Wednesday 26.08.2015

'Curate No More' Gum's Art Project (2013-2015)

Established in June, 2007 at Prince Edward, C&G Artpartmet is run by the couple of C, as Clara (Clara Cheung), and G, as Gum (Cheng Yee-Man, Gum). In the past few years, they have worked together to curate numerous art exhibitions, while G (Gum) also has individually curated more than ten art projects. Most 'curators' in Hong Kong are doing repetitive, simplistic and boring works, especially those within the government who often are only civil servants within the bureaucratic structure. The appearance of M+ re-emphasizes the repetitive curatorial strategy with 'big names' of artists, simple concepts and boring directions focusing on particular art media. Even 'independent' curators in Hong Kong are not any better; they usually do not have enough paid jobs and basically are exploited freelancers. Can 'curatorship' be more meaningful in Hong Kong? If whoever able to do repetitive, simplistic and boring works can be a curator, can we say 'everyone is a curator?' C&G is going to have a reform in 2013. One change will be G(Gum) pausing his curatorial activities for two years, until August 2015. During this period, C(Clara) will continue the curatorial works of artpartment, and is going to custom-made a series of on-going art projects which consist of 10 tasks to be completed within 100 weeks of the two years.

The ten on-going art projects involve different art media: performance art, sculpture, painting, text, mail art, photography, drawing, art criticism, sound art, video art etc. The projects are about his personal life, family, current issues, history, politics, art etc. These ten on-going projects are repetitive, simplistic and boring, but will be well documented. Project venues will mostly be at C&G Artpartment, and be changed to other sites, depending on each project's characteristics and daily life requirements. Amongst, one project is to take photos of their two daughters at the same site, with the same posture from the same angle once a week. Another one is titled 'Sculpt Myself' which is similar to a weight-loss scheme. G(Gum) will do a number of push-ups every night before going to bed (20 push-ups for the first day, and, with an increase everyday, more than 50 push-ups after one month of the project). This simple repetition of the same activities will be continued for two years in order to 'sculpt' the body. Another project titled 'Dance Old Dance,' is about taking one photo of one dance posture at one local site with sculpture or architecture that is non-user friendly or too much old-fashioned. Two years later, the 100 photos of different dance postures will be combined to make a simple stop-motion animation. There will be other repetitive, simplistic and boring tasks executed by G(Gum) within these two years, including mailing a postcard to himself and painting one self-portrait each week etc.

The current project will allow G(Gum) take a temporary break from the role of curator after being such for almost ten years. He will become a normal Hongkonger with regular routines, regular family life and regular livelihood. This project is a challenging attempt to search for the pleasurable treasures within the bitter routines, and a way to learn to wisely accumulate time. On the other hand, throughout the on-going, repetitive investigation and art-making exercises, one can also accumulate experiences, understandings and knowledge. Time and energy involved will make 'changes.' Such changing process can then reveal 'insights.' These 'insights' will be shared with audience in the future after G(Gum) returns to his curatorial work. If one can 'wisely accumulate time,' then 'everyone can be an artist,' and 'everyone can be a curator.'
You are welcome to C & G Artpartment and 7 other venues to visit and exchange ideas with the artist.




(1) 'Curate No More' --- Fortune Telling
Content: 'Curate No More' Art Project takes place from September, 2013 to August, 2015. At the beginning of the project, Gum has written down his predictions about himself, the local art scene, Hong Kong's society and financial status in 2015. There were 100 items on the list of fortune telling, which was printed on a few pieces of A4 paper and being put in a copper time capsule, along with some other related materials. This time capsule was then buried underground at 'Oi!,' and was planned to be unearthed in August 2015.

Exhibit： During a sharing session of at 'Oi!,' on 1st August, 2015 5:00-7:00pm, the time capsule will be unearthed. All items inside will be taken out for sharing, and the fortune telling list will be fully reviewed.
After the sharing session, the documentary video of the fortune telling list revision session will be displayed at the exhibition venue.

