Title of the show, New Dust, is a contemporary spin of an old Chinese proverb 塵埃落定 (“the dust is already in its place”), adumbrating the absence of alternatives, the impossibility of change with the closed conclusion of a final resolution. By act of linguistic insurgence, Chihoi replaces the two Chinese characters 落定 (“in its place”) with 未定 (“not yet in place”) in the proverb, endowing openness to each situation with the still dynamic uncertainty and possibility.
Tinged with a melancholic tone while sleekly blended with his signature dark humor, the featured black and white and colored pencil drawings of Chihoi incorporate and satirise varied architectures and public sculptures that refract Hong Kong’s contemporary landscape. Deeply embedded in the fabric of our communal life, the selected buildings – Bank of China, Mandarin Oriental, HSBC Lions, to name a few – have clearly become the symptomatic symbols of a post-SARS and pro-capitalistic Hong Kong. While the city is advancing forward in high speed, historical representations across the city are being torn down one after another to make room for skyscrapers and identical high-rises, abandoning freedom and tradition for the sake of pursuing “more”.
New Dust is prospective – not only does it highlight the lost and vanished in the city under the weight of change and apathetic acceptance, the exhibition also inspires a critical vision casting back towards the quotidian contemporary life and all its small growing characters before the touchdown of the dust.
