Luke Ching: 'Glitch in the Matrix'

Luke Ching - Glitch in the Matrix 程展緯 - 母體錯誤 5 Dec 2020 – 21 Feb 2021

Para Site is Hong Kong's leading contemporary art centre and one of the oldest and most active independent art institutions in Asia. It produces exhibitions, publications, discursive, and educational projects aimed at forging a critical understanding of local and international phenomena in art and society.

Para Site 藝術空間為香港首屈一指的當代藝術中心，亦是亞洲

Curator 策展人

Celia Ho 何思穎 Editor 編輯

Jason Chen 陳子岳

歷史最悠久、最活躍的獨立藝術機構之一。成立宗旨在透過展 覽、出版刊物及教育項目等活動，促進在地與國際間的對話， 希冀打造一個對當代藝術、社會現象提出批判性論述及理解的 平台。

Graphic design 平面設計

MAJO

Acknowledgments 鳴謝 Ariel Chan 陳衍汶 Chan Ka Shun Carlson 陳嘉信 Chung Wing Shan 鍾詠珊 Sharon Fung 馮思樺 Martha Hatch 王昊絢 Jackson Kwong 鄺俊軒 Qu Chang 瞿暢 Law Chi Kwong 羅致光 Birde Tang 鄧芷茵

Glitch in the Matrix is financially supported by the Project Grant of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. The Hong Kong Arts Development Council fully supports freedom of artistic expression. The views and opinions expressed in this project do not represent the stand of the Council. 「母體錯誤」獲香港藝術發展局計劃資助。香港藝術發展局全

TEAM

COSMIN COSTINAS 康喆明

力支持藝術表達自由，本計劃內容並不反映本局意見。 Supported by

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/ CURATOR

CLAIRE SHEA 謝清

資助

DEPUTY DIRECTOR

ANQI LI 李安琪 CURATOR OF EDUCATION AND PUBLIC PROGRAMMES

CELIA HO 何思穎 CURATOR

Para Site Art Space is financially supported by the Art Development Matching Grants Scheme of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The content of these activities do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Para Site 藝術空間獲香港特別行政區政府「藝術發展配對資助 計劃」的資助。活動內容並不反映香港特別行政區政府的意見。

JOSEPH CHEN 陳敬元 PROJECT MANAGER/ ASSISTANT CURATOR

JASON CHEN 陳子岳 COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

JACQUELINE LEUNG 梁婉揚 DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

JENNY TAM 譚蔚廷 GALLERY MANAGER

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the exhibition only, but does not otherwise take part in it. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in the materials/ activities (or by members of the Para Site's team) are those of the organisers of the exhibition only and do not reflect the views of the Governmentof the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 香港特別行政區政府僅為該展覽提供撥款資助 , 並無參與其中。 在刊物 / 活動內 ( 或 Para Site 成員 ) 表達的任何意見、研究成

KAMAN LAM 林嘉文

果、結論或建議 , 純屬該展覽的推行機構的觀點，並不代表香

GALLERY COORDINATOR

港特別行政區政府的觀點。

索引 INDEX

[01] 貌合神離 2014 至今 攝影 Hidden Agenda 2014 – ongoing Photographs [02] 除下左鞋才進場 2020 混合媒介 Take Off Your Left Shoe Upon Entry 2020 Mixed media [03] 香港身份證 2020 錄像 Hong Kong Identity Card 2020 Video [04] 陌生電話 2020 現成物，行為 Cold Calling 2020 Readymade objects, performance

