Installation view of "+852 GHOST-JPG" at PHD Group, Hong Kong, 2024. Photo by Felix SC Wong.  

Driving along Highway 17 to Marfa, Texas, spectators have for many years reported seeing strange lights in the sky. Described as fuzzy glowing tufts, colored cirrus streaks, or giant luminous spheres, these lights often materialize at random but are curiously active: they can catch viewers off guard, flying at high speed, or float away, distant, and aloof 🌌.


Known as the Marfa Lights, or Marfa Ghost Lights, the phenomenon has birthed dozens of conspiracy theories, from benevolent aliens 🛸 and oracular spirits to car reflections 🚘 and static electricity in the arid deserts. The true cause of their existence appears almost inconsequential; our fixation with these visions seems less about the lights themselves, and more about our desire to touch the ineffable.


In 2022, Hong Kong artist Wong Kit Yi embarked on a residency at The Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, where she discovered the Marfa Lights while researching the archives of Donald Judd. Looking at Judd’s freestanding sculptures ⬛ and his collection of bagpipe recordings within Marfa’s drifting sands and lights, miles away from her hometown of Hong Kong, the artist began to dig into the layers of the paranormal, bewitched by the relationship between the visible and invisible, and the tangible and intangible spaces that surround us.


The title of the exhibition “+852 GHOST-JPG” is at once a reference to the nostalgic act of dialing phonewords and Wong’s explorations into other realms—the “+852” alluding to both Hong Kong’s area code and a particular sound frequency said to open one’s third eye 👁️. Challenging Brakhage’s “eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective,” the artist moves toward the paranormal layers that make up our visual experience, upending ideas of the earthly and the singular. As the visitor enters the exhibition, a simulacrum of a living room—a domestic space in which television 📺 is traditionally watched, and paintings 🖼️ are looked at—becomes an arena of spectral entertainment. Doors and sofas are multiplied; a series of “paintings” mirror each other; the double-sided video screen has no clear back or front. The visitor also becomes enmeshed in this expanded video installation, walking through the rooms like a character in a sequence of near-identical frames 🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️🚶🏻‍♀️.


Reaching Wong’s video work in the central space, 

 (2022-24), the viewer is invited to sit on the circular, sandy sofas, and temporarily mimic a non-moving object (or a West Texas desert cactus 🌵). In front of them, moving images and words ruminate on the various research elements that fueled the exhibition: graveyards, angel numbers, hidden frequencies, Hong Kong’s colonial-era TV funerals, ghost images 👻, Donald Judd, trash bagpipes, and the railroad workers who worked on Marfa’s train tracks in the 1800s. By blending found documentary and home video-style clips and image stills, Wong references various modalities of video, cemented in her signature karaoke lecture performances: videos that feature running subtitles as seen in karaoke 🎤, combined with research elements typical of a lecture 👩🏻‍🏫, and the occasional song🎵.


In blurring the lines between the moving and non-moving, earth-bound truths and spiritual speculations, Wong presents an instability around our perceived realities. Two languages—English and traditional Chinese—are viewed in the subtitles, yet a third, largely untranslatable dialect of slang Cantonese can be heard over the speakers, disrupting the notion that languages and nations are fixed, stable, or even fully legible. A shorter companion video about Hong Kong, 

 (2024), echoes the unresolved from a hidden space within the exhibition, suggesting that there are even more layers to uncover, and inviting visitors to dig a little deeper 🌌.

Exhibitions

Installation view of "Xi Jiu: Forging the Swords" at PHD Group, 2024.  Photo by Felix SC Wong. Courtesy the artist and PHD Group.

The King's Concubine Gave Birth to a Piece of Iron

Installation view of "Xi Jiu: Forging the Swords" at PHD Group, 2024.  Photo by Felix SC Wong. Courtesy the artist and PHD Group. 





“Twenty years ago, the king's concubine gave birth to a piece of iron which they said she conceived after embracing an iron pillar. It was pure, transparent iron. The king, realizing that this was a rare treasure, decided to have it made into a sword with which to defend his kingdom, kill his enemies and ensure his own safety. As ill luck would have it, your father was chosen for the task, and in both hands he brought the iron home. He tempered it day and night for three whole years, until he had forged two swords.”

Written in the aftermath of a bloody anti-warlord demonstration in 1926, Lu Xun’s dark tale “

” (translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang) has long been the subject of curiosity for readers of his work. The short story opens with a young village boy, at turns observing and provoking a rat drowning in a pot. As he approaches the dawn of his sixteenth birthday, his mother recounts a story previously unknown to him: about his father’s murder, and a duo of transparent swords at the center of a political strategy. Set on an irreversible path of revenge, the boy encounters an unnamed man in a forest, to whom he gives his head, and a megalomaniac king whose golden cauldron becomes their watery battlefield, and final resting place.



Lu Xun’s story appears to critique the immorality of violence, laying out a nihilistic view in which all parties involved in conflict, regardless of hierarchy or privilege, meet the same ending. Yet subsequent readings belie the story’s apparent simplicity. What role does gender—consider the mother, the concubine, the female sword, against the three male characters—play in this tale? Who does the unnamed man represent, and why does he sing? Does the boy’s willing severance of his head indicate courage, or foolishness? Honorable sacrifice, or senseless submission?


The 1926 massacre and its death toll of 47 students provides significant context for the story. Yet it is also important to distinguish that elements of “Forging the Swords” exists in stories that predate Lu Xun. Similar folktales have been recorded since the Spring and Autumn and Warring States time periods—notably a time of philosophical and industrial progression, as well as intense warfare—often under the title “The Tomb of Three Kings,” with an emphasis on the mounds of skeletons that are indistinguishable from one another. In his expanded version, however, Lu Xun directs our attention toward the young village boy, a “soft” and indecisive figure transformed by a story from the past. Similarly, Lu Xun appears to have traveled back centuries to find a story that might unveil some truths about his present.



This lineage of retelling mirrors Beijing-based artist Xi Jiu’s own visual interpretations of the tale, painted for a published version of Lu Xun’s story in 2020. Rendered in miniatures, a scene-by-scene critique of sacrifice and submission to violence emerges. Her works embody classical fine lines and color blockings of Chinese gongbi paintings, in particular the tight compositions of social interaction as in 

. In contrast, interstices of transformation are looser in their gestures and phantasmagoric colors, presenting an interiority of self that is fluid, dreamlike, and mysterious. More than simply translate Lu Xun’s story, Xi Jiu has also modernized its scope, lending a softer, feminine, and surrealistic tone to negate the brutal realisms of conflict.



At the beginning of “Forging the Swords,” the young boy, under the instruction of his mother, uncovers the sword that has been buried in the soil since his father’s murder. In doing so, they awaken the dormant, and inevitable, allure of violence. For while the iron as raw material evokes mythological alchemy, birth, and creation, its shadow self as a weapon signals the complexity of death. Across three timelines—from the Warring States period to Lu Xun’s time, and now Xi Jiu’s—we unbury the past, and ask how its tales and stories might continue to tell us about our ever-turbulent world.


PHD Group would like to thank Lorraine Yanan Zeng of Flying Stars, Peter Woo of Folio Beijing, and the Short Story Club for their assistance and inspiration in the creation and development of this exhibition. We are also indebted to Professor Li-hua Ying (1956-2023) of Bard College, whose lessons on Lu Xun fed our minds and fueled our imagination

For further information and media inquiries, please contact Neil Wong (neil@phdgroup.art). For sales inquiries, please contact Willem Molesworth (willem@phdgroup.art) or Ysabelle Cheung (ysabelle@phdgroup.art).



