2008/01/22



fotanian (19-20/01/2008)





香港人示威係點嫁?示威完就算嫁喇嘛.
圖:羅文樂的那次示威行動(19/1/2008)
(原真正來要示威的,其實是右上角那點紅)

2008/01/13

Special Pre-Exhibition Performance
during the past Fotanian First Day: 12 January 2008

Fair Enough Promo Counter

(1) Sorry, we'd only remain outside the gallery this week.
(2) This stall will close tomorrow (for a real demonstration).
(3) Fair Enough, we will return to Blue Lotus next week.


and
Law Man Lok's The Demonstration Recruitment performance



Video Clip


Law Man Lok's speech + and - version (original full version here)

2008/01/07

[Latest information]

Fair Enough

presented by Blue Lotus Gallery
guest curated by Jaspar Lau Kin Wah

Every Sat & Sun from 19 January to 24 February, 2008

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Exhibiting Artists

Luke CHING Chin Wai

Joel LAM Kin Hung

LAW Man Lok

LEUNG Mee Ping

Doris WONG Wai Yin
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Special Pre-Exhibition Activities

during Fotanian First Week: 12 January 2008

Promo counter and performance at the corridor outside of Blue Lotus Gallery*(*Blue Lotus Gallery will meanwhile be exhibiting its “Plug In” exhibition of artist group Island6)
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Opening Hours
during Fotanian (19-20 January) 2pm to 8 pm
hereafter, every Saturday and Sunday, 1-6 pm
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Venue
Wah Luen Industrial building Block A, Floor 5, Unit 2415-21 Wong Chuk Yeung Street, Fotan, N.T. [Easiest to reach by minibus 60k from Shatin KCR station.]
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Contact
Sarah Van Ingelgom 6100 1295

2008/01/05

Fair Enough (「展銷藝術」)
Blue Lotus Gallery主辦、劉建華 客席策展
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參展藝術家
程展緯
林健雄
羅文樂
梁美萍
黃慧妍
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展覽安排
「伙炭」開放日首周: (一月十二日至十三日)
地點: 畫廊外*
形式: 預告攤位 及 表演活動(*畫廊內將會為Island6之「Plug in」展覽)
「伙炭」開放日次周: (一月十九日至二十日)
地點: 畫廊內
形式: (足本)展覽
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畫廊開放時間
「伙炭」開放日 (一月十二/十三及十九/二十日)上午十時至晚上七時
「伙炭」開放日以後:(一月廿六日至二月二十四日)逢周六及日,下午一時至六時
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地址
華聯工業大廈A 座,5 樓24 室黃竹洋街15-21 號,火炭,新界
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聯絡查詢
Sarah Van Ingelgom 6100 1295
[Short Intro /短介]

Art sales as well as galleries are seemingly blooming in Hong Kong for the moment. Under this climate, the newly founded Blue Lotus Gallery is boldly taking its lead, as it stages the exhibition "FAIR ENOUGH", bringing to the forefront the sensitive issue of value in art making and art consumption, via playful and challenging works by five Hong Kong artists.

在香港,藝術市場的銷情近年愈況受人注目,不但畫廊四處冒現,藝術投資、拍賣也成為了城中熱話。這發展對於香港藝圈而言,一如「伙炭」,也算是一種新鮮事態。在火炭開張不久的Blue Lotus Gallery決定在這一時刻,借主題式之策展,把藝術生態中極為敏感的價值問題放到展覽前臺來,透過藝術家們高度自覺的審思,讓觀眾們幽默領會其在此生態中的處境。

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[Full Introduction /介紹論述]

Art fairs and auctions fetching record-high prices have recently raised many Hongkongers' eyebrows. Art sales as well as galleries are seemingly blooming, and art as an investment has definitely become a hot topic in town. For local Hong Kong art, it had not been happening for some while, and is quite a phenomenon. Under this climate, Blue Lotus Gallery is boldly taking its lead in the local art scene, as it prepares to stage an exhibition titled "FAIR ENOUGH", bringing to the forefront the sensitive issue of value in art making and art consumption, via playful and challenging works by five Hong Kong artists.

“Fotanian” is an annual event held in the little town of Fotan, outside Sha Tin, where about 100 artists work in unused industrial spaces, opening their studios to public for consecutive weekends. Since 2003, Fotanian is annually bigger in scale, and this is the first year participation for Blue Lotus Gallery (opened in Oct, 2007). The present show "FAIR ENOUGH" will open coincident with the Fotanian annual open day function. A promotional counter will be setup for the first weekend and performances will be conducted too. A full-blown exhibition will be held within the gallery for the second week of the Fotanian, and lasting till the 17th February.

"FAIR ENOUGH" was chosen as the title of the exhibition because it can be read as both a playful reply to the art fair fever, while by itself, it signifies an agreeable experience of lively exchange. It will include five thoughtful and interesting artists, namely Leung Mee Ping, Joel Lam, Luke Ching, Law Man Lok and Doris Wong. The artists are from different backgrounds, and having various ties with the Fotanian. Their works will range from painting, mixed media, film, video, to installation and performance. Guest curator Jaspar K.W. Lau grouped them together, for despite their diverse forms, they are all attentive to the issue of value in art in their different ways. What they all commonly share is a playful flipping strategy, between being art works for sell and being reflective to such a context.

"FAIR ENOUGH" is much like a coin with two different sides. On the one side, it is presented by a newly founded gallery, a space that known as a marketplace of art. On the other side, the gallery fosters an exhibition that tries to address critically the question of value in art from within this specific context of the Fotan artists' studios cluster. By playing with the presentation and the general expectation of the gallery-goers, artists contribute their reflectivity towards the subject, right from the production end to the final accomplishing of their own artworks, via the participation of the audiences.

The exhibition is not a show one-sidedly sceptical about the relationship between art and money, or wanting to condemn the commodity status of an artwork as alienation. However, contra to the local development of mall art or in response to museum as supermarkets, "FAIR ENOUGH" is more a lively play with high-end art in a real gallery space. It is more an articulated interpenetration, the appropriation of one language for the other, a commodification of an anti-commercialised act, alongside a kind of commercial aestheticization. This synergy of humour and criticality is of course, paradoxically, almost a kind of token (currency) for the present generation of contemporary art to succeed.

In many ways, "FAIR ENOUGH" is an advanced look at the logic of art making, characterized by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu as the "inversed logic" of the cultural production field. It demonstrates how art and creativity could become the ultimate "value enhancer", challenging the Marxist understanding of "surplus value" and labour exploitation. As a playful addressal of the complex issue of value in the art field today, the exhibition is really after an ambivalence that actually opens up more possibilities in our understanding of values within and beyond contemporary art practices.

For an alternative reading, able to pronounce, "the market is never fair, and we are having enough of it" from within a gallery show, was this itself not a "fair enough" deal?

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「伙炭」是鄰近沙田、位於火炭工業村中,近乎百位藝術家們每年度一次(接連雙周末)把工作室群對外開放的展覽活動。從二OO三年起,「伙炭」的規模不斷擴大,去年十月份開張的畫廊Blue Lotus Gallery,今年將是首次參與「伙炭」。這次展覽取名Fair Enough,中文標題「展銷藝術」表面貌似展覽是為了要促銷藝術,題旨實質是帶出一批關注「展銷」課題的藝術。標題中這雙向的浮動意義,無疑正是展覽希望帶出的一種觀賞維度。

Fair Enough展覽包括有五位香港藝術家,程展緯、林健雄、羅文樂、梁美萍、黃慧妍。藝術家們本地或海外進修的背景各異,跟火炭藝術村的關係也親疏有別。客席策展人把他們召集起來共同展出,是因他們都不約而同對於本地藝術場域中的價值問題有所關注,並不單能把他們的觀察放到藝術的創作上來呈現或應用,也能夠對這次展覽的內部(畫廊)與外部(藝圈)脈絡,合而提供富意義的多角度思考。

Fair Enough展覽猶如一幣兩面的錢幣般,一方面它是在一個位於火炭藝術工作室群間的畫廊中發生,而畫廊本來就是一個藝術品的交易場所;但另一方面,這是一個由畫廊一手促成,讓策展人、藝術家們以及觀者們也能對藝術中的價值議題作批判性審思的展覽情境,無疑是個對各方面也有趣的冒險實驗。

