“To live in my city is to live with chaos, loneliness and loss.” - Lolita Hu “How REAL is real?” brings together a group of participants with diverse backgrounds and experiences, such as artists, architects, graphic designers, educators and art managers. The exhibiting artists and participants include Hilda Chan, Jae Hyun Lim, Natalie Lo Lai Lai, Beatrix Pang, Cindy Tang, Uncle Architecture, Elaine Wong and Yip Kin Bon. Collectively, they have contributed to the concept of the exhibition and shaped its content and outcome. The exhibition takes its title, “How REAL is real?”, from Jae Hyun Lim’s contribution. In his work, he employs an anthological approach: based on his observations in different Asian cities, he identifies and collects everyday fragments of urban life, a selection of which is presented as a part of his work. In the exhibition, this approach becomes a metaphor for questioning the shared reality of urban life. The participants observe different aspects of the city, its spaces, its streets and paths, its landmarks and architectural forms, as well as its parks and inhabitants. They then fill the voids existing in our urban experience, collectively shaping the meaning of place and forming an interconnectivity of consciousness that may take the shape of an urban legend. Some works explore other potentials of the existing urban space. Currently based in Taiwan, Uncle Architecture’s “Hong Kong 1⁄4” is a plan for an architectural project that integrates a Cantonese opera theatre into old-fashioned tenement buildings (唐樓) on Pei Ho Street in the Hong Kong district Sham Shui Po. His work imagines a Hong Kong in which Cantonese opera is still an important aspect of the city’s culture and identity. A part of it is presented in the format of a comic strip in which the characters are getting ready to watch a Cantonese opera performance. In this way, the visitors to the exhibition become an audience watching an audience watching a play. Like Uncle Architecture, Yip Kin Bon attempts to redefine our understanding of the city. He challenges the restrictions we place on urban life and the func- tions we assign to public space. In his work “Football cheats”, the artist kicks a football made of synthetic grass across streets and at other places in the city where ball games are not supposed to be played. Both Beatrix Pang and Natalie Lo Lai Lai contribute site-specific works that deal with the relationship between man and nature.Alluding to the theme of captivity, her work contrasts the density of urban life with the wish to return to nature. Using a narrative approach, Lo’s poetic work “Urticaria Bite” explores the subtle relationship and delicate balance between humans and plants. “How REAL is real?” is the result of conversations and sharing sessions among the partici- pants that have taken place since the preparation stage. The purpose of this process was to experiment with functions, roles and activities within the context of an exhibition. An ex- ample for this is Cindy Tang’s contribution “Walk alone to find your ground”, a hybrid work that examines and comments on the practices of the participating artists and their exhibited works. Based on interviews with the artists in which they share their experience, Tang’s presentation combines documentation and her personal reflections on self and being. In what can be called narrative happenings, Elaine Wong, the founder of the art exploration group Altermodernists, will lead experience tours through the area around the exhibition venue in Central, offering instructions to participants and allowing them to actively interfere with the urban environment. These activities are an essential part of the concept of the ex- hibition and the way it is experienced. In the same way, documentation and outreach are essential elements of the exhibition rather than just additions.

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Opening Reception: 08.19.2017 (Sat), 4-8pm Artwork by 林宰賢 Jae Hyun Lim 勞麗麗 Lo Lai Lai Natalie 彭倩幗 Beatrix Pang 建築大叔 Uncle Architecture 葉建邦 Yip Kin Bon Video reflection by 鄧詠詩 Cindy Tang Curated by 陳曉君 Hilda Chan Experience tours by 藝們 Altermodernists Supported by 香港藝術發展局 Hong Kong Arts Development Council Venue Sponsor Soho Yard Promotion Partner 藝們 Altermodernists Beer Provider Hong Kong Artisan Brewery