attentiveness? How do we learn from the impulses of man and nature? How do we sustain our impulses? How do we process them, and ultimately register them as memories? And how does memory in turn affect our ways of seeing and acting?

-Exhibition concept by Kingsley Ng

Étude for the 21st Century

Reflecting on this series of questions, Étude for the 21st Century is a large-scale multi-channel video installation, articulated on a 30-meter long oscillating string. With moving images filmed by Robert Cahen and John Conomos over the last 40 years, the work is a glimpse of the world through the artists’ eyes.

The flickering, fleeting projection traces a kind of human process. Moments of impulses – as light, as energy, as an image – are intercepted. How does one conceive, contemplate, rationalize and distil these moments? How can one capture them, and resist their disappearance in time?

In a world of excessive images, only a few remain. The work is a tribute to artists whom have preserved these intense moments of life, and whose unwavering energy sustains these images through eternality.

Featured artists: Kingsley Ng, Robert Cahen, John Conomos and Steve Hui.

Etudes for the Everyday:

Amidst growing unease and tension in this city, can the practice of art, in all its manifestations, inspire a kind of energy loop?

100+ leading art and cultural practitioners generously share, in the form of étude, how they sense, reflect on and act in everyday life, and invite the community to practise them together. As we make sense of the world through creative acts, what will we learn if we practise such sensitivity and imagination in the everyday? Will our world be different?

After the exhibition, practice of the études by the general public will be further encouraged through different channels, such as an online portal, outreach programmes and publication.

Features 100+ art and cultural practitioners in Hong Kong.

(In alphabetical order by last name)

Nadim Abbas, John Aiken, Peter Benz, Philine Bracht, Amy Chan, Crystal Chan, Aric Chen, Movana Chen, Enoch Cheng, Grace Cheng, Vennes Cheng, Cheng Yee Man (Gum), Cheung Chi Wai, Clara Cheung, Enoch Cheung, Reds Cheung, Kimburley Choi, Thickest Choi, Choi Yan Chi, Chow Yiu Fai, Birdy Chu, Bryan Chung, Ribble Chung, Chung Wai Ian, David Clarke, Josephine Do, Valerie C. Doran, Elephant, Stella Fong, Vangi Fong, Frog King, May Fung, Raymond Fung, Arianna Gellini, Laurent Guttierez, Gerard Henry, Mette Hjort, Oscar Ho, Ho Siu Kee, Claire Hsu, Steve Hui, Tony Ip, Jhave, Kan Tai Keung, Daniel Kurjakovic, Alan Kwan, Dylan Kwok, Ida Kwong, Lai Chun Ling, Lai Tsz Yuen, Lai Wai Yi, Monti, Lam Laam Jaffa, Sef Lam,Lau Ching Ping, Gukzik Lau, Lesley Lau, Lau Tin Ming, Jamsen Law, Sophia Law, Lee Chi Wai, Lee Chun Fung, Lee Kit, Leung Mee Ping, Rosanna Li, Evelyna Liang, Lui Chun Kwong, Vincci Mak, Phoebe Man, MoBen, Ng Ka Chun, Lars Nittve, Janice Poon, Jeffrey Shaw, Stephanie Sin, Siu King Chung, Zoie So, County Tam, Eve Tam, Stella Tang, Greg Thomas, Vivian Ting, Derrick To, William Tsang, Adrian Tsing, Michelle Vosper, Josephine Wai, Annie Wan, Sunny Wang, Emma Watts, wen yau, Ada Wong, Bonny Wong, Wong Chi Chung, Fiona Wong, Justin Wong, Kacey Wong, Anthony Yeung, G Yeung, Douglas Young, Yeung Sau Churk, Yang Yeung, Bellini Yu, Cally Yu, Francis Yu, and Meipo Yuen.

© Osage Gallery