“Something There and Never There” is the solo exhibition of Leung Chi Wo, centred around the tumultuous year of 1967 in Hong Kong. Linking his own biography to the history of the city, Leung constructs parallel worlds that connect vastly different events, characters and objects together. Civilian riots and vintage Volkswagen, student protests and Charlie Chaplin’s film, political propaganda and songs by The Beatles: they all crossed paths by coincidence without our knowledge or entering into official history.
By using diverse media including photography, video, and installations comprising of found images, music and objects from 1967, Leung performs a deep engagement with a subjective history through archival research, conceptual intervention and poetic re-imagination. The artist demonstrates that history is full of ambivalence, absurdity and ambiguities, and that through re-enacting and reconstructing these episodes in 1967, one can as well reflect on the current socio-political situation in Hong Kong.
Leung Chi Wo (b. 1968)
Leung Chi Wo studied culture of photography at Centro di Ricerca e Archiviazione della Fotografia in Italy in 1991 and obtained a Master of Fine Arts from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1997. His works have been exhibited at major international museums and institutions including Tate Modern in London, NRW Forum in Dusseldorf, Museu da Imagem e do Som in São Paulo, The International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) and Queens Museum in New York. In collaboration with Sara Wong, he represented Hong Kong for its first-time participation in Venice Biennale in 2001. He also participated in other biennials and triennials, such as Shanghai Biennale in China, Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture in Shenzhen, China, Marrakech Biennale in Morocco, the Guangzhou Triennial in China, and Asia Triennial Manchester in the United Kingdom. He had his first survey exhibition at OCT Contemporary Art Terminal in Shenzhen, China in 2015.
Leung Chi Wo is the co-founder of Para Site. Leung is currently Associate Professor at the School of Creative Media of the City University of Hong Kong.
