Chalk Horse Art Center in Para/Site Art Space - The Horn of Plenty: Excess and Reversibility Press

Chalk Horse Art Center in Para/Site Art Space— The Horn of Plenty: Excess and Reversibility Chalk Horse Art Center 在 Para/Site 藝術空間 聚寶盆: 過剩．逆轉

Press Conference: 19 June 2009

Chalk Horse Art Center 在 Para/Site 藝術空間 聚寶盆: 過剩．逆轉 開幕酒會： （星期五）二零零九年 六月十九日， 晚上七時正 展覽日期： 二二零零九年 六月二十日至八月二日 地點： Para/Site 藝術空間， 香港上環普仁街 4 號地下 參與藝術家：Bababa International, Marley Dawson, Jasper Knight, Julian Meagher, Kate Mitchell, Dougal Phillips, Christian Thompson, Oliver Watts 策展人: Dougal Phillips 統籌: Para/Site 藝術空間

Para/Site 藝術空間將為大家呈獻 聚寶盆 : 過剩．逆轉 。是次展覽由澳洲策展人 Dougal Phillips 策展。展覽將展出一班悉尼當代藝術家的作品，是澳洲新興的當代 藝術館 Chalk Horse Art Center 跟 Para/Site 藝術空間交流計劃的一部份。 他們將於 本空間舉辦一個以希臘神話作喻來反思當代生活及經濟的展覽，當中作品包括錄 像、表演、裝置藝術以及壁畫。 宙斯以裝滿花果及穀穗的聚寶盆接上哺育他的羊被折斷了的羊角。傳說此聚寶盆盛 載著其主人希望得到的任何東西。 二零零九年，我們目睹於過去數十年看似過份充裕的經濟於自身投機性的重力下向 內爆破。資產被黑洞吞沒，金錢霎時倒退。我們不時遇見非真實的零點，而過剩的 資產正被聚寶盆抽真空。我們看見就業機會蒸發掉、勞動人口消失、投機性的交易 倒空。種種都令我們反思：消失資本的藝術（及藝術品）是什麼？我們仍然有多餘 的空間留給玩樂及藝術嗎？

藝術家們將透過是次展覽跳進此逆轉循還，玩味、諷刺、捉弄及模仿此過快的勞動 及交易經濟模式。藝術家們將提供修甲服務、模仿日規，並回復過剩的符號、復甦 古希臘儲存及花費的象徵。他們以是次展覽的圖像及物件推倒工作與玩樂的秩序， 反思工作、價值與當代生活的可逆性。 藝術家座談會 （星期六）二零零九年六月二十日，下午二時正，於 Para/Site 藝術空間 Oliver Watts: 琵琶聲：遠離資本的藝術 Bababa International: Smooth Interpersonal Relationships 及其他企劃

Bababa International 藝術裝置: Smooth Interpersonal Relationships 二零零九年六月二十四日至六月二十八日，於 Para/Site 藝術空間 Bababa International 將於上述期間，把 Para/Site 藝術空間化為修甲店。觀眾可以坐 下來，把鞋子脫掉，然後享受一次既舒適又有趣的旅程。此作品把功能、新穎設計 、靜心的聲音及各種物件混和，堆砌出一所不尋常的臨時殿堂，以修飾人類最重要 的肢體﹣手和腳。

查詢: 趙小姐 dominique@para-site.org.hk / 2517-4620

Chalk Horse Art Center in Para/Site Art Space— The Horn of Plenty: Excess and Reversibility Opening: Exhibition: Venue:

Friday 19 June, 2009 at 7pm 20 June – 2 August, 2009 Para/Site Art Space, 4 Po Yan Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Participating Artists: Curated by: Organized by:

Bababa International, Marley Dawson, Jasper Knight, Julian Meagher, Kate Mitchell, Dougal Phillips, Christian Thompson, Oliver Watts Dougal Phillips Para/Site Art Space

Para/Site Art Space is honored to present The Horn of Plenty: Excess and Reversibility, curated by Australian curator Dougal Phillips. The exhibition showcases a group of contemporary artists from Sydney, and is part of an exchange programme between Chalk Horse Art Center, a contemporary emerging art space based in Australia, and Para/Site Art Space in Hong Kong. This exhibition evaluates the meaning of contemporary life and economy through its metaphorical root in ancient mythology. The show includes video, performance, installation and wall drawings.