Fair Enough不是要單面向的質疑藝術和商業的混結,又或批判藝術品變成了商品的異化。相反地,正是反商業的商品化,商品的美學化,產生出值得思索的空間及語言。Fair Enough欲把具自我反省能力的當代藝術,真實地在畫廊展銷,跳出當下「商場藝術」或「博物館淪超市」的同質化,讓作品介入於藝術和價值的議題的當下情境,開拓另一種作品類型。

至於這種以幽默帶出批判的協同策略,某程度上而言,正是在當代藝術體系中要成功或流行的一種程式(價值取態)。在對於自身價值認受的一種曖昧遊戲中,Fair Enough希望能為我們開啟出更多樣性對於價值的理解和想像,這不論對於當代藝術的自我理解,又或藝術場域以外的生活世界都同樣受用。換一角度想,市場的交易若從來也非真正的公平,透過藝術市場反照這一點,這未嘗不是也算頗公平的一宗交易吧?
[short description on artists and their works / 藝術家與作品簡述]

Luke CHING is an artist of versatile art forms and practices, extremely sensitive to its appearing context. His work constantly attend to our city habitat, querying its implict norm and regulations, breaking things down and restructuring them conceptually.

For this gallery exhibition, Luke Ching will exhibit a work from his pin-hole photography series, of another artist's work exhibiting in another gallery space. It forms here and now a subtle commentary on the changing of Hong Kong gallery scene with a there and then.

After receiving his Master of Fine Arts in Chinese University, Luke Ching has been to a wide range of exchange and residency programs, including the PS 1 in New York. He recently started a series of space hijacking projects for Ming Pao Daily. His recent major exhibitions included solo show 2 in 1 (Visual Arts Center) and group show Chinglish (HK Museum of Art).

程展緯是借用不同媒體以展示其意念的藝術家,喜歡留意社會事態、城市規範,予以解剖與重構。畢業於中文大學藝術系的MFA課程後,程展緯參予了不少的藝術家留駐計劃,也經常主持工作坊。是次展出的作品屬於其針孔照片系列,通過於某畫廊拍下某作品的一幀照片,側映本地畫廊的生存空間與起伏更迭。


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Joel LAM is one of the outstanding directors for independent film making in Hong Kong. All rounded in directing, script writing, shot editing, he is as much capable to utilize narrative as well as conceptual form in presenting his unique subject matters.

All Code Express to be shown in the exhibition is one of the very few existing feature story on the business of piracy DVD. It touches not only on the strange economical reality, the bizarre psychology of film addicts, but also hints at a troublesome Hong Konger identity.

LAM won the Grand Prize and Gold Award of the 7th Hong Kong Independent Short Film & Video in 2002. Graduated from CALarts, he has been residing in Los Angeles for a while, and just back to Hong Kong , and start teaching in the Baptist University.

林健雄從事獨立電影的製作,曾獲香港獨立短片大獎,在加州藝術學院畢業後留駐當地工作,近年返港在浸大任教。林健雄以其編導等專業訓練,結合對不同社會題材的獨特觸覺,提供了香港錄像媒體在藝術形式以外鮮有的充實內容。是次展出的作品在人物故事間,刺碰中港間翻版影碟的現實,以電影混合生活的怪像。


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LAW Man Lok’s works are constantly playful and the humor of his works owe oftenly to their over serious intents. His eclectic styles, act as camouflage for adapting different contexts, poking into existing scenarios. Rather than insisting to produce “bad painting”, his works recently tend to be more performative.

When June 4th is an art fair, is a video of fictive onlookers’ harsh commentaries on the “Contemporary Chinese Artist” strategy he pretended to adopt. His new works will be around the ambivalence attitude he has towards commercialization of the local and global art scene, lending the emptied form and props of protest.

LAW has just graduated from the London Goldsmith College Master of Fine Arts in 2007, and already included in shows, such as HangART series of YCCA - Young Chinese Contemporary Art in Austria. He has just finished his artist in residency program in Lingnan University.

羅文樂善於針對場境創作與應變,並把幽默與批判元素攪合。剛修畢倫敦金匠藝術學院MFA課程後,作品更傾表演性。曾在火炭合租工作室的羅文樂,是次作品反身矛指「伙炭」的發展,以抗議之形式,對藝術商業化擺出一副姿態。如何詮釋,還看觀者及參與者,以及買家?

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LEUNG Mee Ping is a notable artist of Hong Kong. Her work is often a half-real construction out of a societal reality, that forces us to reexamine what we took for granted. Very oftenly conceptually based, her works however involves often also surprising degree of manual effort.

Made in Hong Kong / Shenzhen is a group of paintings that Leung participated to produce in Da Fen village, one of the largest painting factories worldwide just beyond our border. Leung however substitute in a new series of images representative of Hong Kong in the eyes of Mainland tourists to update this genre of export painting.

LEUNG studied first in Paris and then in L.A., and exhibiting in numerous local and overseas exhibitions. About to finish her doctoral studies in Cultural Studies, she is now teaching at the Baptist University.

梁美萍是一名以香港為基地、跑遍世界各地的藝術家,修讀中文大學文化研究博士課程中,並任教於浸會大學。她的作品經常建基於真實現況之上,以真非真的藝術改造手段,把所謂真實重新呈示。是次展覽,梁美萍將展出其幾年前開展到深圳大芬村油畫工場習藝而生產的作品,也借而把香港身份的製造來一次改觀。

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Doris WONG is one of the most promising Hong Kong artists of the younger generation. Her unique practice works mostly around a seemingly simple logic of mimicking, in which authenticity in creation is exchanged for more layered readings and room for second thoughts.

All of her works for the show have to do with her recent employment of miniature models. Fire! is a photographic pun playing on the heated galleries competition, while her new works will be a series of proposed museums for Hong Kong. Alongside their posters, they beg to different from the West Kowloon Cultural District plan ahead.

WONG took the British Chevening Scholarship and finished her Master of Fine Arts in Leeds University in 2005. She has setup her studio in Fotan for some years now. Her works has been included in the Hong Kong Art Biennials and shows in Para/Site Art Space.

黃慧妍是參展者中唯一現正租用火炭單位的藝術家。即使在英國列斯取得MFA前後,其創作對於模擬把戲的鍾愛,就是從物件跨展到其他媒體,也還是相當的邏輯一貫,既是概念性手法,卻也正好混潛異變。是次展覽,黃慧妍將展出其以模型為本、經歷「忽然文化」而對香港藝術場域產生的奇想。



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[Curator's short bio /客席展覽策劃]

Jaspar LAU Kin Wah graduated from Fine Arts Department, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. International member of AICA (International Association of Art Critics), he also curates art projects occassionally, including exhibitions such as die Ambivalenz (Goethe Insitut), Organization for Cultural Exchange and Mishap (Para/Site Art Space) and other mMK experimental projects.

劉建華早年畢業於中文大學藝術系,曾於中大人文學科研究所擔助理,啟始對現代性問題的關注,後始為海內外出版物撰寫藝術、文化評論文章,現為國際藝評家協會成員。近年主要思索政治藝術在本土。其過去策劃的展覽包括「含混—生活世界圖像」、「文化交流與干犯組織(暫譯)」,以及mMK的各式迷你實驗性計劃等。

[Reference: Leung Mee Ping #1]

Here is the place where arts finds the market
and talents convert into fortune

-Preparation Proposal for Da Fen Oil Painting Village
at the 2nd China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industry Fair


大芬油畫村
http://www.cndafen.com/

[Reference: Law Man Lok#1]

it seems protest is inevitable in the different kinds of big shows nowadays.

the question is how are you to fight against the spectacle creatively?
what actually are people protesting, the answer is perhaps, who cares!
(check this out if you do care, the biennalist blog here


[Reference: Law Man Lok#2]
Law Man Lok's protest is also at the same time, a play with the work of anothermountainanotherman (above), shown first in Walk, Don't Run!


[Reference: Doris Wong #1]
It is really hard for me to think of who or what (particularly if just only one at a time) as reference for Doris' work, a link to West Kowloon Cultural District Offical Website?
Finally, I picked Dave Muller. an intro of him here. a series of further texts here, and there.



