2022.10.07 – 2023.04.12
4/F Lobby, Hong Kong Museum of Art
To commemorate its 60th anniversary, the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) is proud to present one of the celebratory projects A 10,000-Year View, a site-specific art installation by the internationally renowned artist Zheng Chongbin. Inspired by the new spatial perspective and the scenery of the HKMoA, the artist meticulously makes use of light and shade, multimedia images and mixed media to connect the views of Victoria Harbour and the HKMoA interiors from the past, the present to the future by layers of artistic sceneries created, and to juxtapose with the Museum collection on display in harmony. This creates dialogues across time, space, mediums and cultures, curating a world of contrasts at sight, perception and bodily experience.
“By contrasting the natural mountain view and the urban landscape, the idea of this work is to reveal multiple dimensions of time.”
——Zheng Chongbin
Multiple dimensions of time
A 10,000-Year View enacts the visualisation that combines two nonlinear scenic views of geographical time and present time on the 4th floor of the museum's window area. The number "10,000" in the artwork title refers to the expansive view of time, as the Chinese character "萬" (ten thousand) carries the meaning of myriad or infinite.
Through contrasting the natural mountain scenery and the urban landscape, the concept of this artwork is to reveal multiple dimensions of time——a natural transformation on a geological scale contrasted with the present harbour view with the iconic cityscape. In Chinese, the word landscape is called shan shui, which means mountains and water. In this site-specific installation, there is a strong sensuous connection between mountains, water, and buildings despite their vastly differing timescales. The evocative contrast inspires the viewers' perceptual experience to engage into the interpretation and imagination of time, landscape and the evolution of civilisation.
Rippling wave of time
The first tier of scenery is connected by the lower half of each window panel where water flows from one to the next, which is reminiscent of the passage of time. The water view reminds us that time silently passes us by with each segment flowing into the next. Much like a vast ocean front, as the water's surface undulates, time appears to be a "flowing lifeform". The movement of ripples intertwines the past, present and future, and the animation display enhances the ample of space through time.
Cross pattern mountain landscape
The second tier of scenery is a cross pattern mountainscape composed of several see-through meshes tailor-made for the upper part of the window panels. The scene, enabled by experience and imagination, shows a perceptible space that exists independently of human beings. Looking through the monochrome meshes, you will see gorgeous view of the harbour. As the landscape is patterned, the physical crisscrossed shapes hold the viewer's attention in a virtual zone where both past and present, virtuality and reality, coexist. In addition, the identical section of dynamic reflective images played on the OLED showing skyscrapers across the Victoria Harbour enlighten the art piece and engage viewers to recall their own memories in time.
© HKMoA / Leisure and Cultural Services Department 2022
For more information, please refer to: https://hk.art.museum/en_US/web/ma/exhibitions-and-events/zheng-chongbin-a-10000-year-view.html