[05] 越境犯罪 2020 錄像 Cross Border Convictions 2020 Video

[10] 選舉機器 2020 現成物 Election Machine 2020 Readymade objects

[06] 靜物寫生 2020 混合媒介 Still Life 2020 Mixed media

[11] 一刻 2014 錄像 A Moment 2014 Video

[07] 野櫻桃 2020 混合媒介 Wild Cherry 2020 Mixed media

[12] 沒戴安全帶的香港人 2015 混合媒介 Man Without Safety Belt 2015 Mixed media

[08] 不知名的教堂 2018 錄像 Unknown Church 2018 Video

[13] 十年 2020 現成物 Ten Years 2020 Readymade objects

[09] 變臉 2020 攝影 Face Shift 2020 Photographs

[14] 耳語 2014 大聲公 Whisper 2014 Speaker

程展緯（b. 1972，香港）十八歲前是木顏色高手（全班數一數二），篆刻都唔錯。二十六歲前跟陳老師學習混合 媒介創作，當年混合媒介在媒介分類中就是「其他」。三十歲前曾當四年級班主任，主教美勞兼教常識，三十歲 後才學會游水和踩單車，但還未懂中文打字就結婚了，算是一生的成就。四十歲前關心社會的公共空間和探討禮 物經濟發展，希望在活生生的社會中回收活生生的藝術再學習。四十歲後專注個人職業發展，立志成為黃馬褂。

Luke Ching Chin Wai (b.1972, Hong Kong) was a top-notch colour pencil artist in his pre-university years. He was among the best in class at school, and he wasn't too bad at seal carving, either. In university, Ching trained in the field of mixed media under the tutelage of Professor Chan. At the time, mixed media still belonged to the category of “other” when one specified the medium of one's work. Up until the age of 30, Ching worked as a class teacher of Grade 4 students and taught art and general studies. After turning 30, Ching not only learned to swim and cycle but also managed to get married (even before he was able to type in Chinese) – a feat he considers as his lifetime achievement. In his 30s, Ching took an interest in public space and the development of the gift economy, searching for artistic inspiration from within the breath and pulse of society. After turning 40, Ching began focusing on his career, and his current life ambition is to become his boss's pet.

母體錯誤

策展人問我當下生活的感覺，我想到重回日常的張力，也記 起《22 世紀殺人網絡》(The Matrix) 電影中有一幕： 尼歐（Neo）跟莫菲斯（Morpheus）去見祭師 （Oracle）， 一眾人正要離開母體返回真實世界的途中，看到一隻黑貓反 覆經過，尼歐感到奇怪的，直到崔妮狄（Trinity）追問，所 有人驚覺母體被重置，但為時已晚，那場戲到了最後，母體 派出的數位情報員成功抓走了莫菲斯。 我記得在 2007 年，我在《星期日生活》的專欄中訪問過劉 山青先生，1981 年他在廣州探望被捕民運人士的家屬時，被 公安以「反革命」罪檢控，判入獄十年。十三年前的訪問筆 記在今天再看，我找回了一些他分享監獄生活的點滴，那可 能是今天我們被迫困在「生活」的參照。

我問劉山青在被囚禁的時段，最不習慣的是甚麼？他說 作為一個文明人，最不習慣的是失去時間的觀念，和不 知自己身在何處。香港大學數學系畢業的他，嘗試以太 陽鈄落的影子計算時間，可是影子轉變得太快；他也悔 恨自己沒有學會看星的技巧，不能觀天確認自己的空間 位置。他告訴我，要捱過坐長監的痛苦，技巧是不要想 將來，只可思考眼前的事。

作品《靜物寫生》 是來自一次朋友帶我探訪 CIC 囚友的經驗， 困在 CIC 的人比一般坐監的人更難受，因為他們都不知自己 的刑期， 沒有倒數，空氣凝固。探訪當天看到一個鏡櫃，展 示一堆日常用品，一堆可准許陪伴囚友的物件，黑人牙膏上 也有寫上限期。 看到這些物件有一種重溫中學的素描課的衝動，就是用時間 好好把它描繪，寫生的時空是一個人沉默不語凝視物件的狀

