Chinese characters are used in our daily lives. But do you know the story behind them?
Guest curator Lau said: "The creativity inspired by Chinese characters originates from people. Anyone can create and use them. This also means that Chinese characters are interesting and deserve to be appreciated."
This is the second exhibition in the series, which aims to make everyone appreciate Chinese characters. Yu said: "We launched the Hong Kong Art: Co-Creation exhibition series in 2018. While different exhibitions have their own themes, all focus on Chinese characters."
The museum is working with guest curators to provide a broader perspective of its research, illuminating Hong Kong contemporary art from multiple viewpoints."People create and use Chinese characters from different aspects. It's interesting how it appears in our lives," Lau said.
Before the exhibition, the museum and Lau's team sifted through many collections."During the preparations, Freeman's eyes kept lighting up. Every time we saw an excellent work and wanted to present it, he would critique it because he wanted to choose the works that best fitted the theme," Yu said. "All the curators have a great passion for Chinese characters, so we all enjoyed the process."
The exhibition space is divided into four parts, starting with the history of Chinese characters.One of the oldest exhibits in this section is an Old Testament printed using Chinese movable type. It represents the most complete set of lead casting type in the 19th century.
Walking into the exhibition's second part, visitors will feel a more artistic atmosphere as it showcases literary works influenced by folk art and individual artistic works.A surprising work is Couplet in square word calligraphy. It looks like Chinese characters are actually English words. Chinese contemporary artist Xu Bing created a new writing system by integrating the characteristics of Chinese brushstrokes to rearrange English words.
Exhibits in the third section feature Chinese characters in works of art such as calligraphy in contemporary art.The final section looks to the future. "Even if you are not interested in literature or calligraphy, you will be excited when you enter this part of the exhibition," Lau said.
Traces by Japanese calligrapher Kawao Tomoko and programmer Kousei Ikeda shows the movement of the body when creating calligraphy.The museum provides writing brushes, ink, paper and magnets for visitors in the interactive space. You need to control the brush under magnetic resistance to experience a writing process that is akin to having your body wrestle with the laws of physics. After this experience, people's works will be exhibited in the interactive space.
"Chinese characters are not only to be appreciated, but also a tool for people to create," Lau said."Nowadays, there are many innovations in the use of Chinese characters. For example, more young designers are using social media terms to express their ideas, and many young people are simplifying Chinese characters to express their thoughts.
"Everyone can discover the joys of designing because everyone has a different understanding of Chinese characters."Yu hopes the exhibition will bring a new appreciation for Hong Kong culture. "Chinese characters are an important vehicle of Chinese civilization. Like a hard drive, it's impossible for us to pass it on to the next generation if the hard drive is broken."
By the People: Creative Chinese Characters will run at the Hong Kong Museum of Art until November 26 next year.
