- Artist is intrigued by the idea that a developer will forgo profit in favour of feng shui by creating a void in a building
- In a video, WangShui plays the mythical dragon flying through 'dragon gates'
If you've lived in Hong Kong long enough, or have taken an interest in its architecture, chances are you've come across buildings with large holes.
A deliberate architectural feature known as "dragon gates", these holes are commonly found in sea-facing structures and, according to feng shui, provide a passageway for the mythical dragon to reach the water. Said to initiate a positive flow of energy, the most prominent gateways are found in The Repulse Bay and Bel-Air in Cyberport " two residential complexes in the Southern district of Hong Kong Island.
A hallmark of local architecture and the object of curiosity, these dragon gates are, quite literally, at the centre of artist WangShui's film From Its Mouth Came a River of High-End Residential Appliances, on view at Blindspot Gallery in Wong Chuk Hang as part of its exhibition "Holy Mosses".
Featuring art by eight female or gender non-binary artists, the group show explores gender fluidity, of which WangShui's film is a highlight. But what do "dragon gates", feng shui and architecture have to do with gender fluidity?
WangShui explores the significance of fluid identities through restaging architectural elements, live subjects, and everyday objects. The film takes viewers on a journey of self-discovery: unravelling the complexities of gender, ethnicity, identity through ancient practices, mythology, and the literal frame of Hong Kong's unique architecture.
Using a drone, the artist explores the dragon gates to fulfil a compulsion. "It began with an image I saw of one of the dragon gates at Bel Air. The project was born out of a desire to traverse the distance between myself and that hole," WangShui says.
A clip from WangShui's film From Its Mouth Came a River of High-End Residential Appliances
Filmed slowly and almost meditatively, the work takes the audience through the enigmatic dragon gates " through which the scenic beauty of the island is projected " as the artist launches into a hypnotic narration, explaining the anti-authoritarian history of feng shui; many feng shui practitioners were persecuted during the Cultural Revolution in China and fled to Hong Kong, where they were able to flourish.
In a city where real estate values are sky-high and commerce dominant, the artist is intrigued by how feng shui is being prioritised over the potential profit that could be made from utilising the void occupied by the dragon gate, and sees dragon gates as "anti-monuments that resist authoritarianism and monumentalism".
WangShui adds: "The void has the strongest visual impact as an infinite space of possibility. Architecture and space is, of course, often designed to oppress so I have always been interested in feng shui as an emblem for personal agency."
Personal identity, specifically ethnicity, has been a rich source of inspiration for the work of the artist, who was raised in Asia but is based in New York.
"My upbringing was defined by misidentification. Even though I was Asian, my behaviour was read as American, so people at my international school in Thailand thought I had to be 'half' Asian. I eventually learned how to take advantage of that misidentification, to utilise it in my life and work," WangShui says.
The artist's ethnicity and identity are a facet of the film, for which WangShui assumes the role of the dragon breaching the gates.
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"My interest in the shape-shifting Shen dragon is about the agency of formlessness and fluidity. The most oppressive myths that fuel xenophobia, trans-phobia … revolve around the notion that bodies, subjectivities, and 'identities' must be fixed. Embracing fluidity is embracing the unknown," WangShui says.
The artist considers the imposition of fixed identities to be the cause of the xenophobia behind much of the current chaos in the world. By framing the film within popular traditional practices, WangShui effectively conveys the local, regional, and global relevance of contemporary trauma.
Holy Mosses, Blindspot Gallery, 15/F, Po Chai Industrial Building, 28 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong. Open Tues-Sat 10am-6pm. Closed Sundays, Mondays, and public holidays. Until January 18, 2020.
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