"Tim Yip: Blue – Art, Costumes and Memory" @HKDI

Committed to promoting design and culture through partnerships with international museums and organisations, Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) and Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) (Lee Wai Lee), member institutions of the Vocational Training Council (VTC), are delighted to present “Tim Yip: Blue – Art, Costumes and Memory” as the grand finale of the world- class interdisciplinary exhibition line-up curated by HKDI Gallery in 2018.

“Blue” is the starting point for this exhibition: it plays on ideas and symbolisation from nature of human imagination to the depths of the subconscious mind, from collective history to human memory. According to Tim YIP and Mark HOLBORN, “Our imagination is limitless. It can be described as being as vast as the blue ocean, and our subconscious mind can be described as being as deep as an ocean. Blue is also the colour of our planet, defining our home on Earth and with it, our collective history, measured not in centuries but in the millennia of our evolutionary past.”

Drawing upon Tim YIP’s imagination, history and memory, the exhibition is divided into 3 distinctive stages, offering a rare glimpse into the history of his legendary career. The first stage of the exhibition will feature 21 costumes from YIP’s films and original creations, prominently focusing on the original costumes from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” as well as “Red Cliff” and “The Banquet”. One of the highlights includes “Sights”, one of the six sets of independent costumes under the installation series "Timeless Time" that is inspired by time and space. Combining interpretations of ancient Chinese history and abstract artistic expressions, the masked face is a representation of Tim YIP's imagination and hope for the future – that people who live under the veil will be able to return to China's traditional culture. Another centre piece of the exhibition is “Shaping”, a Gothic corseted dress adorned with 100,000 crystals commissioned by Swarovski in 2016.


Moving from costume design to film, the second and the third stage of the exhibition will introduce a series of photography and film projects focused on Tim’s ongoing muse and creation, “Lili" – a wigged manikin posed as a human model that has been a focus in several of Tim YIP’s work. Representing a symbol of separate reality, the third and final stage of the exhibition will feature “Robot Lili”, where the robotic figure is the speculation and imagination of the future of collective memory and artificial intelligence. Other highlights of this exhibition include “Outdated Magazines” and “Blue”.

“Tim Yip: Blue – Art, Costumes and Memory” is part of HKDI Gallery’s line-up of three large-scale exhibitions that crosses various design disciplines, from multimedia and interaction design, visionary urban design; to costume design and art direction. Preceded by the earlier launch of “Interactive and Playful – Swiss Design from Zurich University of the Arts” (6 October, 2018 – 27 January, 2019), and “Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec – Urban Daydreaming” (27 October 2018 – 17 February, 2019), “Tim Yip: Blue – Art, Costumes and Memory” marks the last of the three interdisciplinary design exhibitions presented by HKDI Gallery in 2018.