[Reference: Doris Wong #2]
Happened to find a printed card of Swire of its Frank Gehry's HK Museum Complex, and seek out this pic of model from the web. Seeing Doris' latest work for the show in its architectural aspect, will this be wrongfooted? Why art need space, and what kind of space? and how are these question related to the new surge of museum crazy around the world? What building space in fact do Hong Kong artists need?

[Reference: Luke Ching #1]

a good idea is a smile


[Reference: Joel Lam #1]

賈樟柯: 無法禁止的影像--從一九九五年開始的中國新電影
...
今天的中國,文化政策遠沒有經濟政策那麼自由,而電影又不幸成為文化鏈條中最保守的一環.這種情況直到一九九五年以後才逐漸開始改變,但誰也沒有想到能夠打破電影控制的是那些來自廣東,福建沿海的盜版VCD.
...
通過這些沿海地區的漁民曾經用木船為中國人帶回了索尼牌錄音機和港臺地區的流行音樂,十年後他們又用同樣的方法,從香港、臺灣偷偷帶回了電影。
...
到了一九九五年,中國南方城市突然出現了十家VCD播放機的生產廠家,在他們彼此的殘酷競爭下,VCD產品迅速降價...一時間...使一個中學老師或者出租汽車司機可以像一九七0年的江青一樣,在自己的家中舉行私人的放映活動。
...
起初,通過漁船從港臺走私回來的電影數量驚人但類型雜亂,往往在一堆拍攝於七十年代的香港功夫片中會發現《公民凱恩》、《戰艦波將金》這樣的電影,但總得來說,還是以香港商業片為主,
...
一九九九年,同樣廉價的國產DVD播放機投放市場...盜版商開始提供比VCD時代更為精彩的電影。費里尼、安東尼奧尼、塔柯夫斯基、戈達爾、羅邁爾、黑澤明、侯孝賢,幾乎所有電影史最重要的作品都有了翻版。
...
可以毫不誇張地說只要有郵局、有加油站的地方就有同樣有盜版零售商的存在。

刊於《賈樟柯世界電影特集》,頁00-07。

2008/01/04

[Ideas]

My own logo design* for exhibition Fair Enough.

this is definitely on the top of my list (you will see why with the connections to the later entries)



these two came second, borrowing the Boites-en-valise of Marcel Duchamp




this one below is definitely inspired by the price tag pieces appearing at Star Ferry Pier before its demolition.

this last one is a work on version of one of Leung Mee Ping's paintings to be exhibited.

RE: 香港經濟日報 C05 專題 By 蕭曉華 2008-01-10

工廈加租 藝術家工作室 In or Out?

  沙士前後、地產市道最低迷期間,得一批清貧藝術家進駐,因工業北移而日漸沒落的火炭工廠區,才不致於完全被人遺忘。
  藝術家工作室數目增加,漸漸形成規模,藝術家自發組織的「伙炭藝術工作室開放計劃」,亦成為一年一度藝壇大事。
  近期,地產市道再度熾熱起來,火炭工業區的業主亦乘勢大幅加租。

  面臨重新洗牌的火炭工廈,將來還有沒有藝術家立錐之地?
  據土地註冊處最新資料顯示,07 年首 7 個月共有 4,290 份買賣合約,比 06 年同期的 3,687 份增加16.4%,數字亦高於 96 年至 03 年每年總數。這些數字反映工廈市場持續交投理想,中原集團副主席黎明楷分析:「住宅和商廈投資市況熱烈,投資氣氛良好,帶動工廈的需求、價格上升。」

藝術租客

  位處新界的火炭工廠區,因較偏遠,周邊亦暫未有完善的社區設備,仍屬全港最平的工廈物業。不過,其租金和賣價一樣要加。
  近半年,該區工廈租金和賣價的升幅分別約為 15% 和 20%,「賣價升幅較大,顯示市場樂觀。最明顯的是,不少業主為大廈翻新,把大堂都裝修成商廈般靚,以吸引投資者。」中原地產新界工商舖助理營業董事張志傑說。
  工業北移,工廈使用者亦隨之轉型。該區近年成為物流(即平價倉)、電子和化工業的工業陣地。叫人估不到的,是近年藝術家的進駐。     

  記者自稱藝術家到附近的地產舖問價,發現經紀對藝術家租客的要求瞭如指掌,「你係一個人用,定同其他藝術家夾租?13 呎高樓底、較平的華聯單位比較適合,可惜無盤。11、12 呎樓底的地方有無興趣?」

「臭味相投」

  「過去幾年,我們每月租金平均約 $4,300,今年業主突然提出加價到 $7,500,最後還價至 $6,300 。」藝術家周俊輝和關尚智說。與火炭差不多同時期出現藝術家工作室的觀塘工廈,亦面對加租問題,租金約由 $4,000 加至 $5,000。一比較,今年火炭工廈租金的加幅實在令人咋舌。
  周俊輝和關尚智屬近年藝術圈冒起得較快的一群,自 04 年開始,他們與另一位中大藝術系同學遷入火炭華聯工業大廈,夾租一個面積約 1,200 平方呎的單位(「615 工作室」),進行油畫、裝置及概念藝術創作。
  因樓齡高,華聯簡陋殘舊、黑黑沉沉,不時傳來燒臘和腸粉魚蛋的氣味。
  「這裏是全區樓價最平之處,亦有不少從事食品加工的租戶。它不能轉型為工貿大廈,因商業租客不接受這種環境。」中原的張志傑解釋。
  工廈地方「污糟邋遢、無厘貴格」,卻合晒藝術家合尺,「它地方大、樓底高、租金平。」受訪者不約而同地說。03 年沙士爆發,樓市下滑,造就這班初出道、「清貧型」租客「趁低吸納」的關鍵時刻。
  當年,一個千多呎的單位,租金約為三四千元,賣價亦不超過 30 萬元(今年已升至 70 多萬元)。
  「當時我剛畢業,藝術前景還很模糊,如果沒有這地方讓藝術家堅持理想,或許有人早已放棄創作。」關尚智說。如今華聯已聚集約 26 個工作室,其他工廈則有約 8 個。
  「大家沒有夾定聚在一起,工作室分散不同位置,偶然碰面才傾偈。」周俊輝每日留在工作室的時間頗多,因他的作品多為 2 米乘 3 米以上的巨畫,作畫需時,「中午肚餓,便到工廈內的茶餐廳吃 23
蚊一客的經濟午餐,好方便。」
  另一租客「水獺工作室」的藝術家黃慧妍則說:「隔籬家俬廠位先生好好人,有時鐵閘壞,會幫我修理。」

遷出,搬入

  業主大幅加租,周俊輝和關尚智如何打算?兩人考慮各有不同。
  周俊輝部署作「個人發展」,最近他以 79 萬元購入華聯一個 1,200 平方呎的單位。「發展到今日,作品逐漸走進藝術市場,收入有一定保障。我考慮到長期支付租金的錢,日後也夠買一個單位。曾留意不同區的工廈,始終認為火炭的價錢、環境較合適。」
  關尚智則準備在租約期滿後遷出火炭,另覓新址。從事概念藝術的他表示,他的創作不一定要用上大空間。他在即將於本周六開幕的本年度「伙炭藝術工作室開放計劃」中展示的作品,只是一張寫「3 年內不賣作品」的 A4 紙。另外,亦由於他的創作動機不是賣作品,買家亦不多,所以他不想承擔昂貴租金。
  港台節目《四維賣藝》主持人羅文樂,是華聯的前租客,對於逐漸形成的火炭藝術區即將面臨商業挑戰,有這樣的評論:「藝術有很多面向,有些較能迎合藝術市場,有些因較具爭議性或搗蛋,未必有買家。火炭加租某程度上是 taste dictating,篩走某類藝術家,影響該區多元的藝術發展。」
  黃慧妍對加租表現得逆來順受,「可找多幾個租客夾租」,她使用的千多呎工作室,現由 7 人分租。
  不過,這批最初「發展」火炭的藝術家,無論未來決定去或留,過去幾年他們在這區營造的藝術氣氛和建立起的形象,已慢慢發揮作用,吸引其他藝術單位遷入。
  本地著名畫廊漢雅軒,兩年前亦於華聯購入單位。職員 Loretta 說:「本想用這地方與藝術家交流,所以入來湊熱鬧。」現單位用作存畫的貨倉。
  兩個月前,比利時人 Sara Van Ingelgom 亦在華聯開設畫廊 Blue Lotus Gallery,單位的裝修非常優雅舒適。「我對火炭一見鍾情。相對在中環設畫廊,在這裏策劃展覽的彈性較大,因沒有太大的資金壓力,亦不必引入迎合市場的主流藝術。」


藝術影響樓價?

