Future Industries: recent exhibitions (November 2011 – June 2012)

Future Industries — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 10:39:58 +0000

Recently, Future Industries curated two major art exhibitions, both in Hong Kong. The first was ‘Traces: on the road again‘, a photography exhibition in November 2011 by Hong Kong based artist anothermountainman (Stanley Wong) showcased in a high-rise commercial building situated in Central. The small and previous office space was converted into a typical ‘white cube’ gallery space displaying two series of photography prints, which explores the persistence of the past in the face of tumultuous change. The space was situated on the 21st floor and consisted of two main rooms, each showcasing a separate series, which was joined by a central room with a large balcony displaying a panoramic view of the Soho/Central district.

The second art exhibition was a joint exhibition and installation with the ‘Daydreaming With…James Lavelle‘ exhibition. This was originally a show based in the UK, curated by James Lavelle, who is a world famous DJ and long time friend of Simon Birch. The Hong Kong edition of ‘Daydreaming With…’, curated by Simon and James and presented by Future Industries, celebrates artforms that cross borders between the sense, and consists of sculpture, film, photography, painting and performance, all featured as a response to music – much of which is composed exclusively by UNKLE, James’ band. The idea of bringing the show to Hong Kong and making it international was birthed when Simon and James decided to merge their teams together and feature most of the original artists in ‘Daydreaming With…’ as well as artists in Asia. The artists features work by leading European artists such as 3D (from the band Massive Attack), Polly Borland, Ian Monroe, American graffiti legend Futura 2000, new work by former LMF star Prodip Leung, an installation by Turner Prize nominee Nathan Coley, a film installation by Doug Foster, and video art specifically produced for the exhibition by Wing Shya and Daniel Wu.
The show opened on May 4th, 2012 with a whopping number of 1500+ guests who attended the opening party, and was generally very well received by the public throughout the exhibition period.

Future Industries is still currently developing future projects with artists from Los Angeles, Beijing, and Hong Kong for 2012, and hopefully bringing some of the past shows across country borders.

Future Industries: recent exhibitions (2010 – 2011)

admin — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 05:14:35 +0000

Future Industries curated three major art exhibitions in Spring-Summer 2011, two in Hong Kong and one in Beijing. Through these projects, Future Industries has begun to develop a new model of the art gallery by creating temporary and dramatic new spaces for artists to show their work. Displayed at the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences was a dual exhibition by two Hong Kong based artists, Simon Birch and Prodip. In the main museum building, which was converted into a ‘white cube’ gallery space, was ‘Laughing with a Mouthful of Blood’, where Simon Birch returned to oil and canvas, exhibiting a series of large-scale figurative paintings. The museum annex within the gardens of the museum was restored to showcase a series of paintings by Prodip, largely inspired by UFO phenomena. In this joint exhibition, Future Industries used two distinct areas of the same space to present the work of the two artists, enabling visitors to experience both Birch’s and Prodip’s exhibitions alongside each other, as part of Future Industries work to represent and exhibit contemporary artists in the Asia region.

Further afield in mainland China, Future Industries also curated a Beijing-based project, exhibiting the large-scale multimedia installation, ‘Hope and Glory; A Conceptual Circus by Simon Birch’. This critically acclaimed exhibition originally opened at the ArtisTree, Taikoo Place in Hong Kong in April 2010 and has since been relocated and reassembled in Beijing, at G-Dot Art Space in the Song Zhuang Eastern Art District, with a new direction and emphasis. The ‘circus’ consists of a series of films, sculptures, paintings and structural environments, taking the audience on a fascinating and immersing adventure through a metaphorical world created by the artist, Simon Birch. Just as the archetypal circus brought together spectacular “sideshows” from all over the world to create a multi-sensory allegory of foreign adventure, in ‘Hope and Glory; A Conceptual Circus by Simon Birch,’ Birch brought together artists, designers, musicians, filmmakers, photographers, actors, gaming wizards, and architects, from Hong Kong and abroad to create his incredible spectacle.

Future Industries is currently developing future projects with its artists in London, Los Angeles, Beijing, and Hong Kong for 2011-2012.