Hong Kong, July 30 – September 2, 2016, http://holymotorsproject.com/
It was thanks to a set of coincidences that I passed by this exhibition. It showed up on my facebook thanks to a few of my friends “going”, it happened to be along my planned route, and there was a short rain in the afternoon which made the heat a little bit more bearable, so I did not mind to make a detour on my way.
The “gallery” consisted of one smallish shop display window on a street corner surrounded left and right by a motorcycle repair shop. The location was very easy to find (Lai Chi Kok Road x Boundary Street). Going along with the location, the artist placed in a sculpture of an insect-like head based on a motorcycle helmet. They eyes on the head emitted a dim red glow.
The work fit well into the environment and could be almost mistaken for a folk art advertising attempt, but the uniform green background uncluttered a large enough portion of the space to make it clear that this was art. The resemblance to the motorcycle helmet attached the piece to the environment, but the way it was installed detached it from it. This double movement put it into an ambiguous space making it hard to make up one’s mind about what it is. Maybe the presence itself, this miniature intervention into the city fabric of this shabby corner of Hong Kong, made the work meaningful, independent on what it really stood for.
