At Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong
At Tai Kwun Contemporary in Central Hong Kong, Stay Connected: Supplying the Globe looks at the people, materials, and systems behind global trade. The large-scale exhibition shifts attention away from the digital world and toward the factories, shipping routes, warehouses, packaging, and labour that keep modern life moving. The show is the second chapter of Tai Kwun’s ongoing series Stay Connected: Art and China Since 2008. While the first chapter focused on digital connection, this edition explores the physical networks that link China to the rest of the world. Featuring more than 70 works by 40 artists, the exhibition examines China’s rise as a global manufacturing and supply-chain power, while also looking at the human and environmental costs behind that growth. Through installation, video, sculpture, performance, and multimedia work, the artists explore factory labour, migration, family histories, rural change, logistics, and the ecological impact of global production. Everyday objects appear throughout the exhibition in new ways. Cardboard boxes, plastic packaging, shipping containers, and industrial materials become reminders of the huge systems behind the things we buy and use every day. The exhibition is organised around four main ideas: ecological footprints, depictions of labour, networks of exchange, and global realignments. Together, they guide visitors through the social, economic, and environmental forces that shape supply chains today. Set across JC Contemporary and the historic F Hall, the exhibition also gains meaning from Tai Kwun’s own location. Central Hong Kong is a major financial and trading hub, making the questions raised by the show feel especially close. In a city shaped by commerce and connection, Supplying the Globe reminds us that globalization is not abstract. It is built through bodies, labour, land, transport, and time. At its strongest, the exhibition makes visitors think twice about convenience. Behind every product is a long…