'Whole, Semi and Skimmed' in Brent's Respect Festival 2009

My project ‘Whole, Semi and Skimmed’ was selected and commissioned by the Brent Artists Resources to be shown at the Brent’s Respect Festival 2009 on 5 July. In responding to the green theme of the festival, the project was to create an awareness of environmental issues rather than offering solutions. It demonstrates one of the many sustainable possibilities for the discarded.

Overall view of the installation

My aim was to deliver a light-hearted idea - to provide a temporary ‘English countryside experience’ to Roundwood Park. From a wider perspective, the project subtly indicates that things are interconnected and how a chain reaction started by a milk bottle can affect our living environment.

Brent Artists resources was calling for submission

The project solely uses plastic milk bottles in various sizes, allowing the viewer to take a new look at how the mundane can be turned into something extra-ordinary, and the familiar can be transformed and appreciated as something new or ambiguous.

The project makes up of a total of 48 sheep uses approximately 960 bottles to construct the body, and 1,300 of the bottle handles to construct the legs. The bottles are mainly collected from Brent’s Reuse and Recycling Centre in Park Royal (at least once) in a weekly basis from 5th May 2009 onward, but also through contributions from friends and colleagues.

The plastic milk bottles were mainly collected from Brent's Reuse and Recycling Centre

I visited the centre at least once a week to dip into their bin to find the bottles

My friend Leslie helped me to transport the work to the site

At the site, hot melt glue was used to assemble the legs together

The festival crew gave a helping hand to transport the work in the park

Using bamboo sticks to stabilize the sheep

It took around 2 hours to install a total of 48 sheep

Some of the sheep were requested to be installed at the Green market

The views from the higher ground where people relaxing, taking picture and having a closer look

A couple of views from the lower ground by the flower bed

Some of the viewers choose to interact with the piece


My wife and some friends were helping me to de-install the work

Credit:

BAR (Brent Artists Resources): Lorenzo Belengeur.
Brent Council: Sophie Rigg, Vashti Waite, Radhika Silvapulle
Brent Reuse and Recycling Centre: Mr Brean and the team
Respect Festival 09: Crews and Security team

Soho Cafe (in Hendon Library): Monica
Hendon Library: Georgia, Maria, Ann Messere and others who contributed the bottles
Royal Free Hospital: to all staff who brought me the bottles
Friends & Relative: Leslie Ngu, Adam Tipple, Dong Won, Lai & Ti, Mui & Jack, and Estee & Kevin, and my Wife.

The Affluenza Exhibition, 19 - 28 March 2009

The Affluenza Exhibition publicity material


























Oliver James' book 'Affluenza'


In March 2009, I took part in an art exhibition called ‘The Affluenza Exhibition’; the name of the exhibition is taken from the book ‘Affluenza’ by Oliver James who uses the term to describe the ‘painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.’ The exhibition aims to illuminate the effects that current consumer values have on people’s emotional health and to create a platform for open debate.






















An artist impression of 'circumrotation' from my proposal to
The Affluenza Exhibition selection panel


‘The Affluenza Exhibition’ includes the work of 38 artists spanning a variety of artistic disciplines. Both established and young, up-and-coming artists present their works at the 10,000 square feet former meat packing factory, which accommodate everything from performance events to large-scale installation works. All the artists have been selected by a panel of art professionals: Jonathan Barnbrook (Barnbrook Design), Silvia Sgualdini (Lisson Gallery), Michael Zerwinski (Design Museum) and Hege Sæbjørnsen (Project Manager). I have two pieces of work being selected for the exhibition, there are ‘Circumrotation, 2009’ and ‘Labelling Tags Attached to a Clothe, 2003’.





















Installing Circumrotation





















Circumrotation, 2009

‘Circumrotation’ consists a constellation of shoes hanging overhead in a large circle to explore a sense of ‘trapped’ in human living conditions. The idea of a circle has a meaning of infinite in an Eastern context. In the West, it can be related to religious paintings in Byzantium and Middle Ages periods that depict spirituality. The piece is hung approximately six-and-a-half foots above the floor where it provides a rare moment for the viewer to observe the bottoms of the shoes. The worn areas under the shoes suggest the trace of footwork and a journey of our life that indicates time. On one hand, the piece embodies the life of many who live in endless pursuit of power, wealth, or possession. They suffer from imprisoning themselves in competitions, making comparison, and in fear of falling behind; unaware that they trapped in the circle of no beginning and no end, no sense of first and last. On the other hand, it may also be seen as portraying life revolves in causality, what goes round comes around. People and things are interconnected and co-arising as suggested in the teaching of ‘Oneness’ in Eastern philosophy.




















