“Play and Loop VII” & “Glitched”
During a recent trip to the south side of Hong Kong Island, I was struck by the range of video work during the shows at Art Intelligence and BlindSpot Gallery. Art Intelligence had a rotation of archive pieces on loan from institutions, and BlindSpot Gallery had a brilliant show of renowned Chinese artists. Both are located in Wong Chuk Hang, known locally for its art scene. BlindSpot is located on the 15th Floor of Po Chai Industrial Building, and the current show, "Play and Loop VII," is running from the 10th of July to the 15th of August. With appointments only through their website, this is the 7th iteration of their summer video screening program, containing video works of Sin Wai Kin, Wang Tuo, Zhang Xu Zhan, and Isaac Chong Wai. Most notably, this exhibition contains video documentation of Isaac Chong Wai's performance piece, 'Falling Reversely' (2024), featured in the 60th Venice Biennale in the main international exhibition. It is a commentary on racial profiling faced by Asian individuals through CCTV cameras, where performers of Asian descent fall in sync and slow motion, gathering in groups showing protection and support. Falls are reenacted and reversed, and the impact is changed from an act of force to an act of solidarity and care. What stuck out to me most was this stop-motion video by Zhang Xu Zhan, 'AT5' (2020-2022), using the Chinese tradition of zhizha, a type of 3D paper art often burnt as funeral offerings. He created this fantastically animated stop motion, animating papier-mâché figures and connecting traditional and contemporary, creating a mystical world filled with dancing and musical-playing animals. Drawing inspiration from a folk tale that appears across several Asian cultures of a clever animal convincing predators to form a pattern in the water, guaranteeing safe passage, this story varies across Indonesian, East Asian, and Chinese folk stories. The film shows this by mixing different sequences containing different animals,…