「二十年前，王妃生下了一塊鐵，聽說是抱了一回鐵柱之後受孕的，是一塊純青透明的鐵。大王知道是異寶，便決計用來鑄一把劍，想用它保國，用它殺敵，用它防身。不幸你的父親那時偏偏入了選，便將鐵捧回家裡來，日日夜夜地鍛煉，費了整三年的精神，煉成兩把劍。」



寫於1926年，在充滿血腥與殺戮的北伐戰爭之後，魯迅筆下的黑暗寓言《鑄劍》在多年來一直是讀者們感到好奇的作品。在故事的開端，年輕鄉下男孩眉間尺在半夜觀望以及挑弄一隻在水瓮裏遇溺的老鼠。當男孩迎來他十六歲生日的清晨，他的母親向他敘述了他從前未曾耳聞的往事：他的父親如何被殺害，以及插在一場政治謀略中心的兩把透明寶劍。就此，眉間尺義無反顧地踏上了復仇之路，他在森林中遇見了一位無名的男子，並向他獻上了自己的頭顱。兩人最終來到權慾薰心的國王跟前，王的金鼎化為三人腥風血雨的戰場，最終也成為三人的安息之地。



魯迅似乎在故事內批判暴力的不道德性，闡明了一個虛無主義的觀點：不論地位和權利，所有牽扯在暴力衝突裏的人終將迎來相同的結局。但當進一步深究時，故事表面淺白的假象才被慢慢揭開。當我們思考母親、王妃、雌劍，與故事中相對的三個男性角色時，性別在故事裏扮演了什麼角色？故事中那不知名的男子代表了誰？他又為什麼會唱著歌？眉間尺自願地割下了自己的頭顱，表現出的是勇氣還是愚昧？是英勇的犧牲，還是毫無意義的服從？



在1926年發生的大屠殺和在這場慘劇中犧牲的47名學生為這篇故事提供了重要的背景。然而，我們也必須認知到《鑄劍》這一故事裏的元素比魯迅更早存在於這世上。類似的民間傳說自春秋、戰國時代就已有記載。在那充滿哲學及工業發展、戰亂不斷的時代，故事的標題為《三王墓》，著重描寫了堆積如山的屍骨讓人無法分辨死者的身份。但在魯迅的版本裡，故事聚焦在了眉間尺的身上，這個「軟弱」和躊躇不決的人物被來自過去的故事徹底改變。同樣的，魯迅也追溯到數個世紀以前，期望能從過去的故事裡找尋能借鑑於當下的真相。



對於復述過去故事的傳承對應了藝術家昔酒對《鑄劍》的視覺詮釋，為了2020年出版的繪本《鑄劍》而創作，昔酒在一幅幅微型的畫作中對於犧牲以及向暴力臣服作出了批判。她的作品體現了中國工筆畫的傳統線條和色塊，特別體現在「將有巨變降臨」裏用於刻畫社交互動的緊湊構圖。 與之相對的是描繪變化間隙的畫作，更鬆散的姿態和迷幻的色彩呈現出一個流動、夢幻和神秘的內在自我。昔酒不僅僅是把魯迅的故事通過畫作進行傳譯，更是將其現代化，賦予了一層柔軟、女性化和超現實的色調，中和了故事裏殘酷寫實主義的衝突。



在《鑄劍》的開端，男孩在母親的指引下，掘出了自他父親被殺後就一直埋藏於黃土中的劍。如此一來，他們便喚醒了沉睡的、不可避免的，來自暴力的誘惑。雖然鋼鐵作為原材料能喚起帶有神話色彩的煉金術、誕生和創造，但它作為武器的另一面則凸顯了死亡的複雜性。貫穿三條時間線——從戰國時代到魯迅所處的清末民初，再到昔酒所處的現代，我們把塵封的過去掘起，期望過去的故事能為我們解析這永遠動蕩不安的世界。



PHD集團感謝Flying Stars 的Lorraine Yanan Zeng，一頁folio的Peter Woo，以及短篇故事俱樂部在本次展覽的策劃中提供的協助和靈感。我們也衷心感謝巴德學院的嬴莉華教授（1956-2023年），嬴教授關於魯迅的教學滋養了我們的心靈，激發了我們的想像力。
任何關於展覽或媒體的查詢，請聯絡 Neil Wong (neil@phdgroup.art)。關於作品銷售的查詢，請聯絡Willem Molesworth (willem@phdgroup.art) 或 Ysabelle Cheung (ysabelle@phdgroup.art)


 (b. 1984, based in Hong Kong) is a sculptor who plays with the interpolation of materials engaged in elements of nature, industrial function, and time. Objects of interest—plastic pallets, fragments of Ming-dynasty ceramics, multi-directional rollers—are decontextualized and transformed by the artist with a specific focus on movement, life forms and the organic spirit of each object.

Chan’s visceral exploration of the unknown encapsulates her interest in urbanism, architecture, material culture, craft, and antiquities. Her interplay of abstract forms, intricate details, and unexpected materials calls for a physical experience and encourages a new way of seeing and perceiving.



Chan received her MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and her BFA from the School of Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been shown at Para Site, Hong Kong; Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong; Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong; KölnSkulptur #10, Cologne; Museum Triennial 1st Edition in X Museum, Beijing; UCCA, Beidaihe. Her work is in the collections of Long Museum, Shanghai; UBS Art Collection, Hong Kong; M+, Hong Kong; Skulpturen Park Köln, Cologne; J. P. Morgan Chase Art Collection, Hong Kong and Kadist Art Foundation, Paris/San Francisco. In 2020, Chan was the recipient of the ninth BMW Art Journey.

陳麗同（生於1984年， 生活工作於香港）是一位雕塑家。她擅長運用帶有自然元素、工業用途以及時間相關的材質並將它們互相嵌入。常用的物件有塑膠棧板、明朝瓷器碎片、多方向滾輪。這些物件被去語境化，然後被藝術家改造，凸顯出物件的運動軌跡、生命及有機靈魂。

陳麗同對於探索未知的本能將她的創作興趣引導至城市化、建築學、物質文化、工藝以及古董。她讓抽象的形體、精緻的細節以及意外的材質相互作用，呼籲一種物理體驗並鼓勵一種嶄新的觀看及感知方式。

陳麗同在羅德島設計學院取得了碩士學位，也在芝加哥藝術學院取得了學士學位。她的作品曾在Para Site（香港）、香港藝術館、大館當代（香港）、KölnSkulptur #10（科隆）、第一届X美术馆三年展：终端 >_（北京）、UCCA沙丘美術館（北戴河）展出。她的作品也被龍美術館（上海）、UBS瑞銀集團（香港）、M+（香港）、Skulpturen Park Köln（科隆）、摩根大通（香港）以及Kadist藝術基金會（巴黎/舊金山）納入收藏。在2020年，陳麗同在第九屆BMW藝術之旅獲獎。

Ming dynasty (1368-1644) Chinese pottery
fragments, pyrite (3rd century), found seashell,
stainless steel hardware, epoxy, pigment,
brass, marble


Image courtesy the artist and Capsule Shanghai 



 (b. 1993, based in Hong Kong) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Hong Kong. Her practice begins as conservation: discarded or rejected objects from refuse sites are salvaged and brought back to her studio for restoration. Drawing on her background as a hypnotherapist and energy healer, she then communes with these objects in a process of addition and subtraction that involves layers of plaster and pigment that are sanded and drilled away with heavy industrial tools.



Formally, her expanded paintings and sculptural objects engage directly with the artist’s environs. In hand-blending plasters, industrial pigments, and waxy oil pastels, she also folds in the air, smell, and temperature of Hong Kong. This results in an image that is both a palimpsest and landscape portrait, at once a reference to the contemporary conditions of place and a psychological study of its people.

Chan Ting holds an MFA in Fine Arts from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and is a certified hypnotherapist and energy healer. She has exhibited works in Tai Kwun Contemporary and HART Haus, among other venues, and participated in a residency at Foo Tak building from 2019 to 2022, during which she co-founded the nonprofit project Negative Space. She was one of the grantees of the NoExit Grant for Unpaid Artistic Labour organized by Para Site and is currently the resident artist at Para Site’s 10/F space.