Labelling Tags Attached to a Clothe, 2003

‘Labelling Tags Attached to a Clothe’ put our external world, clothing, and labelling tag into interaction and married their long term relationship to explore a sense of ‘attachment’ that submerges within our inner world. The intention was to allow the physical appearance of the piece to bewilder or mislead the viewer with the paradox of real and unreal, it interacts with the exhibition space in an attempt to present the sculpture close to the everyday. The piece also makes connection to a reality of life where negative aspects of things and human being could be intentionally buried under a blanket of attractive appearance.





















Closed up view

I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Leslie Ngu for offering his kindness help to install the work. My thanks also goes to the Affluenza exhibition team, Chelsey, Hege and the rest of the members for their kindness support during the installation and the show. I would also like to say thank you to those who kindly offered their shoes for this project: Debbie (Cancer Research Charity Shop, Finchley), Sue and Linda (Oxfam Charity Shop, Burnt Oak), and Staffs from Cancer Research Mill Hill Broadway. Also, to my friends working in Royal Free Hospital PJ, Ebru, Germaine, Sandra, Shaim, Hanna, and Julia; Friends from London Metropolitan University Mika, Won, and Maurizio; colleague from Church End Library Chairmaine, Heather, Eileen; my friends William Chen, Hua Kuan, and Ruo Bing, my relative Estee and Kevin. Love and special thanks also go to my wife Yvonne Wong who suffered from illness and admitted to the hospital during the exhibition.





















Private view evening, 19 Mar 09


The Affluenza Exhibition
20 – 28 March 2009, 10am to 6pm

187-211, St. John Street Clerkenwell,
London EC1

Nearest tube: Angel (Approx. 12 minutes walk)

P.s. My involvement in The Affluenza Exhibition also reports in the Chinese Designers' Region blog. Please follow this link:

http://www.cdregion.com/blog/2009/03/chong-boon-pok-at-the-affluenza-exhibition/

‘Vacanza 度假’ project in Toffia, Italy

‘Vacanza’ meaning holiday or vacation in English was an exhibition took place in Toffia's art festival between 13th and 17th August 2008. The result of the collaboration between Ruobing Wang and members of '33 Officina Creativa' from Toffia brought together six artists of Chinese descend to explore a light-hearted theme based on holiday. When translated into Chinese, the title for the exhibition is ‘度假’ (du jia).

Artists took part were Yak Beow Seah, Poh Mui Tan, Thau Yin Lee (Jeffrey), Hua Kuan Sai, the curator Ruo Bing Wang, myself and with voluntary help from my wife Cheng Heong Wong. We are a group of Chinese artists came from China, Malaysia and Singapore respectively and studied fine art in the UK.

A view of Toffia. Image by Ruobing

With a population of approximately 1000, Toffia is a village with Medieval and Roman history. On describing Toffia, the curator Ruobing Wang said, “Searching through Internet, it is not difficult to find Toffia described as a charming ancient medieval village, offering tourists not only incredible visual pleasure such as the untouched landscape of rolling hills, olive trees and wine groves, but also spoiling them with locally produced healthy vegetables, oil and delicious Italian cuisine. Only 30 miles north of Rome, Toffia was built on a wedge-shaped spur of rock with an obvious defensive purpose during the medieval period. The extraordinary position at the hilltop also bestows on Toffia a contemporary value. Today Toffia has less purpose as a place of residency than a suburban holiday resort supplying cultural and natural needs for the city dwellers nearby. Nor is this an isolated case: there are many such villages nearby experiencing similar circumstances, for example Farfa and Fara in Sabina. And this is precisely the reason why the appearance of Toffia struck us collectively a temptingly like a holiday, even though we come from various social and political backgrounds.”

A street scene of Toffia. Image by C. B. Pok

Wang sees ‘Vacanza’ as “an experimental and controversial attempt in fusing the two rich and enduring civilizations of Chinese and Medieval European culture. Art by Chinese artists has gathered great momentum in recent years, appearing throughout the international art scene since the 1990s, most frequently in the sophisticated big cities such as Roma, Berlin, London and New York. In this sense, an exhibition of Chinese artists in the remote medieval village of Toffia is worthy of exploration… ‘Holiday [Vacanza exhibition]’, therefore, brings with it a multinational, multicultural and yet globalized context to Toffia’s local residents, and, of course, the large number of summer holiday tourists too.”

Entrance to the gallery and publicity poster. Image by Ruobing

Another publicity material. Image by Ruobing

My wife and I arrived late in Toffia on 15th August (the exhibition started on 13th August) due to a pre-booked holiday to Istanbul before I was informed about the project. Unfortunately, we also arrived in Toffia with food poisoning on us; and I recovered a few days after I came back to London.

