After closing at the City University of Hong Kong, “The Silent Strength of Liu Xia,” the touring exhibition of 26 photos by the dissident Chinese photographer, artist, and poet, opened at the Pao Galleries of the Hong Kong Arts Centre for a short run, June 25-July 2. This kicked off with a ceremony that began at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, June 25.
Speakers at the opening included A. D. Coleman, co-curator (with Guy Sorman) of the exhibition; Lee Cheuk Yan, a legislator and chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (which holds the annual Tiananmen Massacre candlelight vigil in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on June 4 every year); Rev. Chu Yiu Ming, an executive committee member of the Alliance; Mabel Au, Director of Amnesty International Hong Kong; and Patrick Poon, board member and Executive Secretary of the Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC), which sponsored and organized the Hong Kong leg of the tour of Liu Xia’s work.
This was followed by several poets and writers reciting poems Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia wrote to each other, with “behavioural art” performances by five artists after that. Sanmu, present for the occasion, did not himself perform that night (as he had during the June 9 Hong Kong premiere), contenting himself with documenting the actions of the younger set. Click here for a raw-footage video of the entire ceremony, courtesy of Hong Kong SocRec.
•
Materials available from this exhibition:
- Press releases from the ICPC (PDF) and PEN American Center.
- The program of the opening ceremonies for the exhibition. (PDF)
- The poster for the exhibition. (PDF)
- The catalogue for the exhibition — Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. (PDF)
- Catalogue essays by A. D. Coleman, Tienchi Martin-Liao, and Marian Botsford Fraser.
- Curator’s remarks by A. D. Coleman. (PDF)
- Slideshow of the event. (Forthcoming.)
•
Press response to the Hong Kong Arts Centre showing augmented the substantial coverage of the HK premiere at CityU on June 9. Here are links to some of those later reports and reviews, arranged chronologically:
- Patrick’s Doubts: Post (in Chinese) at the blog of Patrick Poon (Karwei Poon) about the Liu xia exhibition, June 27, 2012. Poon coordinated the Hong Kong exhibitions.
- Hong Kong SocRec: Complete unedited video of the entire 45-minute opening ceremony for the Liu Xia exhibition at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, posted on YouTube by Hong Kong SocRec (Social Record) on June 12, 2012.
Leave a Reply