by Gallery 55 Location: Gallery 55
Artist(s): Chong MA
Date: 12 May - 3 Jun 2012
The relationship between city and human being is like that of the body and clothes. Buildings are like the body shell, hiding us away from the unknown world. Construction has changed people’s way of life, habits and demand. The soul is wrapped, cut and classified. The external unity become more definitive than content in terms of identity. People chased after prosperity, expansion and change. Everything are turned to subversion gradually in this age of construction.
"Built ’By Heart’" is a reconstruction of reality, an urge from the inner world. It comes from the deepest part of an individual’s thought. It is the spiritual sustenance. "Built ’By Heart’" tries to understand and recognise the environment that we live in through a simple and adventurous way light-heartedly. Memories of childhood experiences are clear but untrue. They only belong to one’s own world, an Utopian space.
Spirit becomes the main body among the works which "built". Whether these works are seen and unseen, they will exist regardless reality’s support. Facing the tall buildings in the city, how do we prove our existence? What kind of space do we need to host our bodies? What does city expansion mean to us? The emergence of these problems makes this reconstruction possible.