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Luke CHING For now we see through a window, dimly

30 September – 5 November 2016

Opening: Friday, 30 September 2016, 6 – 8 pm

Gallery EXIT, 3/F, 25 Hing Wo Street, Tin Wan, Aberdeen, Hong Kong

Hours: Tue – Sat, 11 am – 6 pm

Gallery EXIT is excited to announce “For now we see through a window, dimly”, a solo exhibition of early photographic work by Luke Ching. It will open on 30 September 2016 and remain on view through 5 November. An opening reception will be held on Friday, 30 September from 6pm until 8pm.

During 1998-2006, Ching recorded views outside windows by transforming individual apartments into large pinhole cameras. The practice was conducted majorly in local sites and sometimes in other countries under various circumstances. This exhibition presents a selection of scenes made in Hong Kong, portraying the cityscape and living details of the era.

Physically and metaphorically, a minuscule hole became the sole window for each piece to occur. The fixed apartment became a mobile camera obscura. The artist situated himself in the dark room, watching upside down projections of instant views from the outside world. It was this cinematic, dreamlike experience that captivated Ching to continue this series. Images were formed between sight and touch, triggering new observations of pre-existing matters. Their implication on urban renewal was a subsequent subject.

Throughout past two decades Ching has established a recognisable body of conceptual work that is closely related to social issues and bureaucratic politics. This pinhole series speaks a photographic language that is not common in the artist’s practice, yet they share a documentary nature for social commentary to take place. It offers insight into the formation of Ching’s political sensibility though life experiences. Initiating the work as a young artist utilising sporadically available locations and barely affordable resources, it developed into an archive of personal encounters and historical changes.

Some views include significant cultural buildings of debatable aesthetics, Three Pacific Place that symbolises the gentrification of Wan Chai, Fung Yi Street in To Kwa Wan, and Hong Kong Island’s last squatter village. The photographs mark volumes of controversies, memories, and ends. They also suggest the destiny of a traditional medium of photography and that of one-hour photo stores. All prompt notice that assets and material possessions started to have the tendency of being temporary and disposable since the 90′s.

The making of these images was a process of movements and activities. The positioning of light-sensitive paper or film onto walls, the curious and patient waiting, the attentive observations, the on-site tests, the unlimited bodily and mental possibilities within dim spaces of solitude which ranged from thirty minutes to a day. Due to long exposures we see an absence of people, but there are hints of the artist’s presence in pin and tape marks, and other planned and unplanned traces. Manual action continues today, when Ching unfolds these photographs from the time capsule, some for the first time himself.

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