Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts

Artist Statement

There are such moments, when one sinks into extreme fatigue, one becomes aggressive—impulsive and hardly controllable, paralyzed in the face of an unbearable nakedness. At last, he lets himself go, so much that he grounds all his reactions on the day-to-day fear. He cannot see himself too clearly. The present self is very often misunderstood, by himself, of which the self is exactly living for his own cause. Humans are hardly reliable after all.

He really thought, the hollowness inside his heart is a window of his mind, and therein are piles of shame, gathered to cultivate a ground, only which turns out to become yet another pile of ruins. But he feels fulfilled. Critique and resistance exist as mere performance after all.

Artist Statement

There are such moments, when one sinks into extreme fatigue, one becomes aggressive—impulsive and hardly controllable, paralyzed in the face of an unbearable nakedness. At last, he lets himself go, so much that he grounds all his reactions on the day-to-day fear. He cannot see himself too clearly. The present self is very often misunderstood, by himself, of which the self is exactly living for his own cause. Humans are hardly reliable after all.

He really thought, the hollowness inside his heart is a window of his mind, and therein are piles of shame, gathered to cultivate a ground, only which turns out to become yet another pile of ruins. But he feels fulfilled. Critique and resistance exist as mere performance after all.

Artist Introduction

Lee Kit was born in Hong Kong in 1978. He graduated from the Department of Fine Arts of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2003; he currently lives and works in Taipei. Lee Kit meticulously utilizes the site-specific dimensions to actualize affections within the physical space. His early works are primarily hand-painted fabrics. Lee Kit’s practice has since expanded to include a wider range of mediums, such as light, sound, and daily objects to bring out the embedded political tension, melancholy, fury, and stillness, of which he also uses video projection and textual dialogue to capture, consolidate, and strengthen the nuances in the creation process.

Lee Kit’s recent solo exhibitions were held at West Den Haag, The Hague, The Netherland (2021), Oi! Street Art Space, Hong Kong (2021), ArtSonje Centre, Seoul, Korea (2019), Hara Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2018), Casa Masaccio, San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy (2018), OCAT, Shenzhen, China (2018), TheCube Project Space, Taipei, Taiwan (2017), S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium (2016), Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, U.S., (2016), The 55th Venice Beinnale, Italy (2013), etc.; Recent selected group exhibition were held at C-Lab, Taipei, Taiwan (2020), Honolulu Biennial, Hawaii (2019), Lyon Biennial, France (2019), Para Site Art Space, Hong Kong (2019), Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2019), Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2017), Kathmandu Triennial, Nepal (2017), etc.

Artist Introduction

Lee Kit was born in Hong Kong in 1978. He graduated from the Department of Fine Arts of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2003; he currently lives and works in Taipei. Lee Kit meticulously utilizes the site-specific dimensions to actualize affections within the physical space. His early works are primarily hand-painted fabrics. Lee Kit’s practice has since expanded to include a wider range of mediums, such as light, sound, and daily objects to bring out the embedded political tension, melancholy, fury, and stillness, of which he also uses video projection and textual dialogue to capture, consolidate, and strengthen the nuances in the creation process.

Lee Kit’s recent solo exhibitions were held at West Den Haag, The Hague, The Netherland (2021), Oi! Street Art Space, Hong Kong (2021), ArtSonje Centre, Seoul, Korea (2019), Hara Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2018), Casa Masaccio, San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy (2018), OCAT, Shenzhen, China (2018), TheCube Project Space, Taipei, Taiwan (2017), S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium (2016), Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, U.S., (2016), The 55th Venice Beinnale, Italy (2013), etc.; Recent selected group exhibition were held at C-Lab, Taipei, Taiwan (2020), Honolulu Biennial, Hawaii (2019), Lyon Biennial, France (2019), Para Site Art Space, Hong Kong (2019), Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2019), Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2017), Kathmandu Triennial, Nepal (2017), etc.

About 2022 Kuandu Biennale Time of the Art Society: How to Become Indi-genous?

The concept of “art society” refers not to the aesthetic function of art in the society, but to its creative and affective power in transforming society. “Time of the Art Society” is the title of the Kuandu Biennale 2022, exploring the indigenousness of time in two layers. Modeling the interrelationship between time and space, the Biennale intends to extend beyond its one-off nature (being a two to three months event) into a longitudinal exploration (one to two years presence), thereby becoming a long-term “free” time companioning the everyday life. The second layer is to bring human-to-human relationship and human-to-object relationship into ecological time, detaching from the problem-solving mindset and the pursuit of value maximization. The title prompts a consideration of how individuals can respond to each other and/or the society as a whole through affective functions and redistribution, hence to transform short-lived experiences to long-term relationships.

Lee Kit skillfully incorporates imagery found in the everyday moments with reflections of his internal state, noises and sentiments. Lee’s arrangements reproduce lived experiences under globalization: the undifferentiated tension, repression, melancholy and fury, whether through approaches of overlay projections, textual overlay images, dialogue compositions, or light fragments scattered from projections on installations. The 2014 Umbrella Revolution and 2019 Anti-Extradition Law movement in Hong Kong are turning points in the global politics. The artist’s latest projects are reflective of such development, which incrementally transforms a short-lived timeframe of locality and democratic freedom to a continuous relational time. Through this Biennale, Lee Kit’s projects prompt us to think how the artist internalize Hong Kong as the locality, at the same time, how his residence in Taipei leads up to indigenization, resulting a certain state of “hybrid-indigenous”. For such a weary time as the age of global pandemic, the Kuandu Biennale hopes to reconsider the locality of time, that is, setting the relational nature of art alongside the continuous being of social life—an interrelationship that continues on and on.

About 2022 Kuandu Biennale Time of the Art Society: How to Become Indi-genous?

The concept of “art society” refers not to the aesthetic function of art in the society, but to its creative and affective power in transforming society. “Time of the Art Society” is the title of the Kuandu Biennale 2022, exploring the indigenousness of time in two layers. Modeling the interrelationship between time and space, the Biennale intends to extend beyond its one-off nature (being a two to three months event) into a longitudinal exploration (one to two years presence), thereby becoming a long-term “free” time companioning the everyday life. The second layer is to bring human-to-human relationship and human-to-object relationship into ecological time, detaching from the problem-solving mindset and the pursuit of value maximization. The title prompts a consideration of how individuals can respond to each other and/or the society as a whole through affective functions and redistribution, hence to transform short-lived experiences to long-term relationships.

Lee Kit skillfully incorporates imagery found in the everyday moments with reflections of his internal state, noises and sentiments. Lee’s arrangements reproduce lived experiences under globalization: the undifferentiated tension, repression, melancholy and fury, whether through approaches of overlay projections, textual overlay images, dialogue compositions, or light fragments scattered from projections on installations. The 2014 Umbrella Revolution and 2019 Anti-Extradition Law movement in Hong Kong are turning points in the global politics. The artist’s latest projects are reflective of such development, which incrementally transforms a short-lived timeframe of locality and democratic freedom to a continuous relational time. Through this Biennale, Lee Kit’s projects prompt us to think how the artist internalize Hong Kong as the locality, at the same time, how his residence in Taipei leads up to indigenization, resulting a certain state of “hybrid-indigenous”. For such a weary time as the age of global pandemic, the Kuandu Biennale hopes to reconsider the locality of time, that is, setting the relational nature of art alongside the continuous being of social life—an interrelationship that continues on and on.

Works