We’re no strangers to seeing creative use of public spaces, like that bus stop in Jurong East that has been “possibly the world’s best bus stop” because of its swings, books, bicycle parking, charging outlets, a rooftop garden and artwork by a local illustrator. Or the beautiful and charming golden staircase (though what’s left is a memento of something that created conversations about the way Singaporeans think). But this one tops it: Hong Kong interdisciplinary and conceptual artist Kingsley Ng Siu King will be transforming two of the city’s public trams into moving camera obscuras as part of Art Basel Hong Kong.
His work, titled Twenty-Five Minutes Older, will be open to public from Mar 20-28 while the leading contemporary art show itself will take place on Mar 23-25 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The work will see projections of street images inside of the tram, accompanied by spoken extracts from famous novel writer Liu Yichang’s Tête-bêche; the same novel that inspired Wong Kar Wai’s In The Mood For Love. The work was last presented in 2016 as part of Human Vibrations—the exhibition segment of The 5th Large-Scale Public Media Art Exhibition—in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s Arts Development Council.
Apart from Ng’s moving piece and the other works from 242 galleries across 34 countries that’ll be on show at this year’s Art Basel, there’s another piece of art that’s worth mentioning. There’ll be a screening of The Nameless, a film by Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nye which comprises of movie clips of famous Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai and revolves around Lai Teck, a secretary general working for the Malayan Community Party who also happens to be a triple agent for the French, British and Japanese governments.
Prior registration is required for the event. Find out more here.
ESSENTIALS
Getting there
Several airlines fly between Singapore and Hong Kong. Flights start at $267 on Tigerair Singapore and $158 for Jetstar Airways (but only if you leave the country in April).
Currency
$1 = HKD$5.49