陳庭 （生於1993年，生活工作於香港）是一位居於香港的跨媒介藝術家。 她的創作始於保育：她將被遺棄或被拒絕的物件從垃圾場回收，帶回工作室進行修復。借助她催眠治療師及能量治療師的背景，與這些物件產生交流。在交流的過程中對這些物件加上或減少層層的石膏和顏料，最後再用重型工業用具進行打磨、鑽孔。

在形式上，陳庭的實驗性畫作及雕塑直接與她周遭的環境相互作用。透過手工混合的石膏、工業用顏料以及帶有蠟質的油粉彩，香港的空氣、味道和溫度也被混入了作品中。這過程帶來的是一幅既像被不斷改寫的手抄本，又像風景畫的圖像，這圖像是對城市當代狀態的參照，也是對其居民心理狀態的研究。

陳庭為香港中文大學藝術碩士，同時也是一位認證的催眠治療師及能量治療師。她的作品曾在大館當代及HART Haus等地點展出。她也曾於2019至2022年參加了富德樓的藝術家駐留計畫，並在這期間合辦了非牟利計畫「負片空間」。她曾獲得Para Site的NoExit無償藝術勞動資助，現在也正在Para Site十樓的藝術空間進行藝術家駐留。

Prewar aluminum box, filler, industrial pigment,

industrial foil gold, household dust, oil pastel,

12.5 x 12 x 17 cm (open); 5.5 x 13 x 11 cm (closed)

 (b. 1994, based in Hong Kong) is a multidisciplinary artist engaged in practices of intimacy and ritual. In her experimentations with different materials and elements, she investigates how the body manifests and adapts in situations of public tension or private introspection. As one of the many emerging artists practicing in post-handover Hong Kong, Chu examines ephemerality and ludic play in relation to intense social change and communal relationships.



Her work has been shown at 1A Space (Hong Kong); Negative Space (Hong Kong); and Tai Kwun Contemporary (Hong Kong). Her debut solo exhibition at PHD Group, “you, trickling,” was featured in The New York Times, Artforum, ArtReview Asia, Frieze, Ocula, and other publications.



She is a recipient of Soundpocket’s Artist Support Program from 2020-21 and the HART Haus Studio grant in 2021 and was in residence at London’s Delfina Foundation as part of their “Performance as Process” program in 2023.


（生於 1994 年，生活工作於香港）是一位跨媒介藝術家，從事親密和儀式的實踐。在她對不同材料和元素的實驗中，她研究了身體如何在公共緊張或私人內省的情況下表現和適應。作為回歸後香港的其中一位新興藝術家，她探討劇烈社會變革及共有關係中的瞬息萬變及隨性玩味。在她的創作中重要的元素是「屏障」的概念及其如何告知我們社交互動的規範。透過網織成的牆、布料及玻璃，她創造了親密與關懷的儀式，認知到物理上的屏障時常能幫助解構人與人之間不可見、無法觸碰的屏障。

她作品曾展出過在 1A Space（香港）；負片空間（香港）； 和大館當代（香港）。她在2021年獲得Hart Haus的工作室贊助。

Ashes of artist’s hair in window glass,

 (b.1985, based in Seoul) received his MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art, London, and BFA in Metalsmithing and Jewelry from Konkuk University. Kim’s artistic practice is built on exploring various intersections of art, religion, and identity that lie in the critical point of change and collision. He mainly works with video art and installations that explore issues of sexuality, queerness, feminism, sadomasochism, pop culture, religion, mysticism, and the body as forms of knowledge and research. In exploring the relationship between pain and pleasure, Kim deconstructs preconceived articulations of sexuality and decenters the phallocentric order.

Kim has shown work at Documenta 15, Kassel; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Alternative Space Loop and the Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul; Barbican Centre, Camden Arts Centre and Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Daegu Art Museum; Para Site, Hong Kong; Buenos Aires Moving Image Biennial; Palazzo Lucarini Contemporary, Trevi; and the Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin.

金斗真（生於1985年，生活工作於首爾）在倫敦皇家藝術學院取得了雕塑藝術碩士學位，以及在建國大學取得了金屬工藝與珠寶藝術學士。金斗真的藝術創作建基於探索藝術、宗教、身份的交集，以及這些交集所處的變革與碰撞的臨界點。他主要創作影像藝術以及裝置藝術，並從中探索性愛、酷兒、女性主義、性虐戀、流行文化、宗教、神秘學以及以身體作為一種知識和研究的形式。在探討痛苦與快感的關係中，藝術家解構了性文化中的固有表達，並將以陽具為中心的秩序去中心化。

金斗真的作品曾在 Documenta 15（卡塞爾）、韓國國立現代美術館、Alternative Space Loop（首爾）、一民美術館（首爾）、巴比肯藝術中心（倫敦）、卡姆登藝術中心（倫敦）、倫敦當代藝術學院、大邱美術館、Para Site（香港）、布宜諾斯艾利斯流動影像雙年展、Palazzo Lucarini Contemporary（特雷維）、Haus am Lützowplatz（柏林）展出。

Dimensions variable;
dimensions as seen: 103.9 x 231.2 x 16.7 cm

 was born in 1984 in Hong Kong. She lives and works in London.

In her works, Firenze Lai explores how the mind and body of a person adapt and react to different circumstances in their everyday life.

Firenze Lai’s recent solo exhibitions include “White balance,” MAMC+ , Saint-Étienne, 2019; “Turbulence,” Mirrored Gardens, Guangzhou, 2015. She has participated in international exhibitions and biennials including “Contagious City: Far Away, Too Close,” Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong, 2019; “A World in a Grain of Sand,” Fosun Foundation, Shanghai, 2018; “Viva Arte Viva,” the 57th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2017; “Surround Audience: New Museum Triennial,” New York, 2015; “Social Factory – 10th Shanghai Biennale,” Shanghai, 2014; “A Journal of the Plague Year. Fear, ghosts, rebels, SARS, Leslie and the Hong Kong Story,” Para Site, Hong Kong, 2013.

黎清妍 1984年生於香港。現於倫敦生活及工作。

黎清妍畫中所捕捉的時刻，大部分來自城市的日常。藝術家的關注點，在於畫中人的身體及精神狀態，與其處境之互為關係。藝術家嘗試從繪畫裡實踐這些外界和身體的對置和互換，從而反覆驗證各種內存於個體的、難以明言的主體經驗。

黎清妍近期的個展包括：“White Balance”，MAMC+，聖埃蒂安，2019；“湍流”，鏡花園，廣州，2015。她參加的國際性群展和雙年展包括：“疫癥都市：既遠又近”，大館當代美術館，香港，2019；“一沙藝世界”，復興基金會，上海，中國，2018；“藝術萬歲”，第57屆威尼斯雙年展，2017；“環繞觀眾：新當代藝術博物館三年展”，紐約，2015；“社會工廠——第十屆上海雙年展”，上海，2014；“疫年日誌：恐懼、鬼魂、叛軍、沙士、哥哥和香港的故事”，Para Site藝術空間，香港，2013。

Image courtesy the artist and Vitamin Creative Space

(b. 1987, Seoul) is a painter whose canvasses often articulate narratives of representation, gaze, and consumption. Her works interrogate the surface of painting and our disillusions with image as distorted by the mechanisms of social media as well as sociopolitical soft power. She is one half of the artist duo Expansion Colony. Lee Eunsae is currently in residence at Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.

Her works have been exhibited at the Ilmin Museum of Art (Seoul); Nam-Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul); Suwon Museum of Art (Suwon); SeMA Nanji (Seoul); and MMCA Gwacheon.