  07 年至今,火炭約有 5 個藝術工作室遷出,6 個搬入。「搬入的多為經濟能力較高的藝術單位,專業與非專業的都有,亦有建築與設計界人士。」藝評人梁展峰說。
  看來加租使這區出現了一場小型的洗牌效應。連續舉辦了幾年的「伙炭藝術工作室開放計劃」,參觀人數逐年上升,由初期的千多人到去年增至近萬人,藝術或藝術家的進駐對該區的人氣實有正面作用,但又有沒有能力影響這區的地產價格?
  「成個火炭工廠區有過千個單位,藝術租戶只有數十個,不足以構成影響。」在該區營商的廠家Charles Drapers 說。
  「藝術家死了,作品才值錢。以藝術帶動或以支持藝術來影響樓價,方式似乎太迂迴。」中原的黎明楷說。
  「藝術家租客從事創作,並非進行商業活動。除非有從商的展覽製作單位遷入,推動經濟效益。」梁展峰說。
  不過,藝術帶來的人氣始終屬「利好因素」。「今年在華聯放出的單位好少,估計是業主看到這『藝術潛力』,暫不放盤。」中原的張志傑說。
  「像『615 工作室』這類單位已成為品牌,自然成為業主加租目標。」Charles Drapers 說。
  「曾有地產舖張貼『適合藝術家使用』的招租廣告,不排除了解市況的地產經紀,會刻意向藝術租客調高價錢。」梁展峰說。他認為,火炭工廠區是自然而生的藝術社區,遭遇市場壓力亦屬正常。但他擔心,若刻意將該區炒作成如紐約或倫敦等 loft 時尚社區,只會趕走藝術家,「大部分藝術家都無可能在樓價高昂兼被規管的旅遊熱點裏生存。」

商業支持藝術

  一年一度的「伙炭藝術工作室開放計劃」,將於 1 月 12 日起連續兩個周末舉行,今年共有 34 個工作室參與,屆時藝術家會開放平日創作的「私竇」,與大眾分享自己的創作成果。
  此開放計劃,一直是新晉藝術家展示作品的難得平台。上年起,計劃獲得即將在該區有樓盤落成的信和集團的宣傳贊助,參觀人數倍增。藝術與商業的互動關係,實在難以簡單計得清。
  「開放日由每個工作室自費參與,確保營運與創作自主,亦沒有任何金錢資助。不過,商業機構在宣傳上的支持,如燈箱廣告、大量單張,擴闊了以往只有小圈子的觀眾層面。」梁展峰說。但他認為,開放日觀眾多,與藝術質素沒有必然關係,同時藝術家的荷包亦不會進帳,「有興趣的買家不算多,反而失竊事件增多。」

為回顧《伙炭》過去六年的光影變化,我們打算編製一本小書,以百問百答的形式去書寫「伙炭」。我們邀請了是次參展的一百位藝術家提供共一百條有關《伙炭》的問題,並誠邀您成為這一百條問題的其中一位回答者。您可以隨心的用您喜愛的方式,如文字、圖畫或相片等等的媒介確實地、不切實際地,或天馬行空地回答指定的問題。

問:「伙炭2007」滲雜了商業畫廊、獨立藝術機構,不再像過往純粹作為藝術家工作室的一個連線,你如何看此現象?

答: 感觸良多。就如看到一個小漁村發展到大城市一樣,說到底應該要高興還是憂愁,相信各位參與者自有定論,但我肯定自己是憂愁多於高興。這或許就像是成長的困惑──不安於現狀,同時懷疑在成長的歷程中可能曾經有更好的選擇。

香港在西九所帶來的「忽然文化」之前,藝術文化方面被忽略已經是老調,宏觀理據可追索社會、主流媒體欠缺對文化藝術的認識和討論;微觀者可留意政府在人口普查問卷裏,不知是什麼原因連一條關於藝術文化的題目都沒有 。就在這種情況下,有數個藝術機構於九十年代依照傳統機構模型成立。而當中,隨了Para/site有實踐探討贊助經費來源外,大多數都只附庸於香港藝術發展局(藝發局)的贊助,藝發局的贊助條約自然限制了這些機構的資源調動。每年策展數目,展期等原本從屬策展人與藝術家可把玩的元素都成了不可動搖的鐵則,藝術機構有如售貨員一樣,每年忠實地「乖乖交數」,為求下個年度再獲藝發局支持。傳統藝術機構自身的政治架構應否更有創造力、這種附庸情況有否做成策展的自我審查等在此不作談論,但我想說如果要《伙炭》這個充滿潛力的組織重蹈這個覆徹──即安於單一強勢贊助來源這個危機,實在是可惜,我認為這樣是抺殺了《伙炭》發展嶄新組織的可能。聽聞已經有某機構在洽談合作時,指《伙炭開放日》的標誌不太美觀,要求有所更改云云,一副大老闆的模樣。事已至此,只有透過討論《伙炭》這個群組的特性、反思藝術家工作室的功能和開放工作室的意義,我們才可向描繪出《伙炭》的當代性與未來。

首先,我想分享我心目中最初的《伙炭》。我認為開放日和《伙炭》是有先後次序的,先來的是開放日,隨之而來的是《伙炭》。當時大力促成《伙炭》的單位「二樓五仔」感到當代藝術在香港長期維持於小圈子形式實在不是辦法,便嘗試籌辦開放日邀請身邊朋友到來藝術家的工作室,讓他們多認識當代藝術的種種,過程中發現火炭這個夕陽工業區存在著其他藝術創作者,便索性拉攏他們「攉大嚟搞」。要「攉大嚟搞」當然需要大家通力合作,而這便是《伙炭》的初型。

縱然這個初型開始時根本未有《伙炭》這個名字,但這種藝術家的聚合或所謂的連線(collective)正是《伙炭》的基石。我認為這個初型非常接近於丹麥藝術家Jakob Jakobsen 及其伙伴提倡的自行組織(self-organizing) 。這概念不同於傳統藝術機構(如: 各大畫會、1a space等),由機構的中心系統作思想組織的主導,反而是由個別的參與者自行聯絡計劃,讓有興趣的人一起討論和參與。即是說,不以機構(institution)為中心,而是以個別計劃為中心的一場組織活動;同時參與者之間自然地建立起伙伴關係,形成一個暫時性的社區(community)。這種聚合或連線的最大優勢就是其政治結構屬用完即棄,免除了傳統機構中以機構名義累積權力和資本(各種意義上)這個問題,而且成員組合亦享有高浮動的彈性,充實了策劃各種活動的可能性。因此說,最初我認為《伙炭》這個名字實在不錯,一方面包含了這群參與者的工作範圍──火炭,另一方面亦點出自行組織的精神。

可是,《伙炭》在運作了幾年之後,參與單位倍增,牽絆著最初數個單位的友情、社鄰關係等被迅速消耗著,取而待之成為重點的是「事務」(business)。開始有部份參與單位認定《伙炭》應該 / 須要走向傳統機構的運作形式,並以此為依歸嘗試為《伙炭》出謀獻策、「發展」《伙炭》。同時,適逢「忽然文化」,大企業視《伙炭》為合作對象,並循傳統商業贊助模式進行;繁此種種,便奠定令我為《伙炭》感到憂愁的氣氛和境況。

先前提到在「忽然文化」之前香港的藝術文化被忽略,但這又是否代表香港的藝術文化在「忽然文化」中有好轉呢?其實「忽然文化」的「忽然」,正點出了過往香港對本地藝術需求的荒蕪。因為沒有人理會,過往香港就抽空了本地當代藝術的思辯價值、批判價值、美學價值,以至收藏價值(市場價值)。可以說,除了讓創作者和本地藝術圈這個小圈子獲得一時快感之外,當代藝術在本地藝術小圈子外根本沒有存在感。亦正因如此,香港藝術家與不理會藝術的香港人之間的文化藝術認知相距愈來愈大。在此脈絡下「忽然文化」所提供的忽然關注,現階段可能並未能稱之為好轉,卻更像是拔苗助長。眼見一些令人哭笑不得的「好心」提案和諮詢,實不得不令人嘆一句:「為何蒼天,繼續降禍?可會是有心想來考考我。」 。