程展緯

態，就在禁慾下讓時間溜走，溜走的其實不止時間，也包括 那些描繪物包裝上的過份熱情而來的情緒，畫背景的地平線 對我來說總不是指涉一個實存空間，而是一種里爾克 (Rainer Maria Rilke) 式的孤獨時空反照。我記得一次聽智海分享在 黃巴士工作的經驗，一幅畫不能只有一個人，要多畫隻雀仔 陪伴他，願今晚年青人不孤單。 CIC 鏡櫃內被規範的物件也是我們的日常用品，我們日常的 選擇都是先被規限下的選擇，使我們相信「所有」就是在這 裡，作品《選舉機器》是我 2007 年的概念，把自動售賣機 裝滿了樽裝水，也是來自中國的東江水，在有選舉沒選擇的 年代到沒選舉沒選擇的年代，面對機器，投了幣後還要你假 裝選擇按掣，其實是一種日常羞辱。

當劉山青第一次在囚室獲准與母親見面時，母親為他帶 來了兩本書，一本是陀斯妥耶夫斯基的《白癡》，一本 是《紅樓夢》。他的母親讀書不多，這兩本（看似較為 文學的）書的選擇，是母親在廣州的書店隨便為他挑來 的結果。單獨囚禁就像活在只有一個人的星球中，《紅 樓夢》就像小王子的黃昏般被劉山青看了不知多少次。 對《紅樓夢》的熟讀，加上長期單獨囚禁引致思維難以 集中，使他在回憶錄中記下一段這樣的體驗：「每當我 揭開書每頁看時，前後的情節、人物的關係，甚至每一 個字，我都歷歷在目，以致看下去也根本沒有意思。但 奇在一旦合起書來，又甚麼都忘得一乾二淨。」

我想劉山青對《紅樓夢》的經驗會否是一種「母體錯誤」 (glitch in the matrix) 。在「似曾相識」和「舊事如新」之間 相互拉鋸下凝固的閱讀。 再看自己的作品，我選擇了再次展出兩件分別在 2014 年的 《楚門世界 : 日落的國》( 在今次展覽中重新命名為《一刻》) 和 2015 年的《沒戴安全帶的香港人》，這兩件作品都是關 於重覆的「看」，前者看的是下國旗情境，後者則是別人的 死亡。

《一刻》是在雨傘運動前在金鐘政府總部附近拍攝的，香港 政府建築物，每天下午 6 時會把國旗區旗放下，因為是人手 下旗，建築物與建築物間降旗有些時差，2014 年 7 月的某 一天，我以一刀不剪的拍法，在 30 多分鐘內，一口氣拍下 了高等法院，終審法院，立法會大樓，解放軍總部，海富中 心和警察總部的下旗情況，算是一個碰運氣而來的巧合經驗， 不就是電影《22 世紀殺人網絡》中尼歐看見的那隻黑貓？小 王子透過身體遷移而看 44 次日落的失落，香港好像一座座 堡壘被攻陷……然而今天我再看這作品，觸動我的卻是在時 間誤差中遊走的步速，時快時慢，時走時停，就是 19 年我 們在街頭的節奏，用這節奏渴望把留在街道上的時光延長， 用這節奏感通彼此。 《沒戴安全帶的香港人》是關於一個以前本來在香港科學館 工業安全展覽的裝置，每天到訪者經過感應器時，單面反光 玻璃背後就會看見一個因沒戴安全帶而跌死的人，每天他演 練死亡過千次，我用了長時間曝光拍攝手法累積了過百次死 亡而拍下他的容貌和身體，並為他舉辦命名運動。2015 年因 一次台灣展覽機會向科學館借出了他運到台灣，並以 3D 打 印技術複製了自己的容貌製作成人偶留在科學館代替他的工 作。在台灣我收集了過千個命名，2019 年街頭倒下地上的人 都急需被人知道名字，沒戴安全帶的香港人怎不知風險？咩 名？咩名？咩名？

