Letting Go

Kingsley Ng and Creative Team

Letting Go

“Letting Go. Carry On: A Capacity Building Initiative” is a joint initiative that will provide holistic interactive digital experiences and a participatory programme to foster the learning of resilience.

As the first part of this initiative, “Letting Go” focuses on the introspection of resilience a preparatory exhibition and an online portal with Augmented Reality (AR) technology. 9 local artists are commissioned to create works that examine, reflect, and inspire a sense of resilience, the willingness to adapt, and motivation to overcome obstacles, and deal with ambiguity, uncertainty and rejection – by means of examination and reflection.

As the second part of this initiative, “Carry On” will focus on the extroverted processes of resilience through communal activities, such as artists-led (online) community events/workshops etc. with another group of artists (for more information, please click here)

Read more: “Interview Series【8】Experimenting Arts in AR and VR to Connect Virtuality with Reality”

Kingsley Ng and Creative Team

“Letting Go” is co-presented by the Academy of Visual Arts, HKBU and 1a space. It is spearheaded by creative director Kingsley Ng, curated by Janet Fong and Eugenia Law, with the artistic consultancy of Peter Benz, AR consultancy of Rain Chan, and design and production by Studio Mary.

As the first part of the “Letting Go. Carry On: A Capacity Building Initiative”, this project consists of eight sets of commissioned works by 9 emerging visual artists: Chan Kan-shan, Alice, Fong Chi-yung, Kelvin, Kwok Yee-miu, Leung Lai-man, Jess, Terence Leung, Ma Wing-man, Mak Wing-yan, Pak Hin-tang, Shawn, Tsang Ming-fai, Kazaf.

Explore the Meaning of Resilience Through Art and Interactive Digital Experience

In a time of great uncertainty,
when even a pat on the shoulder is hard to come by,
can digital media open a window for resilience?

Through a virtual exhibition and an online interactive platform, nine emerging artists expand their practice with newly learnt Augmented Reality (AR) technology and invite the audience to interact with adversities, acceptance and resolution in a virtual space of shared experience – anytime, anywhere with their personal digital devices.

Artworks:

Precious

Artists: Chan Kan-shan, Alice; Leung Lai-man, Jess
Pick what can be let go and capture your #trueprecious.
The city seems to have paused in the pandemic. Pandemic prevention, quarantine and social distancing confine life to boxes. We have more time, but less space. The extra time offers a good moment to reflect on ourselves. Originated from Japan, “danshari” means “decluttering”: to let go of excessive objects is to free oneself from material obsession. Spiritually, danshari gives us a space of mental comfort to confront our lives ahead. If everything we come across in life accumulates, our “box” will be overloaded. With limited space, what will you let go and what will you keep?

Goodbye Heaviness

Artists: Kwok Yee-miu, Aza
Touch the stones and leave gravity behind.
My father used to tell me that the Wong Shek Pier behind our house is a popular spot for smugglers. I collected twelve stones from the pier, twelve embodiments of the indomitable. Reality may be heavy, but with an immovable spirit, we may let go of our heaviness.

When Flowers Fall

Artist: Mak Wing-yan
Step closer. Fallen flowers will rise again.
Flowers blossom and wither.
A full bloom brings joy.
Fallen flowers do not call for sadness.
Let them scatter in the wind.
Perhaps this is the way.

Exhalation

Artist: Fong Chi-yung, Kelvin
Let this hollow tree, an AR rendering of a two-hundred-year-old autumn maple in the remote village of Lai Chi Wo, listen to your deepest secrets.
We are always hiding ourselves, mentally and physically.
A tree hollow can be natural or artificial.
At a deep level, silently,
it takes in what you have to say.

Rustling

Artist: Pak Hin-tang, Shawn
Navigate all directions to discover multiple channels.
The constant flood of information hitting us across social and mass media is hardly as objective as it seems. In the midst of the echo chambers that typically reinforce the same opinions, how do we navigate through noises and search for signals beyond what we are usually attuned to?

Absentmindfulness – the Earth

Artist: Terence Leung
Touch the weeds. They will disappear and grow again.
They come and go unnoticed.
They get run over by cars.
They get stepped on and mowed down.
They get scorched by the summer sun and frozen by the winter frost.
Yet, they always survive – they are what we call roadside weeds.
Oftentimes, “letting go” suggests that we should just accept our fate and move on, but the roadside weeds teach us: letting go can be the attitude of a true survivor. No matter what life throws at us, we are capable of getting through.

Sundown

Artist: Ma Wing-man
Ten minutes before sunset, strangers’ words will accompany you to bid farewell to the sinking sun.
In the descent of a dusky sun, light fades.
What one misses is not the sinking sun, but lingering memories.
Has any sunset persisted on your mind?
Does twilight bring up what is hazily unforgotten?

When They Left

Artist: Tsang Ming-fai, Kazaf
Commemorate the sky when they left.
The body becomes light as dust.
May it be day or night,
willingly or unprepared,
when the time has come,
we end up going to the place high above.

Photograph the sky when they left,
at that time, or on that day.
Commemorate their departure
and the time they had here.

Please Click: to explore the initiatives!