（生於 1987 年，生活工作於首爾）的畫作經常呈現代理、凝視與消費的敘事，並描繪人物無精打采地划動手機或藏身超現實的景觀中。她較近期的作品審視繪畫的表面，並揭示由社交媒體機制和社會政治軟實力扭曲的圖像所帶來的幻滅。她是雙人藝術組合"Expansion Colony" 的一員。

她作品曾展出過在Ilmin美術館（首爾）； 南首爾美術館（首爾）； 水原美術館（水原）； SeMA Nanji（首爾）； 和 MMCA 果川。

 (b. 1980, based in Tokyo) is a multidisciplinary artist and sensitive observer of our habitats. Attempting to capture the non-tangible—sound, light, wind—she facilitates networks of self-contained ecosystems. Within these systems, she emphasizes the presence of chance, error, and silences, noting the various modes of dialogue between us and our surroundings. For “Decomposition,” a work involving fresh fruit bowl, plug-in wires, and speakers, a responsive composition is calibrated by evolving moisture levels, the act of decay transformed into an auditory experience.



Her work has been shown at the 14th Gwangju Biennale (2023); Tai Kwun Contemporary (Hong Kong); Palais de Tokyo (Paris); Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo); 23rd Biennale of Sydney (2022); 34th Bienal de São Paulo (2021); and Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2016). Her work has been collected by M+ (Hong Kong); Centre Pompidou (Paris); and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (Brisbane). She will represent Japan in the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024.


（生於1980，生活工作於東京）是一位跨媒介藝術家，也是對我們棲息地的敏感的觀察者。為了捕捉無形的元素——聲音、光線、風——她促進了自成體系的生態網絡。在這些生態系統內，她強調機會、錯誤及寂靜的存在，並關注我們與環境間不同的對話模式。 在作品"Decomposition" 中，新鮮水果、插入式電線和音響通過水果不斷變化的濕度，產生了相應的樂曲，將腐爛的過程轉化為聽覺體驗。




她的作品曾展出過在第十四屆光州雙年展（2023），大館當代（香港）；Palais de Tokyo（巴黎）；Museum of Contemporary Art（東京）；第二十三屆悉尼雙年展（2022）；第三十四屆聖保羅雙年展（2021）；和科欽·穆茲里斯雙年展（2016）。她的作品也曾被收藏於M+（香港）；Centre Pompidou（巴黎）；和Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art（布里斯班）。她將於2024年代表日本參加第六十屆威尼斯雙年展。

 was born in 1988 in Osaka, Japan. She received her MFA in oil painting and pursued a PhD in media art from the Kyoto City University of Arts.

In her practice, Sasaoka investigates the limits and potentiality of representation through various modalities of entertainment, including theater, song, and the collective screen. Many of her works respond, whether explicitly or indirectly, to the 2011 tsunami and earthquake in Japan, tapping into the collective consciousness of those who live close to disaster, or, as Sasaoka says, “between life and death.” Witnessing the tragedy unfold on a tiny television screen, Sasaoka interpreted the flat surface to be a membrane that presented an unreality or unresolvable gap between action and consequence.

Through immersive video installations that often involve the idea of the marionette—a symbol of sociopolitical puppeteering and gendered normativity—she expands the interstitial spaces between the surreal and the lucid. In her works, she performs as multiple characters, liberating narratives from rigid ideas around gender, identity, and history. A recent work, "

" (2021), utilizes handmade fish-head dolls to illustrate the loss of agency in events of individual or collective trauma. Whether through hand puppets, traditional marionettes, or animated figures, Sasaoka addresses critical topics, rendering the moving image and history itself as a fluid and conflicted narrative.

Her work has been shown at the 14th Shanghai Biennial (Shanghai); Reborn Art Festival, Kyoto Art Centre (Kyoto); Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (Taipei); VBKÖ (Vienna); and TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art (Szczecin). She won Grand Prize at the Gunma Biennale for Young Artists in 2017.


笹岡由梨子（生於 1988 年，生活工作於京都）出生於日本大阪，她在京都市立藝術大學取得了油畫碩士學位以及攻讀了媒體藝術博士課程（PhD）。




在笹岡的創作中，她通過各種形式的娛樂來審視代理的限制與潛力，包括戲劇、音樂和集體屏幕。她的不少作品直白或間接地對應了2011年在日本發生的地震和海嘯，嘗試進入處於災難咫尺之間的人們的集體意識，或根據笹岡所形容，「生活在生與死之間的人們」。在小小的電視屏幕上見證了悲劇的發生後，她把這塊平面解讀成一塊薄膜，上面呈現了行動與後果之間虛幻或無法解決的差距。




通過沉浸式影像裝置內的的牽線木偶——一個社會政治操控和性別規範的象徵，笹岡擴大了清醒與夢幻間的裂縫。在她的作品中，她扮演不同的角色，嘗試將性別、身分和歷史議題從保守的敘事中解放。在最近的作品"Planaria" (2021)中，她運用了手工製作的魚頭娃娃來象徵在個人或集體創傷中喪失代理權。無論是通過手偶、傳統木偶還是動畫人物，笹岡探討沉重的議題，並將動態影像和歷史轉化為流動且矛盾的敘事。




她的作品曾在第十四屆上海雙年展、重生藝術節、京都藝術中心（京都）、關渡美術館（台北）、VBKÖ（維也納）和 TRAFO 當代藝術中心（甚切青）展出。 她於 2017 年獲得群馬雙年展青年藝術家大獎。

Single-channel video
with color and sound: 3 min 57 sec

(b.1981, based in Beijing) is a painter who explores masculinity, femininity, and power through image. Through repeated and textural brushstrokes, she creates portraits that blend ideologies of gender, performance, the body, and strength.

She holds an MFA from the department of Experimental Art and a BA from the department of Oil Painting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Her works have been shown at Cc Foundation & Art Center, Shanghai; Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong; KWM Artcenter, Beijing; CAFA Art Museum, Beijing; Xinjiang Art Museum, Urumqi; and the Museum of National History, Copenhagen.

商亮（生於1981年，生活工作於北京）是一位畫家，她透過繪畫來探索男性氣質、女性氣質以及力量。在她重複及帶有質感的筆觸下，她創作的肖像畫融合了關於性別、表演、身體及力量的意識型態。


商亮在中央美術學院實驗藝術學院取得了碩士學位，在中央美術學院油畫系取得了學士學位。她的作品曾在Cc基金會&藝術中心（上海）、大館當代（香港）、金社藝術中心（北京）、中央美術學院美術館（北京）、新疆美術館（烏魯木齊）以及丹麥國立博物館（哥本哈根）展出。


 (b. 1991, based in Hong Kong) is a curator and artist based in Hong Kong. She received a BA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Her works on canvas and paper depict personal anxieties through everyday scenes and dreamscapes. A recent set of works relate to a recent period of healing while confined at home, exploring transformation of the body while expressing her signature dark comedy.

In her curatorial practice, Tsang explores how artists develop new languages and symbols in times of political change, and how to manoeuvre the liminal spaces between the official and unofficial, and fact and fiction, via vehicles of magic realism, sarcasm, humor, and myth-making. Tsang is part of the curatorial team at the annual BOOKED; Art Book Fair, Tai Kwun Contemporary. She was a curatorial resident at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin in 2021 and curated the 2023 Trieste Biennale, “Breathing with the World.” She is the founder of Current Plans, an experimental art space that encourages cross-disciplinary dialogues through exhibition-making.

曾智愛怡（生於1991年，生活工作於香港）是一位策展人及藝術家。她在倫敦大學斯萊德學院取得了藝術學士的學位。 她透過在畫布或紙張上描繪日常和夢境來傳達個人的焦慮。最近的一系列作品與一段受困於家中時發生的療癒時光有關，探討了身體的轉變並表現了藝術家招牌的黑色幽默。

在曾智愛怡的策展創作中，她探索了藝術家如何在政治動盪的時期裡發展新的語言及符號，如何透過魔幻寫實主義、諷刺、幽默以及編造神話來遊走於官方與非官方、事實與虛構的曖昧的邊界。 曾智愛怡是一年一度在大館當代（香港）舉行的BOOKED香港藝術書展的策展成員。也曾在2021年參加過桑德雷托·瑞·瑞寶迪戈基金會的策展人駐留計畫，並策展了2023年里雅斯特雙年展，主題為 “Breathing with the World“。她創辦了Current Plans，一個透過製作展覽來鼓勵跨領域對話的實驗性藝術空間。

 (est. 2020, based in Hong Kong) is a philosophy, an epistemological ideology, and an artist duo comprised of Joseph Chen and Cas Wong. Named after old public housing estate blocks in Kowloon City, the home of Chen’s grandmother, Virtue Village root their practice in contemporary spirituality, transforming found object, environment, and the body into vessels for parabiotic communion. Tapping into the multiple definitions of ascension, they navigate the planes of collective queer subculture, fetish, and transhumanism.



