HOPE & GLORY - A Conceptual Circus Conceived by Simon Birch

1/F Cornwall House, Island East, Taikoo Place, Hong Kong (MTR: Quarry bay, Exit A). Free entrance. All welcome. 

Artist Simon Birch has created ‘HOPE&GLORY’, one of the most ambitious multi-media art projects ever undertaken in Hong Kong.

Challenging Paradigms

This spectacular, conceptually-driven art installation will pose a challenge to established paradigms in art presentation and construction while bringing the audience on an immersive adventure through a metaphorical world - a conceptual circus - created by the artist.

Filling the 20,000sq ft ArtisTree exhibition space in TaiKoo Place, HOPE & GLORY comprises a series of 20 interlinked multi-media installations that transform the vast space into a mythological labyrinth. Cultural and personal histories intersect and merge, challenging our own relationships with the past, the present and the future.

Just as the archetypal circus brought together spectacular ‘sideshows’ from all over the world to create a multi-sensory allegory of foreign adventure, Birch has brought together artists, designers, musicians, filmmakers, photographers, actors, gaming wizards, and architects, from Hong Kong and abroad. Each has contributed their own particular vision to HOPE & GLORY’s conceptual world of spectacle and wonder. Among Birch’s collaborators are artist Stanley Wong, photographer Wing Shya, British rock band UNKLE, filmmaker Eric Hu, designer Douglas Young, architect Paul Kember, actor Daniel Wu, and Beijing-based artist Cang Xin. As Birch describes it, ‘The project is intricate and collaborative. It has been quite like producing a feature-length film in its scale and the breadth of people and skills necessary for its realization.’

The challenges of realizing a visual arts exhibition of this scale and complexity in Hong Kong have been enormous, particularly given that non-commercial platforms and funding for the visual arts continue to be very limited here. But for Birch, confronting these challenges has generated the creation of new mechanisms for building bridges between private and public institutions, and for bringing artists, entrepreneurs, academics and government together. The support has been extraordinary and quite unprecedented for a visual arts project, and on 5 March the HKSAR Mega Events Fund formally announced its support for the HOPE & GLORY project with a 2 million HKD pledge.

One of Birch’s intentions in conceiving this monumental installation is the creation of an all- enveloping artistic space that echoes the function of the circus in traditional culture: offering within the frenetic urban environment a temporary place of other-worldly respite and the experience of a communal sense of wonder.

Thematic Content

Birch’s monumental show explores a number of major themes that recur in the artist’s work: the idea of art as a spectacle; the fascination with circuses and fairgrounds, science fiction andmythologies; as well as a preoccupation with the traditions of craftsmanship and labour in art production.

HOPE & GLORY is deeply informed by the structure of the ‘hero myth’ that appears in different guises throughout history and across cultures, ranging from the Odyssey of ancient Greece to modern science fiction films like Star Wars and Blade Runner. The narrative that unfolds is a retelling - through film, sculpture, music, video, painting, gaming and live performance - of archetypal themes, such as the duality of human existence, the relationship between suffering and redemption, the journey from darkness into light, and the leap from adversity into transcendence. By entering into its all-immersive environment the audience becomes part of this unfolding experience.

For Birch, the vision of creating HOPE & GLORY links directly to his recent experience of surviving a rare form of cancer: ‘My recent experience with surviving a condition I was not expected to survive has driven me further to explore ideas of the duality of the human condition; the beauty and horror we all face. This experience --at once terrifying and liberating—made me reflect on the choices I’d made in my life, and on the impact of the social and institutional rhythms that have pushed and pulled me. HOPE & GLORY is my way of responding to that.’

The ‘HOPE & GLORY’ title is an appropriation of the title of a British patriotic song from the close of the Victorian era, ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, an anthem that hopes for a mightier and more powerful empire. The use of the title is both ironic and meaningful, referring to the HOPE & GLORY that is relative to individual human experience, as well as to the negatives which burden imperial dreams.

Forums

A series of innovative Forums and interactive educational events exploring topics and questions generated by HOPE & GLORY will be held throughout the exhibition period (schedule to be announced).

Collaborators:

Valerie Doran, Paul Kember, anothermountainman, James Lavelle and UNKLE, LucyandBart, Florian Ma, Alvina Lee, Robert Peckham, Prodip, Bamboo Star, Clive Kirsten, Douglas Young, Cang Xin, Wing Shya, Eric Hu, Gary Gunn, Eddie Chung, Jan Lam.

Contributors:

Daniel Wu, Lisa S, Terence Yin, Phat Chan, Ana R, Race Wong, Roseanne Wong, Grace Huang, Tony Magnetic, AJ Halkes, Absolute Creative, Kim Haslam, Errol Samuels, Laurent Guttirez, Li Xu, Drayfus Chow, Stephen Chan, Anouk Hatzakorian, Billy Lau, Vanessa Lee, Nadia Hatta, Paul Luxenburg, Terry Batt, Elia and Lydia Wong, Gary Kramer, Laura Thomas, Calvin Ho, Mimi Leung, Natalie Kadoorie, Brian Siswojo, Kit Leung, Brandon Ho, Eddie Chung, Sana Au Yeung, Dan F, Francesco Suarez, Lisa Genasci, Corey Ratner, Justin Poon, Mae Wang, Di Footitt, Andy Lee, Chris and Callie Botsford, Celine Ho, Gus Mok Chiu-yu, Centre for Community Cultural Development, Yuen Kin Leung and the Symbiotic Dance Troupe, Cleo Lam, Amanda Loke

Funded by:

Simon Birch and The Birch Foundation

Supported by:

Swire Island East, HKSAR Mega Events Fund, Diesel, Louis Vuitton, Centre for the Humanities and Medicine HKU, International Cultural Leadership Academy HKU, , Shanghai Tang, Zuma Restaurant, ArtHK, Hong Kong Cancer Fund, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, G.O.D., Sovereign Art Foundation, Drum Music, KplusK, Alivenotdead, International Fixer, Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation, Chinese International School, Centre for Community Cultural Development.

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