Screenshot: Youtube
The massive animation counting down to 2047 on the face of the ICC has been pulled after exhibition organisers say artists Sampson Wong and Jason Lam breached their agreement by changing the title and statement of their work.
A joint statement from Ellen Pau of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (a government body) and curator Caroline Ha Thuc, released yesterday evening, announced the work's removal from the Council's "Human Vibrations" exhibition, which is scheduled to run until June 22.
Pau and Ha Thuc distanced the Council from the project, stating they were not consulted by Wong and Lam before the animation's true title and message was revealed.
The statement stressed the HKADC's belief in "the freedom of artistic expression," but attributed the work's removal from the ICC to "the disrespect demonstrated by [the artists] against the original agreement".
As a result, Pau and Ha Thuc said Wong and Lam's actions are "jeopardising [their] profession" and endanger "any future possibility to work further in the public space".
"The 5th Large Scale Public Media Art Exhibition: Human Vibrations" is a public showcase of "different kinds of interactive media artworks" in Hong Kong. The works are supposed to "encourage the public to experience the invisible frequencies and hidden vibes in the city and also question their impact on our daily lives", according to the HKADC.
The Doomsday Clock-esque public art project, "Countdown Machine", was unveiled on the 18th, during top Chinese official Zhang Dejiang's much-publicised three-day visit. Enormous glowing nine-digit figures counted down the seconds to 2047, when the SAR agreement protecting Hong Kong's autonomy expires.
The New York Times reports that the animation was submitted to the HKADC as a "mostly apolitical" nine-minute long piece entitled "Our 60-Second Friendship Begins Now". Its concealed political message which, in Wong's words, attempted to "illustrate the biggest anxiety of Hong Kong people" was revealed upon its debut.
Lam and Wong, of local collective Add Oil Team, previously designed "Stand By You: Add Oil Machine for the Umbrella Movement", which projected supportive messages from people around the globe onto LegCo during the 79-day protests in 2014.
The Countdown Machine can still be viewed in real time on the Add Oil website.
http://hongkong.coconuts.co/2016/05/23/countdown-machine-removed-icc-being-disrespectful
