#exhibitionperformance

a performative exhibition of no magic - "MAKE & BELIEVE"

Curator / Producer Orlean Lai

in collaboration with Tung Wing-hong Ng Tsz-kwan Ho Sin-tung Human Wu Lam Lai Lau Ming-hang

The notion of “fiction” and “real” is intertwined within the theatre. No matter how verisimilar the play may seem, the audience may not perceive it as real; vice versa, no matter how illusory and surreal a narrative gets to be, one can still exercise their imagination and be fully immersed in the narrative. Once stepped into the theatrical space, the audience gets to suspend their disbelief and be ready to participate in a collective “act” of fabrication – for one becomes an active spectator, the “comrade” to “conspire” an impossible reality.

Make & Believe harkens to the 2023 theatrical-installation performance We are for real, nonetheless, unfolding its narration in an exhibition space instead of a theatrical space. As the narrative context shifts, the previous distinction between “fictive” and “real” is eradicated, projecting alienated expectations and assumptions from the participating audience. In this regard, the collective experiment constructed in the theatre destructs into an individual experience with a deeper introspective focus. It liberates the audience’s unidirectional visual perspectives from the spectator seats into a scattered, all-around spectacle by allowing them to free roam within the exhibition hall. Are these transformations equipping the audience with an omniscient vision that was absent as a theatre spectator? Leaving the narrative-driven theatrical space, can the audience perceive implicit messages between and outside of the lines of the exhibits?

In Make & Believe, we invite you to join the conspiracy again – in an exhibition hall where the performers are absent. The audience is left to conceive and perceive by engaging their senses, rediscovering the idiosyncratic performative qualities of scenery, installations, lighting and soundscapes, collaging fragments of existence, non-existence, reality, “the truth” and imagination, in turn constructing their perceptual landscapes. Can the myriad of sensual stimulations, inspire one to rely on intuition to perceive and conceive, travelling inward to search for meaning and answers?

In collaboration with Tung Wing-hong (Mechanical Installation), Ng Tsz-kwan (Mechanical Installation), Ho Sin-tung (Text / Painting / Installation), Human Wu (Scenography), Lam Lai (Music / Soundscape) and Lau Ming-hang (Lighting), these multi-disciplinary artists excelling in different mediums collectively interweave a rhapsody of Gesamtkunstwerk (a total work of art) by echoing with one another while preserving each individual’s creative authenticity for the visitors to feast.

During the exhibition period, several curated performances will be presented. A brand-new composition crafted by Lam Lai, brought by three renowned musicians, Nazar Tabachyshyn (accordion), Wilson Chau (French Horn) and Tiffany Au Kai-see (Bassoon), will accompany the soundscape installations to render an illuminating music creation. Creative performers from We are for real, including KT Yau Ka-hei, Anson Chan, Pearlmi Tam and Tung Chung-can, will also be offering a new collaborative performance on-site. Stay tuned for the shows!

We cordially invite you to be mesmerised by the “staged exhibition”, unleashing all your talents and senses to enjoy the meticulously crafted scenography. Come dialogue with the collective creation, challenge yourself and rediscover what are the “real” and “truth” to you.

// Documentation by HKADC:

// Music Performance

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Music for the Dancing Percussionist

Music for Dancing Percussionist Dancing itself begs description. The performance of the percussionist allows the body a tremendous range of movements, echoing the command of dancing. By studying one of the masterpieces of Iannis Xenakis, Rebonds A, percussionist Mei-yi Lee and composer Lam Lai examined its augmented perspective, restructured the movement of the percussionist by providing the body with its great flexibility and mobility. With the conventional notation and the new position of the drums, an unfamiliar way of dancing began to speak.

A part of An exposition, not an exhibition, Hong Kong Solos is an artwork by Ari Benjamin Meyers that will take place at six non-profit art organizations—Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong Arts Centre, M+, Para Site, soundpocket and Things that can happen. Meyers invited six local Hong Kong composers to create new works for staff members at these organizations across the city. In order to experience these intimate pieces devised for 1 performer and 1-4 audience members, potential listeners are invited to book visits to these institutions. The work centers around bringing together usually disparate parties: a composer and an art professional, a performer and a visitor, and the members of the art and music worlds of Hong Kong.

details: Spring Workshop, Hong Kong (link) Things that can happen (link)

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PRINZ TR – 15 for Voice and Tape Departing from the study of speech as music and rhythm, Lam Lai’s piece is scored for Chantal’s voice and portable tape recorder in a work that explores the machine’s biography and how music can capture shifts in space and time.

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Homage to A Suckling Pig  

A newly-commissioned piece involving the use of electronics and improvisation, that interacts with Cao Fei’s work.

Composer: Lam Lai

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02022020.SPACE

producer: Lam Lai

The most brilliant cultural highlights of recent times have involved people broadcasting ideas in innovative ways, with web-based technology becoming one of the major elements in our daily life. 02022020, also a 8-digit computer-friendly code, is ideally situated in the Internet culture, ushering in the new vision of information exchange in the nearest future. On 02-02-2020, a collective of artists created a 26-hour programme of artworks and performances that were streamed on the Internet for viewers in all timezones. The Live performances with local audience were presented in 10+ cities around the world. The audience also watched the streaming of the performances and artworks in different locations.