Exhibition Period and venue:
31July – 18 Oct 2015, Daily 10:00am - 8:00pm
Closed on Mondays from 10:00am - 2:00pm (except public holidays)
Oi! 12 Oil Street, North Point, Hong Kong (Exit A, MTR Fortress Hill Station)



(2) 'Curate No More' --- Sketching
Content: Gum has sent 100 postcards to 'Oi!', addressed to himself, during the 100 weeks of the current project. Besides weekly diary about the artist's important personal experiences in that week, each postcard also consists of one to a few black dots. Without careful examination, one may misunderstand those dots as crossed-over words or simply dirt. However, by reviewing all the postcards in order: one after one, a viewer will find out that the black dots converge and diverge to form a sequence. If the black dot is an individual, such a path is suggesting that life is no more than just this.
The other sides of the postcards are the imaginative designs of 'Cattle Depot Artist Village' (another artist village run by the government) by a group of secondary school students in 2006.

Exhibit： 100 postcards sent weekly to the artist by himself, will be exhibited.
Besides, the text and black dots on the postcards will be combined to be a stop-motion animation for display.

Exhibition Period and venue:
31July – 18 Oct 2015, Daily 10:00am - 8:00pm
Closed on Mondays from 10:00am - 2:00pm (except public holidays)
Oi! 12 Oil Street, North Point, Hong Kong (Exit A, MTR Fortress Hill Station)



(3) 'Curate No More' --- Proposal Writing
Content: Gum completes 10 art projects simultaneously within the one hundred weeks between September 2013 and August 2015. One of the projects is to write a proposal for the exhibition series, titled 'Curate No More' Gum's Art Project (2013-2015), to exhibit all the artworks made within the project. The idea in the proposal is to have two sets of exhibitions: one being 'two dimensional artwork series', and another being 'conceptual art series.' The proposal has been submitted to the Arts Development Council to apply for the 'multi-project grant' in order to complete this two-year-project.

Exhibit: To display the proposal of 'Curate No More' Gum's Art Project (2013-2015) and all related documents for grant-application.
Proposal Writing Workshop：
(Fri)23 - 10 - 2015, 6:00 - 7:30pm


Exhibition Period and venue:
5 Sept - 30 Oct 2015, Thu to Mon, 2:00 - 7:00pm (close on Tue, Wed and public holidays)
C & G Artpartment, 3/F, 222 Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Prince Edward, Kowloon, Hong Kong



(4) 'Curate No More' --- Art Criticism
Content: Between September 2013 and August 2015, Gum continues his reading habit, which is to purchase and read a specific Hong Kong comic book titled, 'Dragon, Tiger, Gate,' every week. He seriously studies the comics, circles out what is wrong in the book, writes down his comments, and becomes an art critic of the comic book.

Exhibit: There are totally 100 comic books within the 100 weeks of this art criticism project. The exhibition is going to show the 100 comic books all at once in order to reveal the artist's sensibility about popular culture.

Sharing：
(Fri)9 - 10 - 2015, 7:00 - 8:30pm

Exhibition Period and venue:
5 Sept - 30 Oct 2015, Thu to Mon, 2:00 - 7:00pm (close on Tue, Wed and public holidays)
C & G Artpartment, 3/F, 222 Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Prince Edward, Kowloon, Hong Kong



(5) 'Curate No More' --- Performance Art Documentation
Content: Every week from September 2013 to August 2015, Gum goes to one MTR subway station to discover nearby sculptures, architectures or empty space that are non-user friendly, too much old-fashioned or being completely abandoned. Using his 'discovery' as background, Gum then takes one photo of one dance posture around each MTR station. All the photos of different dance postures will be combined to be a simple stop-motion animation.

Exhibit： -Around 90 photos taken around different MTR stations, during the 100 weeks, will be printed out in A3 size and exhibited in order. Meanwhile, a 1-minute stop-motion animation will be projected, with the artist's figure in a life size ratio in the venue. This series of works attempts to reveal problematic issues about public space, through the artist's perspective, in a humorous and critical way.


Exhibition Period and venue:
17 Sept - 4 Oct 2015, 10:00am - 6:00pm
Koo Ming Kown Exhibition Gallery, the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University,
5 Hereford Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong



(6) 'Curate No More' --- Sound Art
Content: Gum has received more than 100 promotional phone calls from September 2013 to August 2015, and has jotted down all these numbers. Most of these calls are about commercials or loans, and the phone numbers of these incoming calls seldom repeat. In the end of the two-year period, Gum will call back each phone number in record, with a monotone, (to resemble most incoming promotional phone calls), and invite the phone operators to the current exhibit opening.

Exhibit: All the phone numbers being recorded will be displayed, and the phone conversations with different phone operators will be played at the venue as well.

