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Samantha Culp

In her video installation Out of Place: Hong Kong Version, Beijing Version, and Taipei Version, local artist Leung  Mee-ping follows three vagabonds in these cities to investigate personal loneliness against the backdrop of globalisation. The piece,  comprising three eight-minute videos to be projected onto  a wall,  fits  the theme of HarmoNow 3D, an exhibition at Artist Commune and the Hong Kong Central Library.
The group show, featuring 39 local artists, focuses on the expansive nature of contemporary 'three-dimensional' art in Hong Kong and embraces a wide range of  3D works. It will also include seminars and a workshop in the coming weeks.
HarmoNow 3D is the first  of six visual arts thematic exhibitions initiated by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and Leisure and Cultural Services Department  in public venues around the city, and portions of the show will move to Central Plaza  next month.
HarmoNow 3D  explores the idea of harmony  -  among diverse media, between art and the city, and between art and commerce, says
co-curator and Artist Commune director Eric Leung Shiu-kee.
The English title  doesn't quite convey the same meaning as the Chinese, he says.
The Cantonese title Dong Doi Gung Yung has a definite political subtext, and implications of a 'harmonious and integrated' society,  a subject  Leung  broaches in her  installation.
But is video truly 'three-dimensional'?  Leung says it's all about 'how you use the space. There is invisible space and visible space, so the installation here involves invisible space'.  The experience of time and simultaneity of all three videos is crucial, she says.
She doesn't worry too much about verbal definitions. 'When I make a work, I never think about the medium; I think about the content and how to present it in the most interesting way... afterwards people put labels on it.'
HarmoNow 3D investigates  harmony through the diversity of sculptural styles and the works' content. The crafts of ceramics and wood-carving are considered  out of fashion in much of the mainstream art world today, but both are included in the show alongside the more popular contemporary sculptural forms of fabricated design, found-object assemblage, installation and  video.
The works of some artists appear to be concerned with form in itself, from those of Rosanna Li Wei-han  - known for her  Botero-chubby ceramic people - to the more abstract pieces of Man Fung-yee  such as pillow-like shapes  in wire, clay and metal.
Others are better known for  pushing  conceptual boundaries, with material merely the vehicle. Fo Tan artist Wong  Tin-yan uses scrap wood to make his unwieldy animals,  while Stella Tang Ying-chi's  woven fabrics are often used as props, costumes and environments instead of simply textile objects.
The Central Library space will hold more than 60 works, but it can't host large installations such as  site-specific pieces by Kacey  Wong Kwok-choi and Jaffa  Lam  Laam.  These will  go on show at Artist Commune's Cattle Depot site. 'There is a limitation in space and a limitation in lighting, so all the major installations will be at Artist Commune,'  says Leung.
Wong, for example, will present a piece constructed of wood taken from garbage, forming a chair viewers can sit on,  only possible in a less restricted space.
Given curator Eric Leung  Shiu-kee is also responsible for the Prison Art Museum project at Victoria Prison  last April, it's clear that a harmonious use of old and new 3D space within the city is a prime concern.
In a set of seminars on November 4, artists, designers and arts administrators will address topics of 'harmonising' art with the city, with culture and with business. Sculptor and Chinese University Professor  Kurt Chan Yuk-keung will discuss opportunities for public art and within the realm of urban development, and relate his own experiences in such projects. 'You have to deal with bureaucrats at the same time as the business sector - sort of serving as a mediator between parties,' Chan says.
Curator Leung hopes HarmoNow 3D audiences will get a 'conclusive picture of 3D and installation art in Hong Kong'. But perhaps any look at the unruly genre of three-dimensional work is more a snapshot of an ever-changing shape. Sculpture, in Hong Kong and   elsewhere, is still mutating.
HarmoNow 3D,  Artist Commune, Unit 12, Cattle Depot Artist Village, Tue-Sun, 12pm to 8pm; Hong Kong Central Library, daily, 10am-8pm, Nov 6, 10am-4pm



Harmonious works are out of site