5 exhibits to check out at Art Central 2021

There are plenty of ways to discover contemporary talent at Art Central 2021, from curated booths and solo presentations to panel talks and large-scale, interactive installations. There is even Art Central Capsule, a digital platform where you can experience the art fair virtually.

However you choose to visit, read on as we’ve rounded up some highlights for you at the much-anticipated event during Art Week.

Sakurako Matsushima and Sang-Sun Bae | GWO WAI Curated Booth

Art Central is introducing elements of the Cantonese language throughout its programme this year. Gwo Wai is a term from Cantonese opera that describes the movement of performers crossing paths on the stage. At Gwo Wai booth, you can feast your eyes on some exceptional sculptures made from traditional or unusual material.

Sakurako Matsushima creates sizable abstract sculptures with urushi (Japanese lacquer). 

Sakurako Matsushima, Undercurrents VII, 2009, natural lacquer, hemp cloth, bamboo, gold powder, gold foil, inlays of shells, 78x53x5cm. (Image courtesy of the artist and Contemporary Crafts Centre)

Each of the chandeliers in Sangsun Bae’s Chandelier series is made of a different set of knots.

Sang-Sun Bae, The Chandelier 5, 2018, archival pigment print, face mounted. From an edition of 9. 111 x 90 cm. (Image courtesy of the artist and LEE & BAE)

Stefano Perrone at Jason Shin (Seoul) | DUK DAK Solo Presentations

Stefano Perrone, Invasione di campo, 2020, oil on canvas, 130 x 128 cm.

Duk Dak is a common Cantonese phrase meaning “individually special”. This newly launched exhibition features emerging and established talent through solo projects. One highlight here is Invasione di campo by Italian contemporary artist Stefano Perrone, developed from a process of saving digital images appropriated from others, and recreating them later from memory. In essence, his process creates a representation of the memory of the image instead of a copy.

In The Lonesome Changing Room by Chan Wai Lap | YI TAI Sculpture & Installation Projects

Chan Wai Lap, The Lonesome Changing Room, 2021. Installation. Dimensions variable. (Image courtesy of the artist and Contemporary by Angela Li)

Yi Tai is Art Central’s platform for ambitious, large-scale installations. It suggests something out of the ordinary, unusual or surprising. There are six such installations at Art Central 2021. In The Lonesome Changing Room by Chan Wai Lapis an actual recreation of a swimming pool changing room. Spread throughout the installation are meticulous drawings of various swimming spaces the artist has visited.

Ink Reveries by Chris Cheung (h0nh1m) at UOB Artspace

Chris Cheung (h0nh1m), Ink Reveries. (Image courtesy of the artist and UOB)

Ink Reveries is a special interactive and immersive installation commissioned by UOB. It features a forest of 63 bamboo canes, made of stainless steel bamboo tubes encased in thermochromic ink. These tubes represent 63 years of climate change data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Visitors can walk through the bamboo grove and touch these canes. Heat transfer from touch causes the ink to gently disappear from the bamboo canes, cleverly illustrating the impact of human activities on the environment. 

Art Central 2021 runs from 20 – 23 May at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Find out more about Art Central 2021 here

See also: 5 Hong Kong exhibitions to see in May 2021

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