從「忽然文化」當中,我們清楚見到政府、企業和主流媒體對文化藝術的想像等同於商業化(旅遊化、地產化、品牌化),這只不過是在建議加快消耗得來不易的文藝點滴,壓根兒沒有提供時間與空間給她們滋長。雖然在「忽然文化」之前,有志難伸的情況令本地藝壇屯積了對本地企業支持本地藝術的渴望,但政府和企業的這些商業化想像再加上「價高者得」、「行政主導」等霸權式執行方式,正正跟當代藝術品的發表自由、思辯價值和批判價值等對著幹,這實在令藝術家們難以坦率地合作。就近來的「港式文化發展」來看 ,商業化和霸權式執行方式就是政府和企業僅有的方法和工具,它們勢必會以此試圖讓藝術家套入它們的運作模式。若果至此你認為我是反對藝術沾染銅臭的話,這可大錯特錯。Daniel Buren早於七十年代指出藝術家工作室的其中一個功能 就是策展人和收藏家的時裝店 。對此我並無異議,因為問題是為何而沾?藝術在沾銅臭的過程中又有否背離其服務目的?

要談藝術家工作室的功能性,我想Daniel Buren的文章已經夠簡單明白,在此我就只提出文中可能最為《伙炭》藝術家感興趣的一點:

The sensation that the essence of the work gets lost somewhere between the place where it is produced (the studio) and the place where it is consumed (the exhibition)…what most surely got lost was the work’s reality, its ‘sincerity’, that is its connection to its place of creation, the studio- a place where finished works intermingle in the process of being made, works that will never be finished, sketches, etc..(p.22).

藝術家工作室提供了藝術品不可替代的真實與純真,這些素質令藝術品與工作室的關係有如胎兒和母親一般親密。當然除此以外,工作室亦是藝術家的象牙塔、冥想地、勞動工場、酒窖、咖啡店……,可以想像,如果偶有三、五客人造訪暢談,於藝術家和造訪者來說都會是一場不錯的經歷。雖不是說《伙炭開放日》應以此浪漫化情境為目標,可是眼見現在的開放日,抱歉,我只能想到「零團費文化快餐鴨仔旅遊團」一類的東西。藝術家A跟我說接待遊人接待到快要氣絶、藝術家B熱烈地介紹自己的作品,台詞有如K歌般重覆又重覆、藝術家C跟踪著某大策展人的腳步,期望跟出一個展出機會、藝術家D把工作室佈置成畫廊,和官商界代表談著文化藝術的未來,無意中提及他的作品才不過是港幣五萬大元,實在物有所值……以上不是《翡翠劇場》 的歌詞,而是藝術家工作室因開放日變成了翡翠劇場。個別藝術家如何應用工作室和開放日是他們的自由,但《伙炭開放日》由發表平台走向單純商業機構的傾向亦愈見明顯,聞說有單位就曾提議制止讓新單位加入《伙炭》,讓「得益」(各種意義上的)不至於分薄……《伙炭開放日》愈見曖昧的商業立場,迫使日益增長的《伙炭》必需要建立權威架構以抵消人與人之間的不信任,於是有機無常的聚合「發展」成為有主導內閣的組織。雖然現階段仍在試探的過程中,但若果《伙炭》不能認清自己這個組織的發展方向與理念,想清楚商業化運作於《伙炭開放日》和《伙炭》的位置,那麼,《伙炭》大可能會變成一個模稜兩可的「藝術」機構。

或許《伙炭》藝術家必須大聲疾呼並重申他們把工作室開放的意義,即躍過繁累的官僚架構、過於肯定的展覽空間而與對當代藝術感興趣的群眾接觸,讓群眾接觸還未被標籤為「不可觸踫」的藝術品、和概念藝術家交流不受審查的概念、窺探游擊式藝術家下一個游擊創作地點……就此意義而言,《伙炭開放日》亦應教育有意贊助的企業和單位明白它們是因尊重創作和創作自由而來,而不是要藝術家接受它們的贊助條件。正如政黨搞蛇宴,教會搞行山一樣,我們不可以本末倒置,為蛇宴搞政黨,為行山搞教會。(還是有人會說依據「港式文化發展」,本末倒置才是真理?)

充裕的資金固然可令事情「攉大嚟搞」,但如果「攉大」的後果是進一步抽空藝術家的努力,扭曲事情的本質,「攉大」的或許不過是假、大、空的大。《伙炭》最初的優點是自發性地為藝術走在一起,而開放日的安排過程甚至可以說是「攞苦嚟辛」,但其光輝與活力正在於此。一群年青藝術家不談權責、不談報償、不談成敗,不是因為他們無知,而是因為最初的聚合成員中,有著強烈的信賴和默契。如果制度的設置是為了規範性地追求公平公義,這些關於人性與道德的感情則超越了制度,亦令當初的《伙炭》開放日如朝露般清新可人。這些有賴於人情味、烏托邦般的組織方式在今日香港愈來愈少,所以更見可貴。當小漁村明白small is beautiful (Schumacker, 1993) ,大城市便再不是發展和成功的唯一指標。當《伙炭》藝術家明白他們正以藝術創作(art practice)擔起探索人(香港人)活著的可能性,他們的組織亦對社會起了示範作用,這可能才真正踏入討論資金運用和發展模式的第一步。

Therefore any organization has to strive continuously for the orderliness of order and the disorderliness of creative freedom. And the specific danger inherent in large-scale organization is that its natural bias and tendency favour order at the expense of creative freedom.

然而有誰知道呢?有幾多藝術家吸風飲露、有幾多又盡吃人間煙火?難得惹來的塵埃,有誰願說這實在是輕?

……

本來這是要完的了,想了想卻又覺得這種過於浪漫、天馬行空的說法到底只不過我個人對《伙炭》成長的困惑,閱讀以上文字而感到鼓舞的朋友應該屬少數派;因此我也應該附上「版本(二)」,鼓勵一下以「文化創意工業」為目標的各大《伙炭》朋友。

版本(二)

答:感觸良多。就如看到一個小漁村發展到大城市一樣,說到底應該要高興還是憂愁,相信各位參與者自有定論,但我肯定自己是高興多於憂愁。這或許就像是成功的驕傲──享受現狀,同時確認在成長歷程中艱苦的日子。香港在西九所帶來的「忽然文化」之前,藝術文化方面被忽略已經是老調,宏觀理據可追索社會、主流媒體欠缺對文化藝術的認識和討論;微觀者可留意政府在人口普查問卷裏,不知是什麼原因連一條關於藝術文化的題目都沒有 。就在這種情況下,有數個藝術機構於九十年代依照傳統機構模型成立。而當中,隨了Para/site有實踐探討贊助經費來源外,大多數都只附庸於香港藝術發展局(藝發局)的贊助,藝發局的贊助條約自然限制了這些機構的資源調動。每年策展數目,展期等原本從屬策展人與藝術家可把玩的元素都成了不可動搖的鐵則,藝術機構有如售貨員一樣,每年忠實地「乖乖交數」,為求下個年度再獲藝發局支持。傳統藝術機構自身的政治架構應否更有創造力、這種附庸情況有否做成策展的自我審查等在此不作談論,但我想說如果要《伙炭》這個充滿潛力的組織重蹈這個覆徹──即安於單一強勢贊助來源這個危機,實在是可惜,我認為這樣是抺殺了《伙炭》發展嶄新組織的可能。既然單一強勢贊助來源是「文化創意工業」的敵人,我們應該廣泛宣傳,引入商界和基金界人才,以求《伙炭》可以集資上市,讓一般市民都可以民主地、實質地支持藝術創作,並一起坐享成果,只要明白在藝術市場(尤其以我們最喜愛超越的紐約和倫敦為例),一個概念都可以賣成幾萬美元,我們便清楚見到概念股的真正強勁之處。