Virtue Village has exhibited at and created performances for Tai Kwun Contemporary (Hong Kong); Dossier (China); the Hong Kong Arts Center; Parallel Space (Hong Kong) and Present Projects (Hong Kong).

（創立於2020年）是一種哲學、一種認識論意識形態、也是由 Joseph Chen 和 Cas Wong 組成的藝術家二人組合。以Joseph祖母家九龍城的舊公共屋村命名，真善美村將他們的實踐植根於當代靈性，將發現的物體、環境和身體轉化為共生共融的容器。用提升的多重定義，他們在集體酷兒亞文化、戀物和超人類主義的平面上導航。




他們曾在 Parallel Space（香港）和 Present Projects（香港）展出作品和放映電影。 2021年，他們在香港組織了表演平台和展覽活體洞。在2022年，他們參與了大館當代和Sunpride Foundation合作舉辦的神話製造者——光·合作用 III。

Nylon resin, silicone, acrylic on canvas,
stainless steel ornament, quartz spheres


Installation view of "Tendering," PHD Group, 2023. Courtesy PHD Group, Hong Kong. Photo by Felix Wong. 


Last year, we were standing in the center of Virtue Village's solo exhibition when a curator friend told us about vore—meaning "one that eats"—or vorarephilia, a rare fetish in which one fantasizes about being eaten.

It’s more of a kink. The desire for someone to devour you whole.


There was something tender about the way our friend suggested this while looking at the assemblage in front us, a sex swing whose seat had been replaced with a phallic sculpture with two orifices on either end. She used the words "devour" and "whole" as opposed to "eat" and "body." The distinctions were subtle but charged. We found ourselves empathizing with this image of someone being swallowed alive, how they might enjoy the external fullness of being, this material sensation that had nothing and everything to do with the political and social body. We imagined the relationship of eroticism to violence, of softness to pain, of beauty and the grotesque.


Lately we have been thinking a lot about the 1992 novel “The Republic of Wine,” written by Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan, which follows an inspector’s investigation of a province in mainland China which is famed for its wine. While there, he discovers a horrifying secret practice: government officials are bribed with not only liquor but also tender little human babies, which they eat at banquets.


Of course, this practice is not real, and the province does not exist. Yet there is a verisimilitude to our desire to devour, to tenderize the image and flesh into something readily consumable. All day long we gaze at ourselves and each other online, scrolling toward eternal indigestion.


Love, hate, desire, disgust, birth, decay, death—are we perhaps waiting for some tenderness in all of this? Some vulnerability? When you find a bruise on your body, do you trace it with your finger? Do you feel those soft reverberations of pain and pleasure? Do they sing to you?


We invite you to explore “Tendering,” the second group exhibition hosted at PHD Group, and the sequel to our inaugural show, “Rendering.” Marking the gallery’s two-year anniversary, the show and its roster of artists expresses tender growth and change. Marking the gallery’s two-year anniversary, the show and its roster of artists expresses tender growth and change. We are pleased to present works by Leelee Chan, Chan Ting, Michele Chu, Dew Kim, Firenze Lai, Lee Eunsae, Yuko Mohri, Sasaoka Yuriko, Shang Liang, Eunice Tsang, and Virtue Village.
 

去年我們站在真善美村的空間，被個展環繞。策展朋友告訴我們何謂「吞噬」或「吞食癖」，飢渴於被吃掉。但她趕忙補充，這非食人的儀式或禮教，有點像性癖，一種想被他者完整吞噬的慾望。

邊走邊說，我們的朋友指向眼前組合裝置，垂盪的鞦韆，座位是一枚陽具塑像以雙向孔洞貫穿。她以「吞」和「食」、「完」和「身」構成對比，隱晦地呈現盈缺的衝撞。站在原地，忽爾與一個被生吞的人類共情，也許外在的吞噬完整了他的存在。物質與知覺上的感知與政體和社會毫不相連。我們只想到性亢奮與暴力、柔韌與錐痛、美與荒異。

諾貝爾文學獎得主莫言在1992年的作品《酩酊國》，以一個偵察員的視角追尋中國大陸一個盛名於酒產的省份。他發現了此處驚悚私密的習俗，政府官員不單受賄於酒精，更是在宴會上匐然大嚼勃生的嬰兒。

噢當然，這習俗不存在，這市鎮不存在，但嗜食同類的慾望卻逼真盡致，來吧，柔化眼前圖像，吮指緩嚥血肉，我注視你注視他者而網上眾觀。滑過屏幕，我們吞噬眼前與遠方。

我們從愛慾、恨惡、腐亡之中等待一簾柔軟或危脆。當你瞥見身上瘀傷，曾否以指頭摸索體膚？痛且快，這些溫潤之聲可曾在你耳邊吟唱？

我們誠邀你參與 PHD Group 的《柔吮》，隨開幕展《Rendering》之後第二個群展，也象徵藝廊兩週年紀念，希望觀者可嗜展覽與參展藝術家柔韌的成長與蛻變。我們誠意展出來自陳麗同，陳庭，朱凱婷，金斗真，黎清妍，李恩實，毛利悠子，笹岡由梨子，商亮，曾智愛怡，真善美村的作品。

任何關於展覽或媒體的查詢，請聯絡 Neil Wong (neil@phdgroup.art)。關於作品銷售的查詢，請聯絡Willem Molesworth (willem@phdgroup.art) 或 Ysabelle Cheung (ysabelle@phdgroup.art)

Previously, Zheng Mahler studied the wild water buffalo population on Lantau, Hong Kong’s largest outlying island and the site of the artist duo’s home and studio; recently, their attention has turned to the pipistrellus abramus, a species of insectivorous bats also found on the island. Their research takes as its starting point the seminal essay “What is it like to be a bat?” by philosopher Thomas Nagel, which posits that we can only ever allude to the subjective experience of other creatures. “We can imagine what it might be like to be nocturnal, to have webbing on our arms, to be able to fly, to have poor vision and perceive the world through high frequency sound signals, and to spend our time hanging upside down,” Nagel argues. “But even if we can imagine all of these things, it only tells us what it is like for me to be a bat, or for me to behave as a bat behaves. It does not tell us what it is like for a bat to be a bat.”

Breathing Sounds (A Quiet Study
of a Bat’s Body)

Screen print on Jingdezhen
porcelain tiles, pine wood frame


Early stages of Zheng Mahler’s project comprise fieldwork, research, written materials, and exploration of the sensory environments in which the Lantau bats reside. Initially commissioned by Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (IFA) Germany as part of the “Are You For Real?” web project curated by Paula Nascimento, Yvette Mutumba and Julia Grosse, this research is synthesized in later stages; in the main space, a large-scale video installation reveals a psychedelic Mui Wo, enlivened by phantasmagoric hues and overgrowths that serve as an attractive feeding site for bats. Referencing a common visualization practice in Tibetan Buddhism—in which a deity is called upon with mantras and mandala patterns—the video takes a first-person perspective and leads the viewer through a spiritual transformation, from human form into a bat and back again.

Installation view of “Zheng Mahler: What is it like to be a (virtual) bat?” at PHD Group, Hong Kong, 2023. Photos by Felix SC Wong. Courtesy the artists and PHD Group.

What is it like to be a (virtual) bat? Phase III/IV – Bat Meditation

, 2022-23, 4K video/virtual reality video with color and sound: 16 min 43 sec.