Exhibition Period and venue:
22 Sept - 18 Oct 2015, 10:00am - 8:00pm
Open space at Cattle Depot Artist Village, 63 Ma Tau Kok Road, To Kwa Wan, Kowloon, Hong Kong



(7) 'Curate No More' --- Sculpture
Content:
Between September 2013 and August 2015, Gum does push-ups every night before bedtime (20 push-ups for the first day, and, with an increase everyday, more than 50 push-ups after one month, and then proceeding to 100 push-ups until now). This simple repetition of the same activities has been continued for two years in order to 'sculpt' the artist's body, which becomes the material for art making. During the time being, Gum also has taken one self-portrait each week.

Exhibit:
The artist photographer, Martin Cheung, who is very experienced in film stills, is invited to shoot a portrait series of Gum Cheng. This photo series echoes the atmosphere of the exhibition venue, a bar setting. About 10 photographs from this series will be selected and printed out in A2 format for the exhibition.

Meanwhile, all the portraits taken during the 100 weeks will be combined together in order to produce a stop-motion animation. One can witness the changes and endurance of the artist within a minute, through the animation film played with monitor and projector at the exhibition venue.

Arm Wrestling Competition:：
(Fri)25 - 9 - 2015, 9:30pm

Exhibition Period and venue:
25 Sept - 31 Oct 2015, (Fri, Sat, Sun, 8:00pm till late)
Sense 99, 2 - 3/F, 99F Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong


(8) 'Curate No More' --- Painting
Content: Between September 2013 and August 2015, Gum paints one self-portrait each week, based upon mass media's representation of himself. During this painting project, he has done a large-scale study to search for his portraits appearing on newspaper, magazines, televisions, online-media etc, and then re-present his images from mass media on canvas.
Hong Kong has been lack of systematic writings about local art history. Sorted files of artworks being represented in mass media can formulate an effective art archive. Because of his role as an artist, Gum's image is being represented and documented in mass media. Instead of being all the way passive, Gum Cheng has adapted a more pro-active approach to re-appropriate the power of the media to further express his own artistic ideas. The current series of paintings make use of the reports of the artist in mass media. A simplified personal history is being re-packaged in the paintings to reveal the sustainable development of an alternative dimension of the artist's life.
Exhibit: -100 oil paintings on canvas in different sizes (from 20X30 cm to 70 X 100 cm) will be exhibited

Grand Opening：
(Sat)3 - 10 - 2015, 6:00pm


Exhibition Period and venue:
1 - 13 Oct 2015, Mon to Sat, 12:00 noon to 10:00pm
Anita Chan Lai-ling Gallery, Fringe Club, 2 Lower Albert Road, Central, Hong Kong



(9) 'Curate No More' --- Photography
Content: Gum has taken photos of his two daughters at the same site, with the same postures, once a week
from September 2013 to August 2015, in order to document their changes in the two years.

Exhibit: One photo from each week will be selected from the few hundreds of photographs, and then printed out in 4R size for the exhibition. Meanwhile, all the portraits taken during the 100 weeks will be combined together in order to produce a stop-motion animation. One can witness the growing process of the artist's two daughters within a minute, through a life-size projection of the animation in the venue.


Exhibition Period and venue:
1 - 25 Oct 2015, Thu to Sun, 4:00 - 8:00pm
100 ft. PARK, 1/F , 220 Apliu Street, Sham Shui Po ,Kowloon, Hong Kong



(10) 'Curate No More' --- Mail Art
Content： From September 2013 to August 2015, Gum has mailed one letter to the Chief Executive Office, for Mr. Leung Chun Ying, every week, along with selected news-clips and Gum's opinion about the news article. Gum, then, receives a letter from the secretary of the Chief Executive and related government departments every week. The current exhibition will showcase the process of communication with Mr. Leung Chun Ying in mail throughout the project.

Exhibit： -About one hundred replied letters will be exhibited, along with all the related information and materials, in order to show responses of the artist toward his concerned social issues

Sharing：
(Thu)1- 10 - 2015, 下午5:00 - 6:30pm

Exhibition Period and venue:
1 - 30 Oct 2015, 11:30am - 10:00pm
Kubrick, Shop H2, Prosperous Garden, 3 Public Square St., Yau Ma Tei ,Kowloon, Hong Kong