事已至此,只有透過討論《伙炭》這個群組的特性、反思藝術家工作室的功能和開放工作室的意義,我們才可向描繪出《伙炭》的當代性與未來。首先,我想分享我心目中最初的《伙炭》。我認為開放日和《伙炭》是有先後次序的,先來的是開放日,隨之而來的是《伙炭》。當時大力促成《伙炭》的單位「二樓五仔」感到當代藝術在香港長期維持於小圈子形式實在不是辦法,便嘗試籌辦開放日邀請身邊朋友到來藝術家的工作室,讓他們多認識當代藝術的種種,過程中發現火炭這個夕陽工業區存在著其他藝術創作者,便索性拉攏他們「攉大嚟搞」。要「攉大嚟搞」當然需要大家通力合作,而這便是《伙炭》的初型。

縱然這個初型開始時根本未有《伙炭》這個名字,但這種藝術家的聚合或所謂的連線(collective)正是《伙炭》的基石。我認為這個初型非常接近於丹麥藝術家Jakob Jakobsen 及其伙伴提倡的自行組織(self-organizing) 。這概念不同於傳統藝術機構(如: 各大畫會、1a space等),由機構的中心系統作思想組織的主導,反而是由個別的參與者自行聯絡計劃,讓有興趣的人一起討論和參與。即是說,不以機構(institution)為中心,而是以個別計劃為中心的一場組織活動;同時參與者之間自然地建立起伙伴關係,形成一個暫時性的社區(community)。這種聚合或連線的最大優勢就是其政治結構屬用完即棄,免除了傳統機構中以機構名義累積權力和資本(各種意義上)這個問題,而且成員組合亦享有高浮動的彈性,充實了策劃各種活動的可能性。也可以換句話說,最初的《伙炭》實在不合商業原則,只能成為「藝術為藝術。」(art for art sake)這種己經在消費者社會(consumer society)中毫無立足之處的老調所容納。

幸好,《伙炭》在運作了幾年之後,參與單位倍增,牽絆著最初數個單位的友情、社鄰關係等被迅速消耗著,取而待之成為重點的是「事務」(business)。開始有部份參與單位認定《伙炭》應該 / 須要走向傳統機構的運作形式,並以此為依歸嘗試為《伙炭》出謀獻策、發展《伙炭》。同時,適逢「忽然文化」,大企業視《伙炭》為合作對象,並循傳統商業贊助模式進行;繁此種種,便奠定令我為《伙炭》感到高興的氣氛和境況。

先前提到在「忽然文化」之前香港的藝術文化被忽略,但這又是否代表香港的藝術文化在「忽然文化」中有好轉呢?其實「忽然文化」的「忽然」,正點出了過往香港對本地藝術需求的荒蕪。因為沒有人理會,過往香港就抽空了本地當代藝術的思辯價值、批判價值、美學價值,以至收藏價值(市場價值)。可以說,除了讓創作者和本地藝術圈這個小圈子獲得一時快感之外,當代藝術在本地藝術小圈子外根本沒有存在感。亦正因如此,香港藝術家與不理會藝術的香港人之間的文化藝術認知相距愈來愈大。借鏡我們最喜愛的紐約和倫敦藝術市場,這認知差距實在是令本地藝術不能開花結果,不能成為投機賺錢門路的原因。在此脈絡下「忽然文化」所提供的忽然關注,正好解決了所有問題。因為這一開始就迴避所有這些價值,而直接以金錢,這個任哪個香港人都明白的媒體作橋樑,把距離拉近。可惜總有些不識時務的九流藝術家(failure artists)嘗試強調當代藝術的思辯價值、批判價值和美學價值,實不得不令人嘆一句:「為何蒼天,繼續降禍?可會是有心想來考考我」 。

從「忽然文化」當中,我們清楚見到政府、企業和主流媒體對文化藝術的想像等同於商業化(旅遊化、地產化、品牌化),這只不過是在建議加快將沒有商業價值的藝術從香港趕走,壓根兒沒有任何問題。而且在「忽然文化」之前,有志難伸的情況令本地藝壇屯積了對本地企業支持本地藝術的渴望,所以政府和企業這些商業經濟豐富的執行方式,理應如魚得水,令藝術家們可以更坦率地合作。就近來的「港式文化發展」來看 ,商業化和行政主導執行方式就是政府和企業專業的方法和工具,它們勢必可以協助藝術家的工作模式。若果至此你認為我是支持藝術沾染銅臭的話,這可真沒錯。Daniel Buren早於七十年代指出藝術家工作室的其中一個功能 就是策展人和收藏家的時裝店 。對此我並無異議,因為金錢本來就是一個藝術目的!而且藝術在沾銅臭的過程中基本不一定會背離其服務目的!要談藝術家工作室的功能性,我想Daniel Buren的文章已經夠簡單明白,在此我就只提出文中可能最為《伙炭》藝術家感興趣的一點:

The sensation that the essence of the work gets lost somewhere between the place where it is produced (the studio) and the place where it is consumed (the exhibition)…what most surely got lost was the work’s reality, its ‘sincerity’, that is its connection to its place of creation, the studio- a place where finished works intermingle in the process of being made, works that will never be finished, sketches, etc..(p.22).

藝術家工作室提供了藝術品不可替代的真實與純真(all purity talk just remind me of myth),這些素質令藝術品與工作室的關係有如胎兒和母親一般親密。當然除此以外,工作室亦是藝術家的象牙塔、冥想地、勞動工場、酒窖、咖啡店……,可以想像,所有藝術家工作室都有潛力成為下一個卡夫卡故居、卧龍草蘆等名勝古蹟,所以說,於其等待一個偉大藝術家的出現以及死亡,我們倒不如現在就把活生生的他們(不論好或不好……而且,在當代藝術的語境中,誰來定好壞?)全都視為偉大藝術家,製造文化旅遊業。藝術家A跟我說接待遊人接待到快要氣絶、藝術家B熱烈地介紹自己的作品,台詞有如K歌般重覆又重覆、藝術家C跟踪著某大策展人的腳步,期望跟出一個展出機會、藝術家D把工作室佈置成畫廊,和官商界代表談著文化藝術的未來,無意中提及他的作品才不過是港幣五萬大元,實在物有所值……以上不是《翡翠劇場》 的歌詞,而是藝術家工作室因開放日變成了翡翠劇場。你看這多麼有活力和生氣!聞說有單位曾提議制止讓新單位加入《伙炭》,讓「得益」(各種意義上的)不至於分薄……這實在是短視。我們應向國際化大企業學習,以不斷擴大為終極信條,努力混入世貿,要規定世界藝術家都加入《伙炭》。雖然現階段仍在試探的過程中,但若果《伙炭》不能認清自己這個組織的發展方向與理念,想清楚商業化運作於《伙炭開放日》和《伙炭》中如何可以發揮極限,那麼,《伙炭》大可能會變成一個模稜兩可的「藝術」機構。

或許《伙炭》藝術家必須大聲疾呼並重申他們把工作室開放的意義,即躍過繁累的商業架構、過於肯定的產品而與對當代藝術品感興趣的消費者/股民接觸,讓消費者/股民接觸還未被標籤為「庸俗」的藝術品、和概念藝術家交流在紐約和倫敦可能值幾萬美元的概念、窺探游擊式藝術家下一個游擊作品的市場價值……就此意義而言,《伙炭開放日》亦應教育有意投資的企業和單位明白它們是為學習藝術家的賺錢方式而來,而不是要藝術家接受它們老舊的賺錢方式。正如政黨搞蛇宴,教會搞行山一樣,我們不可以本末倒置,為蛇宴搞政黨,為行山搞教會。

充裕的資金固然可令事情「攉大嚟搞」,但如果「攉大」的後果是不能賺錢,那麼,「攉大」的或許不過是假、大、空的大。《伙炭》最初的缺點是自發性地為藝術走在一起,沒有利潤可言,所以開放日的安排過程甚至可以說是「攞苦嚟辛」。一群年青藝術家不談權責、不談報償、不談成敗,只是因為他們無知。現在的制度設置是為了更規範性、更有效地追求利潤,所以更見可貴。當小漁村明白Captialism and Freedom (Milton Friedman, 2002) 本是一體,大城市便是發展和成功的唯一指標了。當《伙炭》藝術家明白他們正以藝術創作(art practice)擔起探索香港創意工業的可能性,他們的組織亦對社會起了示範作用,這可能才真正踏入討論集資上市和規管模式的第一步。

The limited increase in economic freedom has changed the face of China, strikingly confirming our faith in the power of free markets. China is still far from being a free society, but there is no doubt that the residents of China are freer and prosperous than they were under Mao --- freer than every dimension except the political.

