Date: 19 Jan 2024 - 19 Jan 2024
Date: Friday, 19 January 2024
Time and Language:
First session | 12:30 p.m.–1:30 p.m. (Putonghua)
Second session | 6:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m. (Cantonese)
Venue: Study Gallery, G/F, Fung Ping Shan Building, University Museum and Art Gallery, HKU, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Speaker: Lampo Leong, PhD, Central Academy of Fine Arts, MFA, California College of the Arts, is currently a Distinguished Professor, Doctoral Advisor and Director of the Center for Arts and Design at the University of Macau. Leong is also a tenured professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia in the USA and visiting professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Leong has served as a curator and judge for over 60 art exhibitions and competitions and has presented more than 270 lectures across the US and Asia at institutions such as Stanford University, UC Berkeley and the China Academy of Art. Leong’s work has been featured in Christie’s and in art expos, museums and galleries worldwide through more than 70 solo and over 420 juried and curated national and international group exhibitions; he has also received more than 100 awards. Leong’s works can be found in numerous museums, including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, and as public art commissions for the Columbia City Hall and an 8-metre-diameter granite inset calligraphic medallion installed in a San Francisco city park. Leong’s achievements have been documented in over 1000 reviews and publications in magazines and art books, including the front cover of the New Art International in New York, Art Frontier in the USA and the Creative Genius: 100 Contemporary Artists in London.
Abstract
Utilising creative methods that integrate Eastern and Western concepts and incorporate a diverse range of art mediums—such as calligraphy, ink painting, photography, video, interactive and immersive installations, and multimedia dance performances—the lecture will explore how digital technology, coupled with the synthesis of diverse cultures and media forms, can contribute technically and aesthetically to the advancement of Chinese contemporary ink art in the digital era.
Abstract of the video screening
Heavenly Inquiry V is inspired by chanting the well-known poem ‘Prelude to Water Melody • How Long Will the Full Moon Appear?’* by Su Shi (Song dynasty, 1036–1101). This work incorporates evolving imageries from ink painting and calligraphy with dramatic musical textures performed by zhonghu and string quartet. The result is an ethereal and transformative experience that resonates in the digital age. By combining sounds, visuals and movement into the ink video, and its mirrored reflection, this immersive installation evokes complex emotional feelings expressed in Su’s poem—from parting sorrow, nostalgia and doubt to optimism. At the same time, the work captures the grandeur of the universe, celebrating the dynamic energies and cosmic forces that give birth to new stars, planets and life itself.
*Full text of the poem: ‘How long will the full moon appear? Wine cup in hand, I ask the sky. I do not know what time of the year it would be tonight in the palace on high. Riding the wind, there I would fly, yet I’m afraid the crystalline palace would be too high and cold for me. I rise and dance, with my shadow I play. On high as on earth, would it be as gay? The moon goes round the mansions red through gauze-draped window to shed her light upon the sleepless bed. Against man she should have no spite. Why then when people part, is she often full and bright? Men have sorrow and joy, they meet or part again; the moon is bright or dim and she may wax or wane. There has been nothing perfect since the olden days. So let us wish that man may live as long as he can! Though miles apart, we’ll share the beauty she displays.’ (Poetry translation by Yuanchong Xu)
Please click here to register for the first session | Please click here to register for the second session