因著劉山青的不合作態度，在十年的牢獄中一直都收不 到他當時的未婚妻的信件，其間，劉山青曾去信未婚 妻，叫她不用等他了。結果，未婚妻卻一口氣等了十年。

2005 年我和太太一同換身份證，我們忽發奇想想借換身份證 的機會來拍一次「情侶照」。那就是所有公民在身份證上都 是合上口的，只有我倆把口張開。拍照前大家做了一個承諾， 然後被分開到不同的櫃位，最後我做到了，她卻沒有守承諾。 2015 年，我在火車上遣失了銀包，身份證不見了。我擔心我 再拍不到張開口的身份證，補領身份證時，我想了這個方法：

就是一進入入境處門口就自我維持面容扭曲的樣子。他們以 為我原本就是這樣。 作品《香港身份證》是關於日常證件相的反思，證件相與生 活照本質不同，證件相的本質只要證明你清澈地存在活着， 怎樣活着，什麼情感沒關係。 2020 年差不多所有香港立法會選舉參選人都用上西面照，最 後選舉被取消。 其實日常《變臉》有很多方法，最簡單的技巧是「點頭」和「擰 頭」。 繼續說分隔與關係，合照是一種交際活動，最後的效果在四 條相邊下總是變得過份熱情。作品《貌合神離》是我多年與 建制官員或議員的合照，這組作品的參考起點是觀察不少國 家的自然歷史博物館中情境式標本展櫃 ，那些標本不少是由 動物園捐贈已死去動物而來的。博物館展櫃往往佈置成施暴 者和被害者困在一起戲劇化的場景，對我來說這其實是很暴 力的事，所有動物園也不能接受，也不可能發生。只有成為 標本，以死亡扮演生命，才擁有貌合神離的技倆。

劉山青在獄中把所有工資花在購書上，以知識突破物 理空間的禁錮。他固執的閱讀行為曾經被其他囚犯譏 笑，但最後他影響了他們，在梅州監獄吹起一陣讀書 的風氣。

監獄的本質不是建築而是禁錮自由的暴力，極權時代，任何機 構都會變成監獄，作為信徒，我們惟有相信教會的本質不是 限制活動的牆而是穿透人心的信仰，作品《不知名的教堂 》 是我在韓國光州透過不同的拍攝角度，把十字架移植到不知 名的建築上，最後一座是中國駐光州領事館。Francis，我告 訴你拆十字架的人在香港。 超越邊界作品還有《越境犯罪》是關於我在香港觸犯全世界 不同國家的罪行，去呈現現在香港僅餘的自由。 《除下左鞋才進場》這規則，想知時間是否可以使我們習慣 一件荒謬的事？作品《十年》是一磚頭的生涯規劃，有人選 擇供樓，有人卻選了其他。

鄰里相處也需要協調技倆，監房中兩個施暴者困在一起怎樣 才可有和睦關係 ? 作品《野櫻桃》是講述將軍澳垃圾堆填區 和 TVB 電視城的鄰里關係。將軍澳堆填區在 1993 年開始建 造，十年後無線電視廣播城也在將軍澳落成，TVB 投訴堆填 區傳來的臭味，環保署利用櫻桃味的吸臭味香水噴霧來除臭， 從此 TVB 與垃圾和平共處，節目一樣有繽紛櫻桃味……我喜 歡卡爾維諾（Italo Calvino）書寫的寓言。 探監的設置有一個像電話的東西，肉眼的距離之近，聲音傳 話之遙遠立體描繪了監獄的分隔所彰顯的權力之暴力。作品 《陌生電話》邀請你用 Para Site 的電話，在九七年香港家居 電話簿中隨意選個電話撥號，問他 / 她還在香港嗎 ? 還在的 請在他的名字旁給一個剔，不在的請刪去。 和探監電話感觀相反的是香港歷史博物館香港故事廳的背景 鳥聲，你只會聽到聲音看不到飛鳥，不斷重覆的鳥聲好像飛 不出歷史館，現在香港故事廳正關閉重組，作品《耳語》是 我在香港歷史博物館盜錄了背景蟲鳥的叫聲，放在遊行大聲 公向外釋放。

