Source:
https://scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3014990/five-women-artists-celebrated-m-exhibition-sites-encountered
Lifestyle/ Arts & Culture

Five women artists celebrated in M+ exhibition Sites Encountered show diversity of Hong Kong museum

  • Artists Ana Mendieta, Lee Bul, May Fung, Charlotte Posenenske and Lara Almarcegui feature in the exhibition
  • Works include sculptures, installations and videos, and the show highlights the diverse range of artworks at M+
South Korean artist Lee Bul with her maquettes of architectural sculptures, part of the Five Artists: Sites Encountered exhibition at the M+ Pavilion in Hong Kong. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

The latest exhibition at the M+ Pavilion, which was set up in 2016 to give the public a taste of the future museum of visual culture, is on art that responds to the land, public sites and architecture. It also highlights the geographical breadth and diversity of the art that M+ is buying.

The museum either owns or is in the process of acquiring works by all five artists in “Sites Encountered”: Hong Kong’s May Fung Mei-wah, South Korea’s Lee Bul, the German minimalist Charlotte Posenenske, the Cuban-American Ana Mendieta and the Spanish-born and Rotterdam-based Lara Almarcegui.

Posenenske made art for the people and by the people. Industrial-looking building blocks – like the Series D and Series DW made with galvanised steel and cardboard that M+ is adding to its collection – can be reproduced without limit and freely assembled by the buyer (who only pays the artist’s estate the cost of production).

During her lifetime, these sculptures resembling everyday objects would be placed outdoors where they disappeared into the environment. On July 20, three guests starting with artist Sara Wong Chi-hang will be invited to reconfigure some of these configurations in front of an audience.

May Fung Mei-wah and her work, She Said Why Me (1989). Part of the Five Artists: Sites Encountered exhibition at the M+ Pavilion. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
May Fung Mei-wah and her work, She Said Why Me (1989). Part of the Five Artists: Sites Encountered exhibition at the M+ Pavilion. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

The museum is also in the process of buying several pieces from Mendieta’s “Silhouette” series. These are haunting silent films she made between 1974 and 1981 that show her using her own body and outlines of her body temporarily etched into the ground to represent displacement, death and renewal.

In Bloody Silhouette (1975), for example, her naked body is seen filling an impression in the ground. Next, she disappears from view and the outline of her body is filled with a red liquid signifying blood and violence. These ephemeral, private performances are all the more poignant given that Mendieta died tragically at the age of 36.

Lara Almarcegui and her Construction Materials, M+, Hong Kong (2019). Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Lara Almarcegui and her Construction Materials, M+, Hong Kong (2019). Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Almarcegui’s Construction Materials, M+, Hong Kong (2019) is literally a breakdown of the raw materials used to build the future museum expected to open either in 2020 or 2021. This work was commissioned by M+ and painted onto the outside walls of the pavilion (it can be repainted in the future in different dimensions).

It is an alternative way of looking at buildings and our relationship with the land by reducing complex, man-made structures into a list of predominantly natural materials – gravel, sand, gypsum, wood, for example.

Lee’s works on show here are mostly small maquettes that she has made in preparation for larger architectural pieces or installations that often don’t ever get to see the light of day. The artist, daughter of political dissidents, grew up during a military dictatorship and her work often investigates the inherent contradictions of utopian ideals.

Lee Bul’s maquettes of architectural sculptures draw inspiration from futuristic, utopian visions. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Lee Bul’s maquettes of architectural sculptures draw inspiration from futuristic, utopian visions. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

These ideals may not stand the test of reality and can do much harm, but they can be embedded with beautiful visions, much like some of the fantastic constructions based on Russian Constructivism that are on display here.

Lastly, Fung’s She Said Why Me (1989) fits into the show nicely with a work that shows a woman exploring historic neighbourhoods and buildings in Hong Kong while blindfolded. The co-founder of Videotage says the film came out of the grief and helplessness she felt after the June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown 30 years ago.

It was also made during a time of great uncertainty in Hong Kong as its citizens were only beginning to grapple with the idea of becoming ruled by Communist China after being a British colony for over 150 years.

Pauline Yao, lead curator of visual art at M+. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Pauline Yao, lead curator of visual art at M+. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

This is an all-women show, a rather bold decision by the team headed by lead curator Pauline Yao to demonstrate M+’s commitment to giving women artists from different generations the platforms they deserve.

While there is growing awareness of the systemic gender inequality that exists in the art world, many artists and curators are wary of women-only exhibitions, which they see as countering biases with more bias.

In this instance, we think that the selection of artists is justified. Works by Posenenske and Mendieta have rarely been seen in Hong Kong before and it is particularly interesting to see whether women associated with the male-dominated land art and minimalist art movements approach art-making differently. (Mendieta’s haunting films may be seen as the feminine opposite of the monumental, permanent marks made on the land by the likes of Robert Smithson, for example.) At the same time, the impossibility of finding common patterns among the artists is enough to repudiate any stereotype about women artists.

Five Artists: Sites Encountered, M+ Pavilion, West Kowloon Cultural District, 11am-6pm, Wed to Sun. Until October 20.