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Moonstruck

Club 64. Ends April 30

Ever picked up a book on contemporary art and gone 'Whaaat?' Or tried to make sense of those brief curator's notes in contemporary art museums or galleries? Do words such as 'teleology' and 'narrativisation' make you feel excluded?

The good news is that 'Moonstruck' is an exhibition that aims to embrace rather than alienate its audience.

'Real knowledge of art comes from direct observation of it,' says Jeffrey du Vallier d'Aragon Aranita, the man behind the show. 'Description about artwork is useful, but these words often interfere with a full appreciation of it.

'Art is always subjective. Its power and meaning changes from person to person. In that respect, you can't really understand a work of art unless you spend time examining it.'

Which you may well have to do - the works are postcard size, taped up on a couple of Club 64's walls. Looking long and hard will also reap benefits because the images are captivating. There's enough variety that you can find your own links. A theme of dreams, for example, might be covered by such images as: a juicy red and chrome 50s Cadillac floating on its white exhaust cloud; a 'wrapped' neon pink helicopter whirling above celestial mountain tops; a red taxi racing past the lights of Hong Kong like a bat out of hell; and the Eiffel Tower seen in a puddle.

'Moonstruck' is an open forum for images. It's concerned with non-hierarchical collecting and with anarchic exhibition systems, built around a belief in freewheeling non-curating.

In a moment of boredom, Aranita says he sent e-mails to his artist friends and contacts from around the world, so he could 'have my own biennale'. The response was overwhelming. Within days, more than 70 artists from more than a dozen countries (including Brazil, Britain, China, Cuba, France, The Netherlands, Kuwait, Germany, Mexico, Nigeria, Spain, Thailand and the US) signed up for the event. After Norman Jackson Ford of the Hong Kong Arts Centre came on board to help produce the show , more than 200 artists agreed to send in their work.

They also sent biodegradable, non-toxic reproductions to be included in a time capsule to be buried off the site of the West Kowloon cultural district, and another to be placed in a sealed container on the bottom of the Venice lagoon for this year's Venice Biennale.

The only larger works in this show are by Aranita, exhibited in the cafe section of the club, where he presents a series of work on key-maker symbols, taken from cities on the mainland and Hong Kong.

Aranita has had a varied life and career. After time in French Polynesia, Japan, the US, France and Britain, he has lived in Hong Kong for eight years. He works primarily as a photographic and video artist.

2005 Hong Kong Artist's Biennial, Club 64, G/F, 12-14 Wing Wah Lane, Central

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