STILL IN HONG KONG - 2021
By: Scarlet Yu and Xavier Le Roy
With: Sylvie Cox, Marah Arcilla, Rebecca Wong Pik Kei, Carman Li Ka Man, Sudhee Liao, Yang Hao, Jethro Pioquinto, Ivanhoe Lam, David Liu, Jarius King, Gia Yu, Ming Pak, Ida Griffiths Zee, Alysha Lee, Harriet Yeung, Nancy Luk, Amy Chan, Inti Guerrero, Rhyn Cheung, Brian Cheng, Jacky It It Cheung, Mickey Lee.
Coordination Hong Kong: Alice Rensy Productions
Production Manager France: Fanny Herserant, Vincent Cavaroc
Production: Tai Kwun - Contemporary Art
Coproduction: Le Kwatt, Le Kwatt / Xavier Le Roy is supported by Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles d’Ile-de-France
To respond to the invitation by Xue Tan and Raimundas Malašauskas, Still in Hong Kong has been conceived with live actions that can be presented along the duration of the exhibition. The work has been developed with 22 interpreters living in Hong Kong to compose moments that can bring trust and confusion in dialogue with the public.
It takes place in various spaces with different intensities where interpreters will address visitors of their choice with a composition of actions, movements, postures and conversations. Occasionally Still in Hong Kong occupies a room where 4 interpreters perform different cycles of choreographies that depend on the presence of the public.
Together with each interpreter we have searched for a series of sculptures, or postures, chosen from their memories, experiences and relations to and with Hong Kong. We have looked for ways and forms for each one to embody their choices to constitute individual collections of “stills” from Hong Kong that are part of the dialogues that will unfold when they encounter the visitors.
This process has been motivated by the various ways we can comprehend and translate the word “still”, how it connects with Hong Kong and how its meanings resonate with each one's future, past and present.
In a time when many people are asked, are even forced, to be still, to stay home, to move as less as possible between places, when stillness replaces agitation, when the hope for agency and freedom of choice is put on hold, when being still becomes a suspension above the unknown. How can one contemplate stillness and still be contemplating? How can one move with stillness and still be moving? How can one feel trust and confusion at the same time? How is “still” for you? ....
Scarlet Yu & Xavier Le Roy, Hong Kong March 19th 2021