Hongkongers get peek at the things local artists collect
A new exhibition at Hong Kong’s 1a Space featuring odd objects of no particular commercial value donated by artists – including an old wooden drawer and old-fashioned light bulbs – attempts to change public preconceptions about collecting
A new exhibition poses the question: What do Hong Kong artists collect? They certainly don’t collect things such as the diamond-encrusted Hermes handbag that sold for more than HK$2 million at a local auction this week.
In fact, they seem to go for very odd things without obvious artistic value and little chance of financial appreciation, at least according to the show at the non-profit 1a Space.
But “Pseudo Collection – what do artists collect”, as the first half of the title suggests, is not quite what it seems.
Curator Enoch Cheung explains this is an attempt to unsettle certain preconceptions about collecting, such as private ownership and the owner having total control over the collection.
“I am down as one of the eight participating artists in the show even though I don’t show any work here. As the curator, I have ‘crowd-sourced’ items from different artists by asking them to donate very specific things. So my marks are all over the exhibits,” Cheung says.