然而有誰知道呢?有幾多藝術家吸風飲露、有幾多又盡吃人間煙火?難得丟下來的甘露,說不定有誰會把它吐走呢!

(註腳待加)

Some Contextual Background and English Abstract [put together here by lkw]

Q: Artist Law Man Lok, What is “the demonstration” really about?

Law Man Lok, a previous artist sharing a studio in Fotan, was asked by the Fotanian 100 Questions publishing team what he thought of galleries and insitutions moving into Fotan, turning it something beyond just a cluster of artists studios. His answer, in an essay format, was somehow left out of the Fotanian 100 Questions just published. Therefore, an abstract version has been printed out to be distributed during these Fotanian weekends. You could also read the full version (in Chinese) in http://mmk-fair-enough.blogspot.com/

The essay by Law Man Lok is of two parts, lending much the same materials, but arriving at two contrasting views. The first part is of a negative, critical stance, while the second part, in a very positive, embracing rhetorics.
The first part is primarily skeptical to the institutionalization of Fotanian towards becoming another art institution trying to fulfill what the sponsors request in order to run (handling itself as a business), rather than being a collective of self-organization, a community always temporal and flexible. Spontaneity and self-initiation of the early Fotanian days are probably the greatest merits in the eyes of Law Man Lok. It is initimate, even a bit utopian, and not entangled in interests. For him, it is such a mode of organization that might be the true contribution Fotanian could made for Hong Kong.
Towards the end, he quoted E.F.Schumacker’s idea of “small is beautiful,” and a passage from artist Daniel Buren as below:

Therefore any organization has to strive continuously for the orderliness of order and the disorderliness of creative freedom. And the specific danger inherent in large-scale organization is that its natural bias and tendency favour order at the expense of creative freedom.

For the Second Part (or let's say version B), Law Man Lok proposes Fotanian to have a stock listing company mentality, if not actually aftering to be one, to avoid becoming a dull art institution. For stockholders, it could also be a form of participation supporting and investing in art at the same time. Such move, Law proposes, could rectify the art for art's sake mentality that has been refraining Fotanian from further development, and falling way behind New York or London in opening up the art investment market. The sudden attention on culture in town, could be a good chance for the high hope of the art circle in getting sponsors. Law quoted how advance Daniel Buren is, in recognizing one function of the studio as a showroom for curator and collectors from early on. New energy is now being found under the sudden craze on arts and culture. Fotanian in return, has also things (new way of money making) to teach Hong Kong businesses. What is the point if development of Fotanian finally brings in no big money, Law asked, and hints at the prospect of art practice and its role in the bright future of creative industries. He ended his version B by quoting Milton Friedman view of the interrelationship between Captialism and Freedom:

The limited increase in economic freedom has changed the face of China, strikingly confirming our faith in the power of free markets. China is still far from being a free society, but there is no doubt that the residents of China are freer and prosperous than they were under Mao -- freer than every dimension except the political. - Milton Friedman

[Does this article help?] (or left you even more confuse?)

藝術的相對性與管理的絕對性
文﹕雀屎扒
(編輯:曾祥泰)

【明報專訊】2008年1月13日


言論自由是藝術工作的前線和底線,身為藝術工作者當然關心民間電台事件的進展。若以藝術創作的角度去看民間電台公然挑戰禁令此事,它可能更像一場關於道德勇氣的藝術創作,而挑戰禁令,都已經是次要的事了。

以這種聯想作開場白,是想提倡看事物可用人文的觀點。現在的香港政府正因欠缺這種觀點,而和民間知識分子產生了相信前所未有的矛盾。天星皇后的無理拆卸、騎劫T恤圖案的詮釋權,到申請禁制令禁止民間電台廣播,香港政府非常有條理地告訴香港人,由物理空間、意念表達到發表政治見解的空間,它都可以用不同的行政方式管理,在不同空間實踐政府的意願,並強行讓社會看起更和諧。但從以上例子中我們可以知道,那些問題不但未解決,而且更將人們的憤慨進一步累積到下一次事件。政府這種沒有人文性考慮的管理主義,正把香港脅持往「合法但不仁」的境地。

香港政府作為香港最有權力的機構,對民間活動作出這種「合法但不仁」行動,恐怕日後將同等對待西九的藝術活動。在這種管理主義下,政府要贏得藝術界的心簡直是連門都沒有,遑論文化和經濟上的雙贏。藝術與管理,本質上就不同。要知道香港的管理手法和經驗,主要是從經濟和法治方面學得,而經濟和法治兩者的相同之處在於其條文規舉有一種「絕對性」,簡單如付款提貨、依法判刑,而法治又同時 保障了經濟運作。在經濟效益至上的香港,明顯地坊間已掌握並習以為常這種「絕對性」。偏偏藝術就是一種從屬「相對性」的人文作業,即不可由客觀的度量衡確定,而且相對於不同個體有不同理解,例如:創作的原委和手法就總是因人而異,而藝術上的好壞更不用說:你說梵谷的畫最好,但又總有人認為杜象的尿兜才是心頭好。明顯地,「絕對性」和「相對性」並不是對立的存在,而是在社會上相依並存,只不過香港政府太重「絕對性」在經濟效益上的功勞而忽略了「相對性」在社會上的功能。

不止政府忽略「相對性」

因為「絕對性」價值而忽略「相對性」價值決不只發生在香港政府。每年一度的「伙炭藝術工作室開放計劃」和信和地產的合作進入第二年,雖仍算是磨合階段,但因為租金上漲,其實伙炭和信和地產亦應該開始考慮要如何維護一些比較貧窮的「相對性」價值。租金上漲,令伙炭這塊本來為新生代/貧窮藝術家而設的土壤變質,變成富有藝術家才有資格進駐的場域。要支持和維護這些價值,可能沒有什麼即時直接的經濟上回報,但卻足以讓本地藝術文化環境得以持續發展。

現階段看到的即時效應就是帶旺了租務,依我看來,這是對「藝術產生經濟效益」的誤讀,因為這是在找藝術家的錢而不是先讓藝術家富起來。如果說有市場 壓力是自然不過的話,那麼如何讓伙炭這片土壤在迎接市場壓力的同時保持不變質,必定是支持伙炭的機構將來不可迴避探討的課題吧!

最後,近年隨著西九效應,很多原本修讀工商管理,有志於商界的人,他們都不得不進修一下藝術行政或文化相關課目。他們都是對「絕對性」知識充滿自信的人,所以他們在掌握「相對性」知識時應該會有不少「文化沖擊」。希望他們可以放下身段,明白到我們可以為了藝術去行政卻不可去「管理」藝術,因為這將是倒行逆施,自找麻煩。
[Text materials / Second version - Chinese]

藝術展銷會和藝術拍賣活動,在香港愈況受人注目,皆因藝術銷情和藝術投資已是城中熱話。這發展對於香港藝圈而言,也算是一種新鮮事態。開張不久的Blue Lotus Gallery更決定於在這一時刻,借伙炭開放日之機會,以主題式之策展,把藝術生產和藝術消費中最敏感的價值問題放到展覽前臺來。

「展銷藝術」不同於藝術展銷,固在於其藝術本位,然而「展銷」同也可以作動詞解說,使藝術變成展銷的被動之物。標題中這雙向的浮動意義,無疑正是展覽希望帶出的一種主題。「展銷藝術」包括有五位香港藝術家,程展緯、林健雄、羅文樂、梁美萍、黃慧妍(,以及Island6藝術團隊)。藝術家們的背景各異,受學於本地及海外皆有,跟火炭藝術村的關係也有所分別。把他們召集起來共同展出,是因他們都不約而同對於藝術場域中的價值問題有所關注,並不單能把他們的觀察放到藝術的創作上來呈現或應用,也能夠對這次展覽的內部與外部脈絡,合而提供極富意義的多角度思考。

