Live Actions! VDO & NN at CIA
If their online videos are anything to go by, audiovisual shows by Vagina Dentata Organ and New Noveta are likely to be surreal and chaotic. And according to Chris Lum of Culture Industries Association, these are exactly the kind of programmes he founded the experimental art centre for.
If their online videos are anything to go by, audiovisual shows by Vagina Dentata Organ and New Noveta are likely to be surreal and chaotic. And according to Chris Lum of Culture Industries Association, these are exactly the kind of programmes he founded the experimental art centre for.
"There's always a lack of space and a scene to allow marginal and challenging art to happen [in Hong Kong]. We're trying to avoid the situation where people are too worried about the extreme performance art type," says Lum.
On July 21, his gallery-cum-performance space in Kwai Hing will present a double bill that promises to challenge viewers' senses and minds.
While New Noveta and Vagina Dentata Organ represent different ends of the artistic spectrum - they are from very different generations and their performances take entirely different angles and artistic expressions - both are London-based and their performances are "shockingly similar", Lum says.
"They thrill the spectators in a way that is almost an emotional violence," he explains. "There's a spectacle going on and it could be dangerous. They're both dealing with very loud repetitive noise and the organic way of a performance in that they're actually hands-on, physically involved."
New Noveta, made up of Keira Fox and Ellen Freed, is known for using fish and food as stage props and Lum is eager to visit the wet markets with the duo. "They will be doing some spiritual wrestling with each other and there will be a live piece going on as well, in which they have some sort of control over the sound being generated as the performance goes on," says Lum.
Jordi Valls, the Catalonian behind Vagina Dentata Organ, is from the post-punk generation which talks a lot about destruction, the breaking down of establishments and systems, and is against accepted standards in ethics and aesthetics. "Jordi will come on stage with a baseball bat, a hammer and a mask. There'll be mirrors involved in his space and I was told very often he manages to hurt himself. And that could be part of the performance. But he says that's not guaranteed," adds Lum.
Culture Industries Association, unit 7, Block B, 8/F Wah Tat Industrial Centre, 8 Wah Sing Street, Kwai Hing, July 21, 8pm, HK$280 (advance), HK$230 (door). Inquiries: 3421 1720