However, with the help of the rest of the artists in the group, I managed to present two pieces of work for the exhibition. ‘Free Sample’ was an eatable sculpture uses olive oil, a cooking ingredient that every Italian family uses for their cooking and at the same time a local produce in Toffia, to mix with the Chinese’s sesame oil. The mixture was then filled in small sampling bottles and displayed on a small table for the visitors to take away free for their cooking or mix with their salads.

My 'Free Sample' work. Image by C. B. Pok

A closed-up view of 'Free Sample'. Image by Sarah L'Epée

Another piece was a cooking performance with the rest of the exhibiting artists, it uses ‘fusilli’, one of the most commonly used ingredients in Italian cooking to stir fried Malaysian style. All the food in our culinary performance was served free to the visitors.

A scene from my fusilli stir-fried Malaysian style cooking performance. Image by Ruobing

A closed-up view of my cooking performance. Image by Ruobing

My works for the ‘Vacanza’ exhibition choose the most commonly used food ingredients and cooking method in both Italian and Chinese’s everyday life to engage with the gallery space and the people of Toffia. It interprets my personal experience while I am away on holiday or lived in foreign land; it is a celebration of the culture where I come from and the culture of the holiday destination. Or, in much general term, the works revolve around the notion of celebration of cultural hybridization; as well as embody a sense of connecting, exchanging, and conviviality. For 'Free Sample', the idea of work of art can be sampled free and come back for more later is ambiguos and debatable.

Mui and Seah's Curry-puff performance, Jeffery and Ruobing were helping. Image by Ruobing

(From left) Mui, Hua Kuan, Yvonne and Jeff in the 'Kui Kar Pek' or 'Love letters' making. Image by Ruobing

'Mama' is preparing a homemade pasta for the hard working volunteers and artists. Image by Ruobing

Mui and Seah's 'Hum Chim Pen' performance. Image by Ruobing

Mui's paper aeroplanes installation using papers from travel guide book. Image by Ruobing

Seah's Untitled, lemons and chopsticks installation. Image by Ruobing

Jeffery Lee and Ruobing's collaborative projection (left) and Hui Kuan's photograph interacts with an existing bell in the space. Image by Ruobing

Another of Hua Kuan's photograph installation. Image by Ruobing

Ruobing's installation using sound recorded in Toffia and old documents found in the space. Image by Ruobing

A closed-up view of Ruobing's installation. Image by Ruobing

The recipe for my stir-fried fusilli piece (suitable for vegetarian):

Ingredients one:
Oil
Garlic (Chopped)
Bean sprout
Onion (sliced)
Green and red pepper (sliced)
Carrot (sliced)

Ingredient two:
Fusilli (boiled according to the instruction on the packaging)

Ingredients three:
Dark soy sauce
Light soy sauce
Salt and white pepper
Sesame oil
Sugar
Water

Ingredient four:
Egg

Methods:
1. Heat up a wok to a right cooking temperature.
2. Pour some oil and place the garlic in the wok.
3. Put the rest of the ‘ingredients one’ in the wok and follows by ‘ingredient two’
4. Put all the ‘ingredients three’ in the wok, stir fry and well mix them for about a minute.
5. Put the egg inside the mixture; stir fry for about another 30 seconds and serve.

For further reading about the ‘Vacanza’ project please follow these links to Italian art writer and curator Emanuele Sbardella’s blog:

http://emanuelesbardella.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/vacanzaproject_toffia2008/

http://emanuelesbardella.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/progettovacanza_da-stir-a-vacanza/

http://emanuelesbardella.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/vacanzaproject_untitled/#comment-40

For information about Toffia please follow this link:

http://www.sabina.it/comuni-i/toffia-i.html

'Cutting Edge' event at the V&A Museum's Friday Late

‘Cutting Edge’ was one of the side events for the ‘China Design Now’ exhibition at the V&A Museum, the event took place on 26 June 2008 was commission by V&A and supported by French Connection.

Cutting Edge publicity material


The CD-R (Chinese Designers’ Region) group was invited to organize this event. William Hailiang Chen, one of the CD-R directors and also the curator of the event mentioned that he inspired by the mosaic floor ornament design on V&A’s flooring and relate it to traditional Chinese paper cutting. He decided to invite members of public visiting the event to pick up a pair of scissors and join the CD-R members to create a paper-cutting installation in ‘Cutting Edge’. The installation then ran along the floor of the museum like a carpet strip. At the end of the night, the visitors were also allowed to take a piece home.


Another event alongside the ‘Cutting Edge’ event was the ‘Sound Message Board’ which was organized by the CD-R members. Devised by sound artist Zhu Tiantian, the installation creates ‘live sound-scape’ in response to people’s aural messages. Members of public were invited to write their message on their textured message boards with improvised writing instruments to hear their ideas resonant.