「展銷藝術」猶如一幣兩面的錢幣般,一方面它是在一個位於火炭藝術工作室群間的畫廊中發生的展覽,而畫廊本來就是一個藝術品的交易場所;但另一方面,這是一個由畫廊促成,讓人們可以對藝術中的價值議題作批判性審思的展覽情境。「展銷藝術」作為一展覽平臺,主要從塑造這「展銷」的場境來作為作品展示的處理模式,並朝向觀者們對於觀賞展覽的預設期待著手。在這一平臺上,藝術家則從他們的創作最開端到被接收的另一端,甚至觀者們的參與互動,挑選他們以為合適成為藝術作品對於價值的生產和消費反思性創作的可能性素材,加以創意的發揮。

「展銷藝術」不是要單面向的質疑藝術和商業的混結,又或批判藝術品變成了商品的異化。相反地,「展銷藝術」欲把俱自我反省能力的當代藝術真實地在畫廊展銷,跳出商場藝術和博物館的超市化的同質化,從而能針對於藝術和價值的議題,產生出更精緻帶趣的藝術作品。正是反商業的商品化,商品的美學化,產生出值得思索的空間及語言。而這種藝術體系中幽默性和批判性的協同,某程度上而言,正是在當代藝術要成功或流行的一種程式策略。

因此而言,「展銷藝術」也是對於當代藝術生產和消費模式的一次反思,以藝術家的反思性創作,直搗法國已故社會學家布迪爾厄(Pierre Bourdieu)所謂文化場域中的顛倒(經濟)邏輯。藝術作為一種創意,正是對於傳統馬克思主義的勞動力產生價值,以及對勞動力的剩餘價值被剝削這種理論的一個藝術註腳。藝術在其中對於自身價值的認受一種曖昧遊戲中,正是可以為我們開啟出更多樣性對於價值的理解和想像,這無疑對於當代藝術的自我理解,以及藝術場域以外的生活世界都同樣受用。換一角度想,市場的交易若從來也非真正的公平,透過藝術市場反照這一點,這未嘗不是也算頗公平的一宗交易吧?
[Text materials / Second version]

FAIR ENOUGH

Art fairs and auctions have recently raised much Hongkongers’ eyebrows. Art sale is seemingly blooming and art investment is definitely a hot topic in town. Blue Lotus Gallery is boldly taking its lead in the local art scene, as it prepares to produce an exhibition of “Fair Enough” in the coming January Fotanian function, bringing to the forefront the sensitive issue of value in art making and art consumption. Redressing the gallery space as a marketplace for art exchange, the artists involved will play with the presentation and expectation of the audiences, as the figure and ground status of the artworks and its surrounding promotional stuffs become problematic. This synergy of humour and criticality too, is paradoxically almost a kind of token (currency) for the present generation of contemporary art.

FAIR ENOUGH tries to be a coin with its both sides (and hopefully also a razor-sharp edge). One the one side, it is presented by a newly founded gallery within Fotan, as part of the high-profile “Fotanian” programme, which is by itself a phenomenon. On the other side, the exhibition tries to address critically to the question of value in art from within the specific local exhibition context and the larger new (art)world order. With a split structure (personality), the show intends to reawake the deaden dialectics, revealing the contradictions of the “synergy” at work. This strategy is somewhat a deliberate response to the mediocre compromises of the many recent mall art shows, art spaces abandoning public affordable “artsupermarket” as part of their program for real auctions, while the Heritage Museum dressing down itself as the MEGAartSTORE.

FAIR ENOUGH is however not a show wholly skeptical about the relationship between art and money (artistic value and monetary value / commercial pricing). Neither is it just criticizing on the status of an artwork as commodity. It is more a play with high-end art, an advanced look at the logic of art making, the “inversed logic” of cultural production (Pierre Bourdieu), with art and creativity become the ultimate value enhancer (T. de Duve). It is the appropriation of one language for the other, a commodification of an anti-commercialization act, alongside a kind of commercial aestheticization.

Take the video work When June 4th is an art fair produced by Law Man Lok as example. In the video, the “Chinese Artist” marketing strategy of Law Man Lok were being discussed by two onlookers, not without reservation. But of course, the meta-commentary is the ultimate artist’s strategy, and the video the true artwork. The piece exemplifies well the intent of this exhibition, a playful addressal to complex issue of value in the art field today.

The market is never fair in the world, and we are having enough of it. Able to play with this statement in a gallery, I guess, is itself a fair enough act.
[Text materials / First version]

When Fotanian is an Art Fair.

Suggested Artists / Suggested Works:

Luke Ching Chin Wai / Folk Art Series: Cockroach (Object/Video)
Joel Lam / All Code Express (DVD)
Law Man Lok / When June 4th is an art fair (Video Clip)
Leung Mee Ping / Made in Hong Kong / Shenzhen (Paintings/Video)
Doris Wong Wai Yin / Fire! (Photographs)


Even the bourgeois conception of art reifies the work (via the market) on the one hand, on the other, judges it (via the aesthetic) for the way it manifests this faculty of producing value ...
Creativity is to the cultural field what labor power is to the field of political economy. ... With Beuys, that is why the translation attempted here is so easy – the two fields precisely overlap – and this is what signals to us that their dialectic is over.

- Thierry de Duve

The title of the show borrows the title of the video work [>LML] “When June 4th is an art fair” by Law Man Lok. In the video, the marketing strategy of the art making by Law Man Lok were being discussed by two onlookers, not without reservation. But of course, the meta-commentary is the ultimate artist’s strategy, and the video the true artwork. The piece exemplifies well the intent of this exhibition, a playful addressal to value in art.

Recently, the art scene in Hong Kong seems to be on the move. The feverish art market is perhaps the most obvious sign to it. As a coin with its two sides (hopefully also a razor sharp edge), this exhibition tries to reflect upon the emerging synergy at the moment. One the one side, it is presented by a newly founded gallery within Fotan, as part of the high-profile “Fotanian” programme, which is by itself a phenomenon. On the other side, the exhibition tries to address critically to the question of value in art, as an intervention happening in amongst / from within the exhibiting context.

Via exhibiting artworks in a contrasting setting (art fair booths and a pirate DVD store), the show intends to reveal the contradictions of this “synergy” at work. The split framework, is somewhat a deliberate response to the mediocre compromise of the many recent mall art shows, or the Heritage Museum dressing down itself as the Mega-Store, plus the general replacement of public affordable fixed price artsupermarket by auctions for much more well off collectors held by Art Spaces. In order to awaken the deaden dialectics, we do not mind setting off a blazing fire here or there. [>WWY]

The show is however not just about art and money (the relationship between artistic value and monetary value / commercial pricing). It is more a play with high-end art, an advanced look at the logic of art making, the “inversed logic” of cultural production (Pierre Bourdieu), with art and creativity become the ultimate value enhancer (T.de Duve), turning even non-art to art, opening up the classical Marxist paradigm of labour work creating value. [>CCW, LTP]

It is not just touching on the status of an artwork as commodity, but its commodification (re-)presentation, being consciously played out as a kind of contemporary art making strategy (since Duchamp, Warhol etc.). How, in the extreme, the “promo” could be the “real” art work itself (and vice versa). [>LML, LTP] Or at the other end, how pirate DVD being the only affordable channel for accessing high art cinema, and it took an art film to put that into a statement. [>JL] How the contemporary artist unlearn her art to learn to paint in a trade paintings “factory”. [>LMP]
Blue Lotus gallery opened with Thinking After Ink.
[Exhibition Progress 4]
Luke met with Sarah, and stale on the proposal of dissect a fake cockroach, and naming the cockcroach Donald Tsang, Luke decided not to exhibit the Folk Art: Cockroach piece.
[Exhibition Progress 3]
Sarah suggested the show to start a week later than plan.
[Exhibition Progress 2]
Back on track for original proposal
title of the show changed from When June 4th is an Art Fair as Sarah pick Fair Enough from my alternative suggestions
[Exhibition Progress 1]
The show started off with Sarah's ideas:
Value, and Globalization
Tsang Kin Wah
Salesroom

to know better of Sarah, checkout
http://studiobbq.blogspot.com/2007/12/podcast-with-sarah-van-ingelgom.html