The Society for Experimental Cultural Production is pleased to announce The Border Show (边展), a site-specific exhibition of recent art concerned with the border mechanisms of the Pearl River Delta to be staged during the period of Fotanian, Hong Kong’s annual open studio event, from 8 to 28 January 2011.

Taking place inside a set of shipping containers placed amid the hulking post-industrial buildings of the New Territories halfway between the urban cores of Hong Kong and Shenzhen, this exhibition proposes a new relationship between these two cities and the wider region by approaching the ontology of the border crossing. Rather than allowing the various art communities of the area to misapprehend highly localized situations of cultural production as representative of the Delta as a whole, radically open work can instead build connections between audiences by advancing new possibilities for art in cross-border living.

This exhibition exists both within and literally as the marginal spaces between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, interrogating the operation of the manufacturing-shipment complex of the Pearl River Delta region. Participating projects will be first installed in the disused containers of the New Territories in January 2011; at a later date in the spring, the work and its containers will be removed to a disused industrial area of Shenzhen. The status of the border crossing is thus materialized by the presence of the exhibition itself in these two archetypal spaces of production and trade.

Participating artists for the first portion of the exhibition in Hong Kong include Nadim Abbas (Hong Kong), Laoban Soundsystem (Matt Hope and Jon Phillips, Beijing), Hu Xiangqian (Guangzhou), Huang He (Guangzhou), Jin Jiangbo (Shanghai), Leung Chi Wo (Hong Kong), Li Jinghu (Dongguan), and Adrian Wong (Hong Kong). Collectively, their work examines the psychology of architecture, the engineering of sound, interventions in local politics, fengshui and space, the economy in regional urbanism, migration and settlement, the visibility of labor, gray markets, shanzhai culture, and the biopolitics of identity.

The opening reception will include a sunset barbecue on the harborside with live music provided by a variant of the Laoban Soundsystem engineered by participating artists Matt Hope and Jon Phillips. All are welcome into the evening. Additional events will be organized on 15 and 22 January, and a pamphlet on the exhibition will be produced for the closing reception.

To reach the exhibition site, take the MTR to Wu Kai Sha Station and follow the signs to the Whitehead Club Driving Range (白石俱乐部), approximately 10-15 minutes by foot. Alternatively, shuttle bus service is available directly to the Whitehead Club from Shatin Town Hall every hour on the half hour until 20:30, or from Sunshine City every half hour until 22:45. The Club is widely recognized by cab and other drivers. From the entrance to the Whitehead Club, follow the parking lot driveway between the golf driving range and the barbecue restaurants to arrive at the container lot. For questions, you may reach us at 5181-5156 (English) or 5181-2762 (Cantonese).

Nadim Abbas, Matt Hope + Jon Phillips, Hu Xiangqian,
Huang He, Jin Jiangbo, Leung Chi Wo, Li Jinghu, Adrian Wong

Curated by Venus Lau and Robin Peckham
Organized by the Society for Experimental Cultural Production

Opening 8 January 2011, 17:00 - 21:00
And running through 28 January 2011
Open weekends 12:00 - 18:00
Otherwise by appointment