MYTH MAKERS — SPECTROSYNTHESIS III

Tai Kwun Conversations: Exhibition(ism) and Social Change

MYTH MAKERS — SPECTROSYNTHESIS III

Family Day at Tai Kwun Contemporary

Myth Makers After Hours

Art After Hours: Myth Makers—Performances by Bones Tan Jones and Joshua Serafin

Tai Kwun Conversations: Spill the Tea and Werq! Truth & Performance in Hong Kong Drag Culture

Myth Makers—Spectrosynthesis III: Teacher's Morning & Teacher’s Workshop

Tai Kwun Conversations: Exhibition(ism) and Social Change

Date & Time

7 Feb 2023 7:30pm – 9:00pm

Location

JC Cube

Price

Exclusive to Tai Kwun Fan, Free of charge

General

The upcoming edition of Tai Kwun Conversations: Exhibition(ism) and Social Change explores the role of art in advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, in particular centering on the power of visibility in spurring social change.

LGBTQ+ activists have long wielded the power of being visible and of being “queer and here” as a means to advocate for equal rights; indeed, the whole process of “coming out” arguably operates on this paradigm. Consequently, art exhibitions can be seen to offer a particular form of visibility, and in some cases become generative sites of societal challenge and change. Conversely, LGBTQ+ art can frequently be seen as too risqué and “exhibitionist”—for example, in being cited for portraying too much flesh.

Drawing on the experiences and insights of the speakers, Tai Kwun Conversations: Exhibition(ism) and Social Change will range from personal recollections to collective memories, taking in exhibition practices, writerly interventions, and the quirks and foibles of collecting art. Along the way, the conversation will delve into the role of art in exhibiting sexualities and subjectivities, and how such acts also constitute public sharing and communal exchange—while generating ripple effects in and out of society at large, internationally but also in Hong Kong in particular.

Taking part in this conversation are the following speakers: Patrick Sun, collector and founder of Sunpride Foundation (co-presenter of the current exhibition Myth Makers—Spectrosynthesis III, the first major survey exhibition of LGBTQ+ perspectives in Hong Kong), together with curator Nick Yu, and writer Samwai Lam; moderated by Daniel Szehin Ho.

Myth Makers—Spectrosynthesis III is one of the first major survey exhibitions on LGBTQ+ perspectives in Hong Kong, and draws inspiration from artists addressing “queer mythologies”—who highlight either same-sex love and desire or gender fluidity as found in ancient belief systems and traditions in Asia.

Tai Kwun Conversations is a monthly event that brings together brilliant minds from the fields of contemporary art, architecture, heritage, among many others. Join us to discover new artistic exchanges and outstanding practices in heritage conservation.

This event will be conducted in Cantonese, with Cantonese to English simultaneous interpretation.

Speakers:

Samwai Lam

Patrick Sun

Nick Yu

Moderator:

Daniel Szehin Ho | Editor and Project Manager, Tai Kwun Contemporary


Speakers Bio

Samwai LAM
Patrick SUN
Nick YU

Samwai Lam earned her master and bachelor of arts degrees in comparative literature from the University of Hong Kong. Her novels include White Dirt (2016) and Moon Phase (2020). Lam’s art criticism, shortlisted for the International Awards for Art Criticism (IAAC), and her short stories, for which she received a literary award from the House of Hong Kong Literature, have appeared in City Magazine, Fleurs des Lettres, MING'S, and Esquire HK.

Partick Sun is executive director and founder of Sunpride Foundation, an organisation he established in 2014 with the goal of raising awareness for the LGBTQ community and fostering a more equitable world through art.


Born and raised in Hong Kong, Sun graduated from McGill University in Canada with a degree in business. He began his career in Hong Kong real estate development and later founded his own company, Kinwick Holdings Limited. Since 2002 he has been active in promoting equal rights for the LGBTQ community in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Sun’s personal art collection, a work in progress since 1988, began with his early interest in modern Chinese paintings and has more recently shifted to a focus on contemporary art. Comprising works by artists in the LGBTQ community or that examine LGBTQ themes, Sun’s collection aims to support that community.


Sun is a member of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s Asian Art Circle, Tate’s Asia-Pacific acquisitions committee, the M+ Council for New Art, and more recently, a founding patron of the Hong Kong Palace Museum and a member of the Asia Art Archive's Collectors Circle. Patrick was included in the 2020 edition of ArtReview’s Power 100 list, an annual ranking of the most influential figures in the contemporary art world, for his leading role in LGBTQ activism in Asia.

Nick Yu is a curator, writer, and researcher from Hong Kong. His practice focuses on gender discourses and biopolitics at the intersection of decolonial struggles and the movement of peoples and ideas. Yu’s curatorial projects include the exhibitions Soy Dreams of Milk (Blindspot Gallery, 2022), Play and Loop II–IV (Blindspot Gallery, 2020–2022), Holy Mosses (Blindspot Gallery, 2019), and Bad Bodies (Eaton HK, 2019). As a writer, he has contributed reviews to ArtAsiaPacific, Ocula, and Art Basel’s online platform. He was formerly associate director of Blindspot Gallery in Hong Kong.