A nearby VR headset offers an embodied experience of the same journey, highlighting the possibility of simulation and the consequent successes and failures of grasping at subjective qualitative experience. Another video, screened in the back corridor space, is an abstracted color field video of a bat feeding site in Mui Wo’s wetlands, soundtracked by echolocation recordings taken by the artists.

What is it like to be a (virtual) bat? Phase II – Point Cloud Visualization

, 2022, 4K point cloud animation with thermal videos and ultrasonic field recordings: 8 min 43 sec.

Surrounding these video and audio components are new tile works produced in Jingdezhen, a city with historical roots in porcelain and the site of production for an earlier series, “A Season in Shell” (2013-16). Featuring different scenes or landscapes from the main video installation, the tile works perform as visual aids for meditation experiences—similar to the mandalas in Tibetan Chenrezig practices—and materially respond to the first “visual aid” recorded by the artists early in their research: a traditional bat mosaic seen in a Lantau temple. Formally, they also evoke the architecture of machine experiences; one imagines pixels, or the equirectangular grid that greets visitors when they put on a VR headset. The tiles are additionally framed by motifs that refer to the East Asian cultural phenomenon of wild bat sightings—considered a sign of good fortune or longevity—and which has resulted in popular dissemination of bat motifs in temples, amulets, feng shui objects, and spiritual décor.

Installation view  of “Zheng Mahler: What is it like to be a (virtual) bat?” at PHD Group, Hong Kong, 2023. Photos by Felix SC Wong. Courtesy the artists and PHD Group.

Screen print on Jingdezhen porcelain tiles, pine wood frame

"What is it like to be a (virtual) bat?" by Zheng Mahler

"What is it like to be a bat?" by Thomas Nagel

IFA commission of "What is it like to be a (virtual) bat?"

(detail), 2023, screen print on Jingdezhen porcelain tiles, pine wood frame, 121 x 121 cm.

Installation view of “What is it like to be a (virtual) bat?” at PHD Group, Hong Kong, 2023. Photos by Felix SC Wong. Courtesy the artists and PHD Group. 
 

What, if anything, separates us from other species? Is it possible to embody, or even fully understand, the mind of a dog, a cat, a bat? If so, then how is consciousness defined? And how can new technologies simulate—or even replicate—those experiences?

These questions foreground “What is it like to be a (virtual) bat?,” the first solo exhibition by Hong Kong-based artist duo Zheng Mahler at PHD Group.

Featuring new works and video installations, the exhibition is centered around the artist duo’s long-term research project that explores interspecies empathy, ethnographic sensory experiences, and expansive definitions of consciousness.

 

到底是什麼事物將我們和其他物種區分開來?我們有可能體會，甚至是完全理解狗、貓或是蝙蝠的思想嗎?如果可以的話，那麼意識將如何被定義?而日新月異的科技如何模擬，甚至複製這些體驗 ?

這些問題凸顯了香港藝術雙人組合鄭馬樂的首次個展「作為一隻(虛擬)蝙蝠是怎麼樣的?」。 此次展覽展出了藝術家最新的影像裝置及瓷磚作品，展覽的核心將圍繞藝術家的長期研究項目，該項目探索了跨物種的共感、民族學上的感官體驗， 以及意識的廣泛定義。

過往，鄭馬樂曾在香港最大的島嶼、同時也是藝術家的居住地和工作室的大嶼山研究島上的野生水牛。最近，他們把重心轉移到了東亞家蝠，一種同樣居住於大嶼山的食蟲動物身上。他們的研究建基於哲學家 Thomas Nagel 撰寫的具有開創性的論文「作為一隻蝙蝠是怎麼樣的 ?」，論文假設我們只能揣測其他生物的主觀體驗。「我們只能想像作為夜行生物的感受，想像手臂上的翼膜、想像飛翔的感覺、想像擁有貧弱的視力並透過超聲波來感受這個世界、想像如何上下顛倒地倒掛著。」Nagel 論稱「即使我們能想像這些感受，它們也只能告訴我們對於人類成為一隻蝙蝠的感受是如何，或是讓我們模仿蝙蝠日常的習性。但它們並不能讓我理解對於蝙蝠，身為一隻蝙蝠的感受如何。」

鄭馬樂的項目中，早期階段由實地考察、研究、寫作材料、以及探索大嶼山上蝙蝠所棲息的感官環境構成。項目最初由德國Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (IFA)委託參展於Paula Nascimento, Yvette Mutumba 及Julia Grosse聯合策劃的互聯網項目 「Are You For Real?」， 早期階段的研究在項目的後期得到綜合。在本次展覽的主要空間，大型影像裝置呈現了一個迷幻的梅窩，充斥著如幻似真的色彩及錯綜複雜的茂盛植物，成為蝙蝠的誘人覓食地。參考藏傳佛教中的通過咒語和曼陀羅圖案來召喚神祇的視覺化觀想，影像採取了第一人稱視角，帶領觀眾踏入一段靈性的轉變，從人類轉變為蝙蝠，再重新變回人類。

影像裝置旁的虛擬實境裝置則為同一段靈性旅程提供了更具現化的體驗，強調了模擬體驗的可能性，以及其對於掌握主觀性質體驗的成果及限制。展覽的另一部份是一段在走廊播放的影像，影像以抽象色域化的方式刻畫了梅窩的一處蝙蝠餵食地，並配上了藝術家錄取的回聲定位錄音。

展區內包圍著影像裝置的則是藝術家最新的瓷磚作品，製作於景德鎮，一個從古至今皆以冶制陶瓷而享負盛名的城市，同時也是藝術家早期的作品系列 「A Season in Shell」 (2013-16)的製作地。此次展覽中的瓷磚作品作捕捉了影像裝置中的不同景觀及畫面，成為冥想體驗的視覺輔助。類似於藏傳四臂觀世音菩薩觀想裡的曼陀羅花，並在物質上回應藝術家在早期研究階段紀錄下的第一個「視覺輔助」 在大嶼山一座寺廟內的傳統蝙蝠馬賽克畫。這些作品也巧妙地喚起了我們對於構築數碼體驗的認知，讓我們能聯想到戴上虛擬實境裝置時眼中的像素，或是等經緯度格網。這些瓷磚作品的畫框則參考了東亞文化中蝙蝠的象徵意義，蝙蝠被視為好運和長壽的象徵。因此，蝙蝠的意象在寺廟、護身符、風水物件及靈性飾品都得到廣泛的應用。

將哲學的兩個分支——靈性及科學 ——作為出發點，本次展覽的作品共同探索了物質及現實本身，並透過鄭馬樂的多感官研究項目展開了一段沉浸式體驗，邀請觀眾反思意識的限制以及擴展意識的可能性。

How does one confront loss—personal and collective? In her past works, Michele Chu has engaged in relational art within the context of acute social disruption, building installations and participatory performances that rewrite public gestures. For her debut solo exhibition, “you, trickling,” the artist further mines rituals of intimacy and vulnerability, inviting viewers to participate in a meditative journey that renders the autobiographical as shared experience, and memory as material.



Throughout the exhibition space, the loss of a body—or bodies—reveals a spectral map that oscillates between the ghostly interpersonal relationships of the artist and her ailing mother, foregrounded by water leaking, reforming, condensing, and fracturing.

面對個人和集體層面的佚失，我們都不知何去何從。藝術家朱凱婷首個個展 “ you, trickling ”互寫現實社會的飄蕩不安，以裝置和參與式藝術為媒介演繹公眾論述。觀者彷如戴上濾鏡，感知藝術家個人片段，在情同共有的經歷，探知私密與脆弱，記憶形同創作材質。




展覽中以身體的缺失為題，整理出地圖，描繪藝術家及其病母頻率共振的靈體頻率，流動成液體的滴漏、重塑、濃縮、折裂。

At the entrance, the visitor is met with a wall of fabric separating two spaces: the exterior world, ruled by social order and automaticity, and the fragmented interior, where trauma, memory, and the self resides.



Walking further into the exhibition, one encounters a series of rituals faintly reminiscent of a bathhouse experience that cleanses, soothes, and unsettles.