關注 CIC 的朋友作出提點 : 文字中提到「CIC 囚友」似乎不太合適， 他 / 她們是被羈留，沒有犯罪或已經完成 了刑期，所以他們會用「被羈留者」。

Glitch in the Matrix

Luke Ching

The curator of this exhibition asked me how I felt about life currently. I thought about the tension in returning to daily routines, and a scene in the film The Matrix: Neo and Morpheus went to see the Oracle. Before going up the stairs, they saw a black cat passing by repeatedly. Neo thought it was strange and Trinity also kept asking about it, and everyone was surprised to realize the Matrix had been reset, but it was all too late. At the end of the scene, several Agents sent by the Matrix successfully captured Morpheus.

I remember in 2007, I interviewed Lau Shan Ching for a column in Sunday Mingpao. He was prosecuted by the police for “counterrevolutionary” crimes and sentenced to ten years in prison in 1981, while visiting the families of arrested pro-democracy activists in Guangzhou. Looking back at the interview notes from 13 years ago today, I found that moments of prison life he had shared with me could very well be substituted for the “life” we’re trapped in today.

When I asked Lau what he was most unaccustomed to while in prison, he said, as a civilized being, he was not used to losing the concept of time and not knowing where he was. An alumni of the University of Hong Kong in the Department of Mathematics, Lau tried to calculate time using the shadows cast by the sun, yet shadows change too fast. He had also regretted not learning the techniques of stargazing, in order to affirm his location. He told me, the key to surviving a long prison sentence was not thinking about the future, but only considering the present.

Still Life is from the experience of a friend who took me to visit CIC inmates. Imprisonment at CIC is more agonizing than in ordinary prisons because none of the inmates know the duration of their sentence. There is no countdown except frozen air. On the day of the visit, I saw a mirror cabinet displaying an assortment of daily necessities--a pile of objects that is allowed to accompany prisoners, among which was Darlie toothpaste bearing an expiration date.

Seeing these objects reminded me of still-life classes I took in secondary school, where I spent a lot of time in order to properly draw objects. The time-space of still-life drawing is the state of one staring at the objects silently, and letting time slip away under abstinence. Of course, time was not the only thing slipping away, there was also the excessive zeal when detailing the packaging of items. For me, drawing the horizon line in the background cannot be concluded as a reference to an existing space; it is in fact a reflection of Rilkean solitary space. I remember listening to Chi Hoi as he shared his experience working for the Yellow Bus, that one painting cannot consist of only one man; instead, you must paint him a few birds as company, wishing not one young soul is lonely tonight.

Restricted items found inside the CIC mirror cabinet are also used in our daily lives, and our daily choices are always pre-screened with restrictions, forcing us to believe what we have here is “everything”. Election Machine was conceptualised in 2007, when I filled a vending machine with bottles of Dongjiang water from China. From a time when there were elections but no choices, to a time when there are neither, facing a machine, where you insert coins and play pretend by pushing buttons, is an actual daily affront.

When Lau was granted a meeting with his mother for the first time in prison, his mother brought him two books. One was The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and the other was Dream of the Red Chamber. His mother didn’t read much, and she had chosen these (seemingly more literary) books because she casually picked them out in a bookstore in Guangzhou. Solitary confinement is like being alone on a planet, and the Dream of the Red Chamber is the dusk from The Little Prince which Lau had seen more times than he could remember. Learning Dream of the Red Chamber by heart combined with long term solitary confinement made it difficult for Lau to concentrate his thoughts. In his memoir, he jotted down an experience like this: “Every instance I flip open a page, I could still remember the plot before and after, the relationship between the characters, and every single word vividly, to a point where continuing reading serves no purpose. Yet strangely, when I close the book, I will forget everything.”

