East Contemporary

Para Site: “The Floating Eternity Project”

(9/15 – 11/10/2013) http://www.para-site.org.hk/

After a plague-themed exhibition in the summer, Para/site is showing a death-themed exhibition in the autumn – that was my first thought when finding out about this show. I was surprised that the exhibition architecture of the space stayed the same as last time. I thought it would be temporary. Given the small size of the space and the different little corners and slanted walls, it further enforced a feeling of continuity with the previous exhibition. There were also less artworks, so it simply felt like a ‘plague redux’ version. While I appreciate that para/site is one of the few places in Hong Kong that give thought to actually curating exhibitions, I felt it was a bit too schematic this time. Many works were somehow circling around the topic, without leaving any further impression on me. There were two text works – short stories – all very sentimental, which I felt did not fit with the ‘technological’ approach of the floating columbarium which was supposedly the centerpiece of the show. It’s difficult to not be overly pathetic about death. While the plague (i.e. previous) exhibition managed to keep this balance, I felt that this time it did not. Thus, overall an ambiguous feeling was left behind.

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