在展覽入口垂下一幅布簾，分割開兩個空間，分別為以社會既定規律與邏輯常態運行的外在世界，以及碎片化的內在，遍拾創傷、記憶、個人的模態。


在展場更深入的範圍，觀者將步進演擬浴場般流程洗滌、撫慰、撩動內在的場域。

From there, a collection of body parts emerges: a belly button, cast in bronze; a softened hand reaching out; sharp perforations on skin; a woman’s back toward us, lying still and silent.


身體的部份赤裸展露，包括銅製的肚臍、往外伸的手、密佈孔洞的皮膚、 女體的背面，靜止無聲。

Demarcated by tunnels and fabric passageways, the space encloses the visitor in its umbilical recollections of birth, menstruation, excretion, and death.

布料將空間劃成通道和區隔空間，觀者像以臍帶攀索至初生、 月經、排出體液和死亡的歷程。

, a book about suffering and survival, Bessel van der Kolk suggests that to perform is to conduct agency; that “acting is an experience of using your body to take your place in life.” Addressing an unknown second person, “you, trickling” is both a poignant observation—of the lost and fading maternal figure—and a guide to how we might flow back, however slowly, into ourselves.



For further information and media inquiries, please contact info@phdgroup.art. For sales inquiries, please contact Willem Molesworth (willem@phdgroup.art) or Ysabelle Cheung (ysabelle@phdgroup.art).

荷蘭精神病學教授范德寇的著作《心靈的傷，身體會記住》紀錄了創傷與倖存，行動轉化作施為，從而以身體驅動個人的行徑鮮活地載寫其經驗，在生命微小的時刻保留一幀。片言隻語指向不明的第二人，“ you, trickling ” 不失真地旁觀失落與褪色的母體形態，爬梳摻雜紛陳的感情，或緩或急，按個人的節奏回歸自身。


任何關於展覽或媒體的查詢，請聯絡info@phdgroup.art。關於作品銷售的查詢，請聯絡Willem Molesworth (willem@phdgroup.art) 或 Ysabelle Cheung (ysabelle@phdgroup.art)

Installation view of "you, trickling", PHD Group, Hong Kong, 2023. Photo by Felix SC Wong. Courtesy the artist and PHD Group, Hong Kong. 


2023
Acrylic and oil on canvas
130 x 100 cm

Uranium glass objects are often misrepresented as unsafe for use due to low-level radioactive properties and are thus primarily treated as props or collectible antiquities. Intrigued by this inaccessibility and the allure of the material, Lee painted indirectly from a variety of secondhand sources, including stock images from the Internet and her own photos of the objects. Noting the discrepancies in dimension, color, light, and time across these photographs, Lee collapses the variables onto the canvas and blurs the subjective realities. Through these multiple transpositions, the distance between the viewer and object increases and the original image is lost. What remains, Lee suggests, is the desire to touch.

鈾玻璃含低輻射，較常用於道具或供收藏的古董，常被誤以為不宜其他用途。李恩實著迷於難以接近的材質和它的光芒，間接採用二手素材，例如網上圖庫和物料的圖片創作。畫布上泛涉多張照片各放異彩的維度、色調、燈光和時間，模糊了主觀現實的界線。多重變奏拉伸了觀者和物件的距離，物件頓失原型，唯對觸感的慾望無限延展。


2023
Acrylic and oil on canvas
70 x 90 cm


2023
Acrylic and oil on canvas
70 x 60 cm


Elsewhere on the canvasses, apparitions of digital screens float freely, disembodied from their embedded placements in social media apps and retail websites. Call-to-action phrases such as “Buy It Now” or “Only 1 Available” suggest an urgency, despite the ambiguity of the product for sale. These symbols of online engagement represent an anxiety rooted in material lust; no matter how hard we swipe, smear, or rub at the surface, we cannot reach through the screen—or a canvas—toward the object itself.

In these new paintings, Lee expresses a failure in meeting the tangible and the real, leaving only traces of frustration and desire as we gaze at images that please and delight, but nevertheless elude us.

電子螢幕的幻影漂浮流動，從社交媒體和購物網站的固有位置脫離，散佈畫布各處。儘管貨品是虛渺不明的物件，「Buy It Now」、「Only 1 Available」等詞彙仍構疊出刻不容緩的氛圍。眾多語義符號象徵對物質的貪欲及其延伸的焦慮。在螢幕上滑動、塗抹、摩擦都無法穿過這一重媒介，或是畫布，從而觸摸到物件本體。

李恩實今次展出的作品，表達出接觸有形之物和現實之不能。凝視圖像時帶給觀者的亢奮和雀躍留下消極與慾望參半的痕跡，實物仍如脱兔失諸掌心。

Installation view of "Cold Rub," 2023. Photo by Felix SC Wong. Courtesy the artist and PHD Group. 


2023
Acrylic and oil on canvas
100 x 200 cm


In her decade-long exploration of painting, Lee Eunsae has engaged with figures and objects to mine relationships between gaze, desire, and consumption.


The subjects of her recent paintings are ordinary domestic wares—drinking vessels, vases, plates—made from uranium glass, a material popularized in the late 18th century and which glows green under ultraviolet light. Faces and figures appear sideways or above these objects, as if invoked by or refracted through the illuminations.

過去十年繪畫生涯，李恩實不懈以人物塑像和物件為題，探索凝視、慾望和消費等交纏的關係。

她近作的主題圍繞日常生活常見的器具，例如盛酒的器皿、花樽。鈾玻璃製的碟，在紫外光下發揮出綠色的光芒，是十八世紀末極為流行的材質。人臉和塑像在澄明的光影下被召喚或折射，顯現於物件上方和側旁。

The shapes and forms in Dylan DeRose’s sculptures are at once familiar and conspiratorial. Where might one have seen them before? In what environments do they typically exist? What are their names and histories? Are they route signs, formal abstractions, or a set of codes—operations?

Dylan DeRose 的雕塑形態俱異，似曾相識但又只能意會。它們來自何方？姓甚名誰？常見於哪裡？在歷史中座落何地？它們是路標、抽象的形態抑或一組程式編碼？

Clues to the origins of this shape might lie in the sculptures’ production cycle, which begins with the artist raising worms in his studio, crafting ideal conditions for them to grow and thrive. The vermin are then guided through blocks of polystyrene–which they eat to move through–before their abrupt eviction, leaving behind only tunnelled absences.

Other indicators of meaning might be found in the works’ material formulations, in which a veneer is built up by tissue-thin layers of grayscale paint, or in the worm craters set within an austere grid. Enigmatic titles such as “Reuniongate-annex,” or “Pythonegg-annex,” hint at a playfully deconstructive nature. Yet the sculptures maintain a neutrality. Shipped from the semi-sealed environment of DeRose’s Los Angeles studio and vaulted straight into PHD Group, they have not yet functioned as objects in the alleged “real world”—they exist almost purely as signifiers. The assumptive lines between reality and fantasy are challenged here; DeRose reminds us that our environment is as constructed as the existential terraformations of Disney World or the connotations we have loaded into our societies and systems.



我們或可從這些雕塑圖象的創作過程中略知一二：在工作室培養昆蟲，將空間調適至最適合它們的孵化和繁殖。它們接下來被引往一塊塊發泡膠塊旁邊，蟲必須蛀食才能前行，走後留下隧道般的空軌。
作品的材質結構也呼應了創作理念，譬如以一層一層薄如蟬翼的灰階顏料搭建飾面、方格與蟲蛀的交疊。令人不明所以的作品名稱「Reuniongate-annex」、「Pythonegg-annex」饒有玩味地道明解構主義的概念。這些作品在現世價值裡無法被定義：從 Dylan DeRose 的洛杉磯工作室半密封地運到 PHD Group，未與現實世界連接，也不指涉一切物事，意義從符號架空的象徵。幻象與現實之間有一條假定的界線，卻是如此鬆垮無形。創作者透過作品提醒觀者，所謂現實與迪士尼世界的人造地境，本質都是被建構出來，社會和體制中遍處皆是後設意義。

Dylan DeRose
Redweb-annex
2022
Paint, vermiculated substrate
75 x 56 x 6.5 cm

These sculptures present several tensions: between nature and artificiality; between the rhizome and the grid; and between liberation from and attachment to symbolisms. A “rose is a rose is a rose is a rose,” as Gertrude Stein reminds us, unless one embraces the struggle against predetermined languages of our worlds. Within these strains of conflict, a potential new space emerges.

