Minding the G(r)a(s)p Exhibition Catalog

HKAS Alumni : C&G Artpartment, Lau Hok Shing, Lulu Ngie

Academic Head: Jaffa Lam

Eastman Cheng, Chow Chun Fai, Jaffa Lam, Lau Hok Shing, Lulu Ngie, and Wong Wai Yin

The English title of the exhibition ‘Minding the G(r)a(s)p’ is a triple entendre—gap, gasp, grasp. It is a way to draw attention to the space between seeing and knowing in the exhibition viewing experience. The gasp is the surprise when the audience discovers new narratives or ideas when they are able to look beyond preconceived notions related to the seven mid-career artists/artist collectives on view in the exhibition. The exhibition’s curator Celia Ho proposes to the audience to approach each work individually, in order to grasp the significance and context behind each one of them.

The exhibition is an invitation to the audience to engage through a collective experiment that circumnavigates the interpretative lens of the curator. Instead, the audience is encouraged to consider their individual agency as they encounter the stories of each individual artwork. ‘Minding the G(r)a(s)p’ questions the active versus passive roles of audience, artist, and curator—and seeks to reconfigure the power dynamics between these participants.

Instead of trying to satisfy a particular curatorial thesis, the exhibition originated from the curator’s in-depth conversations with the artists. The works included in the exhibition are imbued with personal significance for the artists. Some are previously unrealised, others have never been widely exhibited. Yet still are experiments—improvisations in the here and now. The exhibition aims to allow artistic freedom for the participating artists to realise the works that they most urgently want to create at this particular moment of uncertainty.

Para Site Art Space is financially supported by the Art Development Matching Grants Scheme of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the exhibition only, but does not otherwise take part in it. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in the materials/activities (or by members of the Para Site’s team) are those of the organisers of the exhibition only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.