Be Water: 和你 Flow
2020
February 28 – March 21
SITE Sharp
Curator
******** * Ng (curator)
Contributing Artists
****** Wong, *** *** Lam, ****** Chan, *** **** Ka, *** *** Lam, ********* Woo
Exhibition Statement as Preserved in the SUGS/SITE Archives:
In Be Water: 和你 Flow (WoLei Flow – “Flow With You”) six Hong Kong artists come together and respond to the mass uprising that has continued to unfold in the streets of their hometown over the past 36 weeks, from summer to winter. “Be Water” has been the principal philosophy and strategy of this leaderless movement, enacting the kind of participatory democratic future Hong Kongers are striving for. Hong Kong’s hyper-capitalist colonial identity continues to complicate what is home and foreign, East and West, exploitation and self-determination. This range of multimedia works is a consideration of this home from a distance, of the importance of global solidarity in struggle, and the preciousness of truth and dissent.
Programming
In the Spring of 2020, SITE Galleries hosted the exhibition Be Water: 和你 Flow. This exhibition brought together six artists from Hong Kong responding to the political tumult transforming their hometown in their absence.
The exhibition presented through this range of interdisciplinary work—from sculpture, painting, fiber, sound, video, photography, to neon—the artists’ attempts to process what was happening in their city while on the other side of the world.
This show desired to personalize political events, as well as bring a conversation to the table around a growing need for pathways towards solidarity that are transcendent—transnational, intersectional, and global.
As part of this exhibition, a panel discussion was planned for the spring, as a way to delve into the nuances of these issues, but also to engage with different responses and perspectives from members of the SAIC community.
In light of the global pandemic and orders to stay at home, that conversation could no longer happen in person. On Tuesday, July 21st SITE hosted a virtual panel discussion, looking at the role of art and the COVID-19 pandemic in the uprisings that unfolded over the last year, and how we will move into the future. The panel was followed by a Q&A with the artists with an opportunity for viewers to both share responses and ask questions via live chat.
Exhibition Material
fnews Magazine’s Be Water Write Up