Only the Lonely

​Nadim ABBAS
WANG Tuo 

1 September - 29 September 2018
Opening: Saturday, 1 September 2018, 4-7 pm

In this exhibition, Hong Kong artists Nadim ABBAS and Beijing-based WANG Tuo join forces to create a site-specific mixed-media and video installation. Although they work in different mediums, the two artists share a fascination for urban subcultures, especially the world of manga and anime enthusiasts. In their work, the artists use this phenomenon as a lens through which they explore different concepts of reality.

Both take inspiration from the figure of the otaku - a Japanese term referring generally to a person with obsessive interests, and more specifically to a fan of manga and anime. Many otaku prefer the imaginary world to the real one, some to the point of withdrawing completely from society and refusing to leave their rooms for years. In Japan, an estimated 500,000 people, most of them young men, live as domestic hermits, also called hikikomori.

ABBAS has repeatedly used otaku culture as a starting point for his mixed-media installations. His work is less concerned with the figure of the otaku himself; it rather deals with the kind of space that gives rise to the mindset of manga and anime fans. In past installations, the artist has employed objects such as floor lamps or houseplants to indicate a domestic setting, and has occasionally asked performers to inhabit the gallery space.

In this installation, ABBAS uses ordinary components such as mass-produced furniture and other everyday items. By manipulating and combining elements such as room dividers, bookshelves and a free-standing door frame, he creates objects that play with the tension between separation and permeability. Otaku culture is only one of many reference points in these works; they also carry erotic undertones as well as hints of horror.

WANG's contribution, the three-channel video installation "Spiral", draws parallels between the world of architecture and that of the otaku in order to explore the complex relationship between space and desire. Live-action segments show an architect both in the office, where he uses a computer to design the blueprint for a spiral staircase, and at home, where he surrounds himself with anime figurines. In this way, the video reveals a kinship between the blueprint of the architect and the two-dimensional aesthetics favoured by the otaku. In other scenes, it compares the role of the architect to that of a manga artist, and suggests that they interact with their surroundings in a similar way.

WANG's work highlights the underlying tension between the simplified world of blueprints and anime characters on the one hand and the reality of offices and apartments on the other. Trying to translate the former into the latter can be considered an act of aggression. The blueprint of an architect can be turned into a real structure, but the finished building inevitably exercises power over its users. "There is no architecture without violence", as the French-Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi has pointed out. According to WANG, the two-dimensional space of manga and anime may carry a similar potential for violence.

唐納天
王拓 

《Only the Lonely》

2018年9月1日至9月29日

開幕：9月1日(星期六)下午4時至7時

香港藝術家唐納天和居於北京的王拓，合作創造場域特定混合媒介及錄像裝置。兩人雖從事不同媒介創作，但同時著迷於都市次文化，特別是動漫迷流連沈醉的特殊世界。作品透過這種現象，窺看「現實」的不同面貌。

兩位藝術家的靈感均來自御宅族--他們熱衷於某種專門嗜好，特別是動畫及漫畫；對於他們來說，幻想世界往往逾越現存世界。亦有脫離社會者足不出戶，他們被稱為蟄居族，日本大約有50萬名這類隱蔽家中的人士，並以年輕男性為主。

唐納天常以御宅族文化為出發點，創作混合媒介裝置，但重點並非探討宅人本身，而是呈現萌生其思維軌跡的空間。在以往的裝置作品中，藝術家曾經以座地燈和室內盆栽等物件暗喻家居環境，也偶爾邀請表演者居於藝廊空間。

今次他利用大量生產家具和日常用品等普通現成物，將屏風、書架和獨立門框等元素結合，作品彰顯隔離與滲透的張力。空間內也暗藏慾望與恐怖，御宅族文化只是其中一個參考點。

王拓的三頻道錄像裝置《漩渦》通過探索建築與御宅族世界的可相比擬之處，來探討空間和慾望的複雜聯繫。影像裏的建築師，在辦公室裏設計旋轉樓梯的電腦藍圖，而在家中的他，身旁滿是動漫模型。在王拓的錄像裏，建築師的設計藍圖，似乎與御宅族喜愛的二次元美學存在於同一個維度。作品中的建築師與漫畫師，都使用類似的方式與周遭互動。

簡化的設計藍圖和動漫人物，以及由辦公室和公寓構成的真實世界之間的拉扯狀態，都在作品中一一呈現。由前者過渡至後者，可以是一種挑釁行為。建築師的藍圖可轉化成真實的建築物，但完成物將無可避免地擁有凌駕使用者之上的權力。「任何建築都是一種暴力。」法瑞建築師Bernard Tschumi曾經這樣說過，而這件作品也暗示二次元世界的潛在暴力。