I wonder if Lau’s experience with Dream of the Red Chamber is a form of “glitch in the matrix”, or a reading process condensed out of the mutual tension between “déjà vu” and “jamais vu”.

Now as I look at my work, I have chosen to show Screensaver: Sunset (renamed as A Moment in this exhibition) from 2014 and Man without safety belt from 2015 again. These two works are both about repetitively “looking”. The first is looking at lowering the flag, and the latter is looking at someone’s death.

A Moment was filmed before the Umbrella Movement around Admiralty’s Central Government Complex. Each building lowers the national and regional flags every day at 6pm. Because the flags are lowered manually, there is a lag between each flag’s lowering. Probably out of luck, one day in July 2014, I filmed the flags lowering at the High Court, the Court of Final Appeal, the Legislative Council Complex, the Chinese People's Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building, Admiralty Centre, and the Hong Kong Police Headquarters, in one take. Isn’t this the black cat Neo saw in The Matrix? The Little Prince’s disappointment from watching 44 sunsets by physical migration is a metaphor for the fortresses of Hong Kong seized one after the other… Still, when I look at this work today, what strikes me is the pace when wandering through the time difference. It is our rhythm on the streets in 2019, fast at times and slow at others, pausing and continuing in turn. I yearn to prolong our time on the streets with this rhythm, resonating between you and me with the same rhythm.

Man Without Safety Belt is about an installation from a previous exhibition on industrial safety at the Hong Kong Science Museum.

Every day when visitors pass by the sensor, they will see, through the one-way mirror, a person falling to their death because they were not wearing a safety belt. Every day this person rehearsed his death thousands of times, and I photographed him with long exposure to capture hundreds of his deaths, as well as his appearance and body. I also held a naming exercise for this man. In 2015, I loaned this man from the Science Museum for an exhibition in Taiwan, while using a mannequin with my 3D-printed face to replace his. In Taiwan, I collected more than a thousand names, and in 2019, those who have fallen head-first need their names to be known. How could Hong Kong people without safety belts not know the risks? “What’s your name?” “What’s your name?” “What’s your name?”

Because of Lau’s uncooperative attitude, he hadn’t received a single letter from his fiancée in prison. At the time, Lau had written to his fiancée, asking her to stop waiting for him. Nonetheless, in the end, she had waited for ten years.

My wife and I had to renew our ID cards in 2005. We suddenly had a wild idea to use this opportunity of renewing our ID cards to take a “couple photo”. That is, all citizens have their mouths closed on their ID cards, and only we would have ours open. We made this promise before taking the photo and were assigned to different counters. At last I did it, but my wife didn't keep her promise.

In 2015, I lost my wallet on the train, as well as the ID card inside.

I began to worry I could never take another open-mouthed ID photo. When processing the replacement card, I had an idea: I would enter the Immigration Department with a distorted facial expression, and remain so to make them believe I was born looking this way.

Hong Kong Identity Card is a reflection on photo identification. An ID photo is different from other photos by nature, wherein an ID photo has simply to prove you are essentially alive--not how you live, or with what emotions.

In 2020, almost all candidates for the Hong Kong Legislative Council Election had used dead-serious photos, and at last the election was cancelled.

Actually, there are many ways to “Face Shift” every day, and the simplest technique is “nodding” and “shaking” your head.

To continue the discussion between separation and connection, group photos are a kind of communicative activity, and the final result within the borders of the photo always seems excessively enthusiastic. Hidden Agenda comprises photos of me and government officials or congresspeople from the Proestablishment party, taken over the years. The reference point for this collection of images is the situational specimen showcased in Natural History Museums of many countries. Many of these specimens had died in zoos and were later donated. The museums’ demonstrative dioramas often dramatically portray a scenario where the predator and the prey are trapped together.

