Navigating the struggles between the individual and the collective, the artist delves into the realms of vulnerability and solidarity.
One Sound of the Futures, 2016
Isaac Chong Wai
3 Channel Video, HD loop: 7:13 min
Performance at Kai Tak Runway Park in Hong Kong, Democracy Square in Gwangju in South Korea, K11 Artist Village in Wuhan in China at the 5th Large-Scale Public Media Arts Exhibition - “Human Vibrations” curated by Caroline Ha Thuc
“One Sound of the Futures” is a performance involving people from Hong Kong, South Korea and Wuhan in China. Standing like living sculptures, the participants were asked to simultaneously formulate the sound of the futures from Kai Tak Runway Park in Hong Kong, Democracy Square in Gwangju and from K11 Artist Village in Wuhan. Lined up in a stringent formation they expressed how they imagined their own and personal future. By mixing all these different voices of the futures, diverse times interwove to become a unique moment when the time that has not yet come is addressed. This ultimate, intangible time resounded in a spoken yet indefinable noise created by hundreds of individual voices heard from different cities and countries.
Presented by: Hong Kong Arts Development Council
Organizer: Hong Kong Arts Development Council
Venue Partners: K11 Art Foundation, Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Hong Kong & Wuhan K11 Artist Village
Exhibition Partners: Burger Collection & Gwangju Cultural Foundation
One Sound of the Histories, 2015
Isaac Chong Wai
Performance, HD Video 15:43min with Subtitles
Weimarplatz, Weimar, Germany
Photo: Ana Cayuela & Iva Kirova
Numerous people were invited to line up in a stringent formation while telling the stories of their life at the same time at Weimarplatz. All participants, as living sculptures, stood and searched for their own memories and told their stories in diverse times in the past. By telling personal memories the present and the past of this particular place interweave to become a unique moment in history, resounding in a spoken noise created by people’s voices.
This project is realized within the framework of ACTING SPACE - BAUHAUS GOES KUNSTFEST 2015 under the direction of Prof. Danica Dakić and Anke Hannemann. Coordinated by Jirka Reichmann. A collaboration between the MFA program “Public Art and New Artistic Strategies” at the Bauhaus Universität Weimar and Kunstfest Weimar 2015 with generous support from Burger COLLECTION, Landesverwaltungsamt, Ordnungsamt and Atrium Weimar.
Swimming Back to Our Destination, 2019
Isaac Chong Wai
Performance and Video
Performed by Yannis Mitsos, Imola Nagy, Nobutala Shomura
Courtesy of Zilberman Gallery
The performance Swimming Back to Our Destination, 2019, embodies the imageries of human mobility through thinking about the struggles, strengths and substitutes of bodies. The swimmers learning to swim the same way a boat does, in a collective way, highlight our yearning for an alternative, an ideal mode for mobility – in solidarity.
The horizon where we can never touch, 2014
Isaac Chong Wai
Performance
Bremen, Germany
Seven participants were invited to perform in Bremen at the Immigration Office Gallery. They were asked to adjust their height in order to get “a line” above their heads. Every participant took turns to pose as the model according to whom the other participants adjusted their height. This work highlights the subjectivity of norms and standards and how easily it is subject to change: who is leading the game? Who shall we all copy to meet so-called standards?