Since Antiquity the myth has existed of the Horn of Plenty; the cornu copiæ or cornucopia - the magical horn Zeus replaced for the goat Amalthea (who nurtured him), which endlessly overflowed with fruit, flowers and grain, and was forever full of whatever its owner wanted.

In 2009, we see a moment in which the bountiful and seemingly unending excess which has driven us for decades has flirted with the possibility of implosion under its own speculative gravity. Money, for a moment, has gone backwards, spiraling away as assets die and are black-balled or black-holed. Now and again we glimpse a kind of mythological zero point, where this excess is sucked back up into the Horn of Plenty. We see work disappearing: jobs evaporate, constructive labour disappears from sites all over, speculative gambits – architectural and game-based – empty out and are hushed. So what is

the art (and the artwork) of disappearing capital? What has happened to work, and is there still room for play and for art?

In this exhibition project the artists jump into this reverse spin cycle: playing with, parodying, clowning and aping the hyperfast and hypertelic economies of labour and exchange. From installing a working nail service to acting as a human sundial, and from reinstating the logos of excess to reviving the icons of saving and spending from Antiquity, the objects and images in this exhibition look to collapsing the orders of work and play for an instant, so as to rethink labour, value and the reversibility of contemporary life.

Artists’ Talks: Saturday 20 June, 2009 at 2pm at Para/Site Art Space Oliver Watts: Song of the Pipa: Art away from the Capital Bababa International: Smooth Interpersonal Relationships and other Projects

Installation by Bababa International: Smooth Interpersonal Relationships 24 – 28 June, 2009 at Para/Site Art Space From the 24th - 28th of June, Bababa International will be operating a small nail salon within the Para/Site Art Space, where any visitor will be able to sit down, take their shoes off, and experience a pleasurable (albeit slightly humorous) adventure. Their installation will combine jostling functionality, novel design solutions, soothing sound and assembled objects that will culminate in an aesthetically-unusual, ephemeral temple, dedicated to the maintenance and beautification of humanities’ most vital appendages (the hands and feet).

For more information, please contact Dominique Chiu at 2517-4620 or dominique@parasite.org.hk.

Bababa International, Smooth Interpersonal Relationships (2009) Installation, nail salon Emma Capps Uniforms People spend billions on grooming and their personal appearance and the cosmetic industry profits from the masks we wear everyday. This installation asks the visitor to receive a manicure or pedicure at the hands of the artists as a gift, with no charge. You are warmly invited to come between the 24 and 28 of June, and bring your friends!

Bababa International, Smooth Interpersonal Relationships (2009) 裝置藝術，修甲室 Emma Capps Uniforms 我們花盡金錢悉心打扮儀容，化妝品企業則從中牟利。藝術家們現透過此裝置藝術 向參觀者提供免費指甲及趾甲護理服務。他們誠邀閣下於六月二十四日至二十八日 與朋友一起到來!

Jasper Knight (b. 1978) The King Crab (2009) Mixed media.

The king crab is a sign of wealth and prosperity. It sits like a centrepiece at a banquet turning the gallery into a place of friendship and hospitality. In this exhibition it acts as a totem animal that we can all relate too. It is a mascot promising good returns on our personal investments.

Jasper Knight (b. 1978) The King Crab (2009) 混合媒體 帝王蟹是財富與繁榮的象徵。它被放置在餐宴的中央，把藝術空間化為一個好客之 地。它扮演著此展覽的圖騰，亦是意味著個人投資有豐厚回報的吉祥物。

Oliver Watts (b.1976) The Princess that Refused to Talk Sound recording and 5 Hand painted jackets used in performance, 19 June 2009 Based on an old Jewish parable, the story warns the listener about the terrible cycle of desire that traps us. How can we venture to find a point from which we can critique our own position? In the end it suggests a violent ethical act that breaks through the fantasies that bind us.