To me, this is actually a very violent thing. It is not acceptable and impossible for zoos to recreate. Only by becoming a specimen

and portraying life with death can one learn the trick of appearing in unison but dissociated by soul.

Getting along with neighbors also calls for compromise. How can two perpetrators harmoniously coexist when trapped together in the same prison cell? Wild Cherry narrates the neighboring relationship between the Tseung Kwan O landfill and TVB City. The Tseung Kwan O landfill began construction in 1993, and the TVB Broadcasting City was also completed ten years later in the same district. TVB complained about the odor from the landfill, and the Environmental Protection Agency used cherry-scented spray to deodorize the area. From then on, TVB has been living in peace with trash, with programs as colorful and tasteful as cherry... I like the fables written by Italo Calvino.

When you visit someone in prison, you see something like a telephone. The two people within inches of each other sound so far away from one another – a form of stereoscopic violence characteristic of imprisonment. Cold Calling invites you to use Para Site's phone to dial a number from the 1997 Hong Kong telephone book, and ask if he/she is still in Hong Kong. If he/she is, please put a tick next to the name, and cross out those who have departed.

Contrary to a prison visit is the background birdsong from the Hong Kong Story exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of History.

You can only hear the sound but cannot actually see the birds.

It seems that the repetitively chirping birds cannot fly out of the museum. Now that Hong Kong Story is closed for renovation, I recorded surreptitiously the sounds of insects and birds in the background of the Hong Kong Museum of History in Whisper, and released it to the public using a speaker.

Lau spent all his wages earned in prison on books, breaking through the confinement of physical space with knowledge.

His stubborn reading behavior was once ridiculed by other inmates, but in the end he influenced them, and started a reading trend in Meizhou Prison.

The nature of prisons is not the infrastructure but the violence that incarcerates freedom. Under authoritarianism, every organization can become a prison. As believers, we can only believe that the

nature of the Church is not a wall that restricts movement, but a faith that penetrates us. Unknown Church is a work that transplants the cross to unknown buildings in Gwangju, South Korea, using different shooting angles. The last building is the Chinese Consulate in Gwangju. Let me tell you, Francis: The people removing the cross are in Hong Kong.

Another work about traversing borders is Cross Border Convictions, in which I commit acts illegal in other parts of the world but not in Hong Kong, to show the remaining freedoms left in Hong Kong.

Take Off Your Left Shoe Upon Entry is a rule that wonders whether time can make us accustomed to such a ridiculous thing. Ten Years is about the life plan of a brick: Some people choose mortgages, and others choose other things.

A reminder from a friend who is concerned about CIC: The text that mentions “CIC prisoners” does not seem to be appropriate.

Those who are detained have either not committed any crime or have already been convicted and served their sentence, hence it is more appropriate to use the term “CIC detainees”.

