Sunday 22 June 2014

徐冰:變形記


A timely show that is easy to follow, It Begins with Metamorphosis: Xu Bing at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center offers a rare opportunity to catch up with some seminal projects of Xu Bing (b. Chongqing, China, 1955). Xu is best known for his critique of the contemporary Chinese society - often through appropriation and transformation of Chinese classics. Making use of calligraphy, silkworms, tobacco leaves and debris to allude to the transformative power of materiality, Xu challenges social values whilst questioning memory, history and destiny.
Upon entering the gallery, the first work to be encountered is the ink-drawing animation The Character of Characters (2012), a sketch of contemporary China referencing a 13th century Yuan Dynasty ink painting. Art educator-cum-historian, Xu expounds on the maneuverability of the pictographic nature of Chinese characters. One key message is that under the regime of Chairman Mao Zedong, Chinese characters were simplified as part of a state strategy to propagate message among illiterate peasants. Also worth noting is an end shot of traffic jam reflecting upon the Chinese love of cars and rampant consumerism.
Amongst the works from Xu’s Tobacco Project, Redbook (2000), a representation of the Communist ideology "bible" from the days of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), is a box of "Zhonghua" brand cigarettes printed with quotes by Chairman Mao. The work is satirical of the era in that officials were rewarded with tobacco vouchers in exchange for their devotion to the leader, clearly alluding to their preference of cigarettes over Mao’s ideology.
In conversation with this piece is Calendar Book (2000), where Xu pays homage to his late father who died of lung cancer. By laying out his father’s medical records, Xu is suggesting that the hazard of smoking to health is extensive. The implication is particularly poignant in China, where smoking is widespread.
Another key piece is Silkworm Book (2014), which features the transformation of a book as live silkworms spin a protective silk cocoon around it. Apart from alluding to China’s rich and long history of silk production, the work can also be viewed as challenging written histories and emblematic of the lies and deceptions that weave around history.
Background Story (2014), modeled on a 19th century landscape painting, is placed at the rear of the gallery. Xu’s new landscape looks idyllic from one side yet the reverse side reveals a darker kind of beauty, with dry leaves, discarded plastic bags and debris casting shadows onto the light box. Whilst inventively making the ordinary and discarded heroic, the work ponders on the global need to recycle.
Viewers might also be thrilled to find themselves before Book from the Ground (2003 – 2014), one of Xu’s best-known projects which conceives a simple and universal language for mankind. The on-site piece reconstructs Xu’s New York studio where loads of everyday signs and materials come together.
Given nations’ common challenges to do with modernity and globalization, Xu’s immersive walk through Chinese history is as relevant to China as it is to the wider world. 
Exhibition: It Begins with Metamorphosis: Xu Bing
Venue: Chantal Miller Gallery, Asia Society Hong Kong Center
2014.05.08 - 2014.08.31

Sunday 1 June 2014

布吉 Chalong 的 Hideaway Spa~ 塵世也很美




來到 位於Chalong 小山丘上的Villa Zolitude Spa才早上八時半,按摩員親自領我們步入Spa Room, 房間跟宣傳照片所見到的一模一樣,感覺舒適寜謐,猶如由凡間步入桃園 -樓底特高,直望盡是綠油油的園境,半空吊懸著兩張米白色麻布簾,添了飄逸的世外感。足踏在舖上黑白斜格子圖案的石面,滑溜溜且一塵不染。房間不算大,但開放式設計,連接著水池及梳化,設計完美!在享受按摩時,一邊聽著水池小動物的叫聲,夾著悠揚的冥想音樂,真是頂級的心靈享受,也是名副其實的 hideaway!

Massage後坐酒店的buggy 參觀了Villa 兩層式以森林木撘成的小別墅。上一層是優繣睡床及浴間,下一層連接著私家泳池,放了舒服的方形梳化,還設有小酒吧,極具情調,小別墅令人仿如置身熱帶雨林,難怪 Villa Zolitude 被譽為蜜月勝地。這類型的villa在淡季一晚約8000 Baht, 確是物有所值。