Oliver Watts (b.1976) The Princess that Refused to Talk 二零零九年六月十九日表演中所使用的錄音及五件手繒夾克 古老猶太寓言故事警告人們被慾望困住的可怕循環。我們如何能大膽地尋找一個自 我批評的位置? 最終它提出一個打破捆綁我們的幻想的極端道德行動。

Marley Dawson (b. 1980) Open Sign Neon light Dawson’s work always references the industrial and the masculine. This work is part of a recent installation that turned the gallery into a topsy-turvy world of magic tricks and pranks. Here it sets the tone in highlighting that in this shop/gallery reversibility is a mode of resistance.

Marley Dawson (b. 1980) Open Sign 霓虹燈 Dawson 的作品經常跟工業及男性有關。此作品是他近期的裝置藝術作品的一部 份。該作品把畫廊化為一個充滿魔術把戲及惡作劇、亂七八糟的世界。而此作品則 強調此藝術空間的逆轉性是一種反抗的模式。

Christian Bumbarra Thompson (b. 1978) The Sixth Mile (2007) Video 6’ 10” This work shown at the inaugural National Indigenous Arts Triennale: Culture Warriors, continues Thompson’s exploration of cultural hybridity in Australia. Here he recalls nostalgically the importance his father put on personal grooming. It is an activity of control, love and inclusion.

Christian Bumbarra Thompson (b. 1978) The Sixth Mile (2007) 錄像 6’ 10” 此作品曾於 National Indigenous Arts Triennale: Culture Warriors 的開幕中展出。它伸 延 Thompson 對澳洲文化混雜性的探索。他回憶父親對儀容整潔的重視，表現出當 中的支配、愛及包含。

Christian Bumbarra Thompson (b. 1978) Desert Slippers (2007) Video 34” In this video we see Thompson and his father involved in what could be interpreted as a greeting ceremony. Speaking in Bidjara they make intimate gestures towards each other.

It is a personal work that also is connected to Thompson’s most recent work that archives the Bidjara language through song.

Christian Bumbarra Thompson (b. 1978) Desert Slippers (2007) 錄像 34” 作品中我們所見的是 Thompson 與其父親互相問侯的儀式。他們以 Bidjara 及親密 的動作溝通。此個人作品跟他近期以歌把 Bidjara 存檔的作品有關。

Dougal Phillips (b. 1977) The Stasis of Excess (2009) Acrylic paint The Horn of Plenty promised an endless supply of ‘things’ from the gods; but the gifts stopped. In our contemporary world economics is not characterised coming from a point but on the contrary as a hermetically sealed loop. This shift is shown in the change of the Société Générale logo from the stylised Horn of Plenty, to a closed duopoly. Now our only excess is pataphysical.

Dougal Phillips (b. 1977) The Stasis of Excess (2009) 塑膠彩 聚寶盤保證由神而來源源不絕的賞賜，但這些賞賜卻停止了。當代世界的經濟並非 源自一點，而是來自一個與世隔絕、密封的循環。由聚寶盤化為 Société Générale 標誌的轉變，以至兩者互相競爭。現在我們唯一的過剩只有空想科學。

Kate Mitchell (b. 1980) 9-5, (2009) Video Mitchell turns herself into a sundial in an extension of her video that looks at the imaginative possibilities of performance. She becomes a clock - but she only counts out the perfect working day (9 am - 5 pm) in her 8 hour endurance piece. Thus the artist herself takes on a use-value; in fact takes on the ultimate overarching use-value: use her as a clock every day to put yourself to work.

Kate Mitchell (b. 1980) 9-5, (2009) 錄像 Mitchell 探索表演的可能性，於錄像中化身為日規。她變成時鐘，準確地計算著工 作時數﹣朝九晚五，八個小時。藝術家因此替自己冠上最終極、包羅一切的用途﹣ 以計算工作時數為工作。

Julian Meagher (b. 1978) The Roman Coin Oil on canvas This work is simply a study of the hand of Meagher’s uncle, showing off his prized ancient Roman coin ring. The work is a lynch pin of the exhibition because it references the birth of modern capital when it was still on the threshold of divinity and myth. It is now a vestige of a dead currency which paradoxically still has value.

Julian Meagher (b. 1978) The Roman Coin 油畫 此作品是 Meagher 對他叔叔的手的研究。作品中他誇示著其珍而重之的古羅馬幣 戒。此作品是整個展覽的關鍵，它以現代資本還處於神聖及神話的開端之時作為參 考，而現在卻剩下已死但悖理地仍有價值的遺跡。