Participant designers and artists:

Yue Bei, William Hailiang Chen, Stephanie Foy, Beidi Guo, Chloe Liu, Lei Liu, Yan Pan, Chong Boon Pok(Andrew), Kar Paik Soon, Mei Fong Tam, Tom Tong, Zhe Wang, Susu Xu, Yan Yan, Can Can Yang, Ann Xiao and Jing Zhang

About CD-R

CDR is a non-profit organisation embarked from the first meeting with Get It Louder curator Ou Ning in April 2006 and later also ‘Post Awakening’ party at William Hailiang Chen’s flat on 8th October 2006. The group has been holding a number of meetings and tried to curate a collective exhibition for almost 2 years now. For further information about CD-R please visit visit www.cdregion.com

I designed and pre-prepared a 2-D Chinese ornament pattern that has butterflies and flowers motif for the event. The design was then cut out from a piece of designated colour paper and laid on the museum floor, it was meant to be fixed in one of the boxes of the museum floor’s ornamental design. At the event, I invited members of public to have a hand on experience on paper butterflies cutting using old magazines’ papers that can be then transformed into 3-D butterfly. Their cut-outs matched my design in an evolutional manner (from monotone 2-D to colorful 3-D), and displayed on the floor up to the pillar next to my design.

Drawing for my idea

Experiments of the butterfly cutting

The cutting technique demonstration


Members of the public took part in the paper cutting

Some of the paper buttleflies displayed on the pillar

China Earthquake Charity Fundraising Exhibition

The 7.9 magnitude Earthquake that shook the China’s Szechuan province recently has taken more than 68,000 lives and injured more than 300,000 people.

Publicity image for the exhibition

Ruo Bing Wang is an artist from the Szechuan province area; and also the curator for the China Earthquake Charity Fundraising Exhibition that took place at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art on 25 and 26 June 2008. Wang said, “As an artist from the disaster-affected area, I hope to help [the victims] through the way I know best: through art."

Entrance to the exhibition

She organised the charity exhibition which was supported by 26 artists that includes herself, Chay TuckMeng, Mohamed Bushara, Juliana Amaral Leite, Richard Wentworth, Maria Glyka, Madhushree Acharya-Baskerville, Daria Martin, Vassillis Viastaras, Jim Hobbs, Emma Kwan, Carali McCall, Marie Roux, Niyi Olagunju, Aaron Marcovy, Michael James Jones and Henningham Family Press, Yvonne Kyriakides, He Weimin, Metod Blejec, Zanchary Gvirtzman, Brano Gnastalla, Hua Kuan Sai, Jeffery Lee, Poh Mui Tan, Yak Beow Seah, Bie Tu, Ler Tu and myself.

Chinese tea, cookies and T-shirt were sold to raise extra money


The exhibition which was later extended to 29 June managed to raise a total of £1,377.39. Works of art, Earthquake T-shirt, Chinese tea and cookies were sold during the exhibition and all money received went to the Red Cross Society of China.

A scene at the exhibition

Another corner of the exhibition

Richard Wentworth's photograph work (top right)

One of my cranes work: Swan Cigarette Paper Folded into Cranes, 2000

Two original prints I found in a car boot sale by an unknow artist were sold

Another original print bought in the same car boot sale was also sold

'Nice to Meet You' in 'Paradise Stories' exhibition

My shadow tracing project called ‘Nice to Meet You’ was in an exhibition entitled ‘Paradise Stories’, the exhibition was organised by Kai-Oi Jay Yung in the quest of what constitute the notion of paradise. It took place in the International Gallery, Liverpool between 4th and 21^st March 2008.

Brushes and different tones of grey paints were prepared for the event

What is paradise? There are three interpretations to this in Oxford English Dictionary: 1. (In some religions) heaven as the place wher the good live after death. 2. The Garden of Eden. 3. An ideal or idyllic place or state. Personally, I see paradise exists in our mental space, it is when a person letting go of all things, being free and living in a calm state of mind.

Audiences were tracing each other's shadow during the exhibition

In ‘Nice to Meet You’, I wanted to experiment a drawing and installation through the interaction between audiences tracing each other’s shadows. It sets up in a room with a single light bulb hanging down from the middle of the ceiling. The shadows of the audiences were cast on the wall as they entered the room, to allow them to interact and trace the shadows of the people next to them with the brushes and paint provided.

Audiences were tracing each other's shadow during the exhibition

In drawing, when we make marks we situate ourselves within a drawing in relation to what we see. Hence in ‘Nice to Meet You’, when the audiences trace a human shadow they situate themselves in relation to the person they were tracing that constitute what is present to us as we are – a web of transient and fluxional interrelationship. Paradise may be found in a web of interconnection that is made up of calm, peaceful and friendly individual.

A scene in the room where audiences left their marks

A closer scene