這些雕塑呈現出不同切面的張力：自然或人造、塊莖或框格、不囿於或依附在符號之上。葛楚·史坦留下：「玫瑰就是玫瑰就是玫瑰就是玫瑰。」這句名言，提醒我們突破預設語言法則，在事物和文字的無盡角力中，剖開一處新空間。


2022
Paint, vermiculated substrate
75 x 56 x 6.5 cm

The planarian looks deceptively simple. Like most other   creatures, it eats, digests, and then excretes its food, but there is a singular difference: while most of us on this earth eventually die, planaria never do.

渦蟲看似平平無奇，就如地球上其他生物：進食、消化、排泄，唯獨一個異像——大多數生物終將面對衰亡，渦蟲卻永存不朽。

For years, scientific researchers have studied the quirky, cross-eyed planaria as a model of regenerative growth. Due to a special adult stem cell called a neoblast, the flatworm can reproduce new cells forever, replacing old, dead ones. Even in the event of a trauma—decapitation, loss of more than half a body—planaria are able to grow back fully, sometimes as multiples.


這種擁有再生能力、斜眼、怪奇的生物吸引科學家經年研究。渦蟲有一種獨特的胚芽幹細胞可以永續代謝，以取代舊有和凋亡的細胞，即使被截首或喪失大半軀體，渦蟲仍能完整重生，甚至數以倍計繁殖。

Yet what does it mean to come back, and from what trauma? This creature, and its mythologies of regeneration and body horror, lies at the center of a new series of works by the Kyoto-based artist Sasaoka Yuriko.

然而創傷輪迴和永劫回歸又有甚麼含義？來自京都的藝術家笹岡由梨子以渦蟲肉體的再生和恐惑創作出最新系列作品。

 (2021), Sasaoka explores mortality through a surrealist ritual of death and regeneration. At the center of this narrative are 20 handmade dolls with fish heads collected by the artist. These dolls appear alongside 12 new embroidered canvases in a setting that extends from the ambitious, carnivalesque video installation.

她的三頻道錄像裝置《渦蟲》(2021) 透過超現實的死亡和重生儀式探索萬物終亡的概 念。十二個手造玩偶佐以笹岡蒐集的魚頭為主軸，以及十二張畫布刺繡在展覽空間，與 大膽的嘉年華式錄像並置。

Designed and built by Sasaoka herself, the stage, set, and props all play into her distinct visual language, which derives from global theater traditions and subverts monolithic historical narratives. As in her previous seminal work, 

 (2016-19), Sasaoka builds herself into these narratives as both observer and complicit passenger, this time not as a cursed bride but as a tortured figure grappling with the question of what it means to live in a hostile world.

笹岡親自設計和搭建的舞台、佈局以及道具，吸取了世界各地劇場的養份，打破歷史單 一論述，延展她獨有的視覺語言。在《伊卡洛斯的新娘》(2016-2019) ，笹岡化身被詛 咒的新娘參與其中。一如矚目的前作，今次她飾演一個被世間惡意蹂躪的角色，同樣在 自己的作品裏既為旁觀者亦是共犯。

Sasaoka Yuriko
Planaria Fish Painting: Electrocution
2022
Acrylic, oil pastel, thread on canvas
21 x 30 cm


Sasaoka Yuriko
Planaria Fish Painting: Falling off Cliff
2022
Acrylic, oil pastel, thread on canvas
30 x 21 cm


Sasaoka Yuriko
Planaria Fish Painting: Explosion
2022
Acrylic, oil pastel, thread on canvas
21 x 30 cm

Sasaoka Yuriko
Planaria Fish Painting: Stragling
2022
Acrylic, oil pastel, thread on canvas
21 x 30 cm


2020-21
Fish head, resin, fabric, thread, rhinestone
30 x 13 x 4.5 cm


2020-21
Fish head, resin, fabric, thread, rhinestone
30 x 11 x 4.5 cm


2020-21
Fish head, resin, fabric, thread, rhinestone
25 x 11 x 4.5 cm


2020-21
Fish head, resin, fabric, thread, rhinestone
28 x 11 x 4.5 cm

For further information and media inquiries, please contact info@phdgroup.art. For sales inquiries, please contact Willem Molesworth (willem@phdgroup.art) or Ysabelle Cheung (ysabelle@phdgroup.art).

如需更多信息和媒體查詢，請聯繫info@phdgroup.art。。如需銷售諮詢，請聯繫Willem Molesworth (willem@phdgroup.art) 或 Ysabelle Cheung (ysabelle@phdgroup.art)。

All images: Installation view of "Planaria," Property Holdings Development Group, Hong Kong, 2022. Photo by Felix S.C. Wong. Courtesy the artist and PHD Group. 

Yet how can this concept of “village” be updated for the conditions of contemporary, globalized communities? Clashes between the individual and the collective deconstruct notions of the communal as homogenous society. The replacement of rural animalia with machinery and cyborgian identities lends itself to new horizons of transhuman existence. The ancient ritual is commodified as charm and trinket, and yet there is still magic in the act of gathering, of transformation. In our post-internet, post-human world, what does it mean to build, live in, and reproduce as a village?

然而，如何根據當代全球化社區的條件更新“村莊”的概念？ 個人和集體之間的衝突解構了 作為同質社會的公共概念。 用機械和半機械人身份取代農村動物，為跨人類生存提供了新的 視野。 古老的儀式被商品化為魅力和小飾品，但在收集和轉化的行為中仍然存在著魔力。 在我們的後互聯網、後人類世界中，作為一個村莊建造、居住和繁衍意味著什麼？



2022
Fiberglass, stainless steel chain and buckle, oil on canvas, dirt
100 x 50 x 10cm


These themes foreground the first major solo exhibition of Virtue Village, in which the gallery is transformed into a neighborly estate of queerness, referencing the long histories of gay villages as sites of anti-capitalism, counterculture, and safe spaces away from violence and death. Instead, fornication becomes a metaphor for generative and artistic possibilities, and loosely demarcated areas—the village town hall, the village scholar garden, the village ritual grounds—invites participation by those who choose to engage.

這些主題預示著真善美村的首次大型個展，其中畫廊被改造成一個酷兒社區，參考自同志 村作為反資本主義、反文化和遠離暴力與死亡的安全空間之場所的悠久歷史。 取而代之的 是，淫亂成為生成和藝術可能性的隱喻，並且鬆散劃分的區域——村莊市政廳、村莊學者花 園、村莊儀式場地——邀請觀眾思考參與。

Installation view of "Village Porn," PHD Group, Hong Kong, 2022. Photo by Zed Leets.

Entrance to the village is through a new tableau vivant, 

(2022)—named after the recreational popper used in gay sex acts—where figures are seen pleasuring themselves against a scenery of religious iconography and pastoral tropes. Subverting the monocultural narratives seen in the works of old masters such as Hieronymus Bosch, 

merges the saintly, the taboo and the pagan, giving agency and visibility to pleasure as an erotic right.


進入村莊是通過一個新的生活場景， RUSH (2022)——以同性戀性行為中使用的娛樂性 藥物波普爾命名——在那裡，觀眾可以看到人物在宗教肖像和田園比喻的風景中取悅自己。RUSH 顛覆了 Hieronymus Bosch 等老大師作品中的單一文化敘事，融合了聖人、禁忌和異 教徒，賦予了作為色情權利的快感的能動性和可見性。

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