Leung Chi Wo 1: Clip 1
Details
Leung Chi Wo 1: Clip 1
Metadata (MODS) |
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| Titles | Leung Chi Wo 1: Clip 1: |
| Name | Leung Chi Wo |
| Name | Dr. Joanne Leow |
| Type of Resource | sound recording |
| Identifier | Interview |
| Identifier | Leung Chi Wo Clip 1 |
| Abstract | In this audio recording, Leung Chi Wo addresses the complex relationship between history and memory in Hong Kong’s past. He acknowledges both the importance and the potential difficulty of object-based presentation, and discusses how he counteracts the problem of the commercialization or commodification of the nostalgia of such objects. |
| Extent | 6:19 Minutes |
| Form | sound recording |
| Note | 0:30 Leung Chi Wo: My name is Leung Chi Wo, and I’m a visual artist. I’m also teaching here in the School of Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong. 0:42 Joanne Leow: I’d like to start right away by thinking about your most recent work, the one you just closed in Blindspot Gallery, Something There and Never There, and ask you to talk a little bit more about this question of the relationship between memory and history in Hong Kong’s past, especially because I know there was a lot of autobiographical elements in that piece. So what do you think is that relationship between memory and history for you in Hong Kong? 1:06 Leung Chi Wo: Okay. I think history is something we learn in a school, it has certain kind of authority, and then that’s why you have to learn because you don’t know that. But more you read about it, and also observing what’s happening in terms of writing of this history—and you also find that, actually, it’s not simply about truth or authenticity, but it’s also about selection and editing. So in that sense I really found that history is really written with people who has the power to state what is history. So, in that sense, I found for a lot of people if they found some sort of history, it’s not really relevant to themselves, and it’s almost like what they can rely is only the memory. 2:00 Joanne Leow: And when you talk about memory, then, do you see it as something inherently personal, or do you think there’s something potentially collective about it? 2:07 Leung Chi Wo: Both possible, but before you have the collective you definitely need to have a personal memory. I mean, otherwise, the collective memory, which can be, you know, overwhelming, the personal memory is not really far away from what I say, the History with a capital H. And also when we talk about memory, I’m not saying that memory is the truth, but somehow it is the thing that you find the most relevant. So, actually, it’s interesting, because it happens that our memories could fade, and we would make mistakes, and we actually remember some things wrong. But, it’s not the most important thing when I really think about memory because, as I said, memory, you think that it’s the substance that you can really relate to. 3:03 Joanne Leow: And a little bit more about the specific form of the work, then. You had a kind of archival method, and found objects, but also, you know, the form of the installation, the form of juxtaposition and everything like that. Can you talk a little bit more about why you felt that those forms were necessary to talk about that period? 3:21 Leung Chi Wo: I like object-based presentation because I think object—especially objects with certain relevance to the time, like vintage objects—it actually lay out sort of context for people to, you know, enter to this timeframe. And also, it’s a rather common behaviour where we regard so-called historical objects or old objects, that kind of indexical relationship to certain place and certain time would be, you know, more prominent, if not convincing. So, in that sense, I think it really helps the audience to construct a relations to the narrative. 4:10 Joanne Leow: Do you ever worry about the fact that nostalgia or commercialization or commodification of these objects is a problem? You know, they use it to sell particular experiences instead of having this—and I don’t want to say it’s a pure link to memory, but having a very, I think, ethical relationship to your memory, do you…I mean, how do you counteract that? 4:32 Leung Chi Wo: I’m definitely aware, like this commercialization or commodification of the nostalgia. But when I apply the use of all these objects, or in general when I try to create a certain narrative, I always try to, or attempt to, keep certain kind of distance in terms of the presentation. So, when you see, I put certain objects…what I would do would be simply creating a physical relationship of these objects with other objects in front of the audience, instead of providing a lot of interpretations of all these objects. Because usually I would say that it’s almost a condition to commodify it, and the nostalgia, which is the interpretation, right, you need to say that, “oh this is important,” and to make you feel that it’s important. But what I try to do, just, you know, putting this juxtaposition of different things together. In most cases, I would say that there’s very minimal presentation physically. You may say that it can be still an interpretation, but at least I try not to impose certain kind of very interpretative narrative, basically because when you see it in front of you, you can easily judge or you can easily make any statement if you want. 6:07 Joanne Leow: Yeah, so this movement away from a dominant narrative, or a narrative of any kind, in a sense, you’re looking away from—because, I mean, if you think about a state, or a kind of nation, then they have this idea that this is the story we’re going to tell, and that’s obviously all about interpretation. One of the other things I’m really interested in your work as well is this idea, then, of—because obviously what you’re dealing with, with memory and history, is this politics of disappearance in Hong Kong, this idea that, as Abbas put it, things are just—just keep disappearing, just keep changing. Can you talk a little bit more about how that reflects in your current work, but also maybe your longer trajectory as an artist? 6:49 Leung Chi Wo: Well, I mean, I started to make art around the time before the handover, so basically early ‘90s. And it was a huge [cuts off]. |
| Access Condition | Contact Dr. Joanne Leow |
| Subject Topic | High-- |
| Subject Topic | -- |
| Subject Topic | Narrative-- |
| Subject Topic | Memory-- |
| Subject Topic | History-- |
| Subject Topic | Editied Truth-- |
| Subject Topic | Power-- |
| Subject Topic | Personal-- |
| Subject Topic | Collective-- |
| Subject Topic | Objects-- |
| Subject Topic | nostalgia-- |
| Subject Topic | Commercialization-- |
| Subject Topic | Commodification |
| Subject Hierarchical Geographic | Asia--China------Hong Kong |
| Subject Local Name | High----Narrative--Memory--History--Editied Truth--Power--Personal--Collective--Objects--nostalgia--Commercialization--Commodification---- |