在全球肺炎疫情的持續影響下，社會和每個人都產生了巨大的變化。人們的計劃 一而再地延後甚至取消，打亂了世界不斷講求效率的運行模式。生活在香港的我 們經歷了去年的社會運動，日常生活早在疫情爆發前已起了不同程度的變化。當 生活難以掌控，未來亦更無可預計。藝術機構都面臨嚴峻的考驗，部分藝術從業 員或藝術家的生計更陷入無以為繼的困難。在此景況下，藝術承擔着什麼樣的角 色，而藝術家的位置又在哪裡？ 程展緯多年來一直活躍遊走於創作者和觀察者的角色，常以第一身的角度直接介 入社會，如寫建議信及利用顧客投訴系統等方法來揭示失衡的社會系統，以及於 報紙專欄或個人社交媒體上發表他的日常發現，以引起大眾或媒體的關注。《椅 子運動》致力為一群需長期站立的勞動階層如保安、收銀員和客戶服務員爭取合 理的工作條件。程展緯在臉書發起「放工後打工仔撐未放工打工仔運動」來重建 人與人之間的聯繫。於另一持續進行的項目《臥底》中，他任職不同的基層崗位 進行第一手觀察，並籌辦另類的勞工運動以爭取他們應有的尊嚴。近年他關注清 潔工友的工作安全狀況，試圖揭示外判制度下的剝削，更反覆追索政策下垃圾處 理的根本問題。 展覽以當前政治與社會的現況為出發點，探討我們在當下的共同感覺，藉着作品 指出社會上不同角落的掙扎，顯現人們在制度下的無奈及無力感。程展緯並非意 圖直指特定的社會議題，而是希望透過此展覽中的各式裝置及參與式作品來開啟 觀眾的多重感官，引導觀眾感受真實生活環境中異化的節奏及荒謬。正如電影《22 世紀殺人網絡》中「母體錯誤」的現象，當主角身處由「母體」系統創造的虛擬 世界出現數據錯亂時，會引致某些事物被更改或不合常理地重複出現，令主角常 徘徊在「似曾相識」和「舊事如新」的感覺之間。程展緯以此意象為展覽命名， 比喻我們身處在荒誕的生活日常之感受。 對於程展緯來說，一切已經轉變，已不能重回昔日的日常。因此，對於展覽中的 多件舊作以當下的語境重新閱讀，對應着現今社會的荒誕狀態。疫情終究會過去， 我們生活中的反常會否成了「日常」，人們會否對異況習以為常？當每個人作為 時代的共同體，縱然系統（生活）看似如常運作，但程展緯提醒我們要留心難以 捉摸的日常，提防「系統重覆出錯」所製造的幻象。

何思穎

Society and individuals have been greatly affected by the ongoing pandemic, which has upended plans and disrupted the efficiency-oriented ways of our world. Hong Kong has experienced a surge in social movements since the middle of last year, so for many people in Hong Kong, daily life had already transformed to varying degrees even before Covid-19 began to spread. As life spirals out of control, the future looks increasingly unpredictable. When art institutions are facing great challenges, and artists and other art workers’ livelihoods are under threat, what role does art play and what position does the artist occupy?

Over the years, Luke Ching has been actively alternating between being an observer and a creator, intervening in society by submitting letters and complaints, writing for newspaper columns, and posting his daily discoveries on social media, drawing the public and the media’s attention to the imbalances within our social systems. In Chair Movement, Ching campaigned for fairer working conditions for workers who spend long hours standing, such as security guards, cashiers, and customer service agents. He started the movement “off-duty employees in solidarity with on-duty employees” on Facebook to rebuild the connections between individuals. As part of another ongoing project Undercover, he got himself employed in several blue-collar jobs, using his observations to start labour movements to campaign for workers’ dignity. In recent years, Ching started paying particularly close attention to the working conditions of street cleaners, attempting to reveal the exploitation of contracted workers while repeatedly interrogating the mismanagement of waste under current policies.

The exhibition departs from our current social and political situation to explore the experience of ‘daily life’ that we all share. It sheds a light upon struggles in various corners of society in order to reveal the weakness and helplessness of the individual under the system. Ching does not address one social issue point-blank; instead, through various installations and participatory works that activate a multisensory experience, he guides the audience through the rhythm of alienation and absurdities of real life. In the film The Matrix, when there is a glitch in the virtual world, things appear out of joint, leading the film’s protagonist to feel caught between a sense of déjà vu and jamais vu. Thus, Ching named the exhibition Glitch in the Matrix as a metaphor for how we feel when caught in the follies of daily life.

For Ching, everything has changed and cannot return to how it used to be. Situated in the current context, the early works on view in the exhibition resonate with the farcical times of today. The pandemic will eventually be over, but will we be inured to our new ‘routines’ that are otherwise unusual? As we’re bound together by common beliefs in these times, Ching reminds us to stay alert to our fickle ‘routines’ even though the system (life) seems to be in a business as usual mode, and to be cautious of the illusions borne out of glitches in the system.

Celia Ho

BOARD

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