HONG KONG.- Tai Kwun Contemporary presents Isaac Chong Wai: An Intimate Surrender, the Berlin–based Hong Kong artist’s first solo live art exhibition in Hong Kong, on view from July 10 to August 9 in the 3/F galleries of JC Contemporary. In An Intimate Surrender, Chong takes the celebrated Chinese novel and film Farewell My Concubine as a point of departure, revisiting it to examine the performance of gender in the arts. This newly commissioned project, curated by Tai Kwun’s Associate Curator Louiza Ho, unfolds around the conceptual frameworks of “gender performativity” and “queer temporality” to interrogate constructs of Asian masculinity and other entrenched perceptions of identity.
Born in 1990, Isaac Chong Wai is noted for his ability to transmute interpersonal tensions, affects and memories into a minimalist, performative lexicon that negotiates between individual and collective vulnerability, intimacy, and self-identity. Building on his recent performance projects, including his participation at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024, this newly commissioned live art exhibition brings the audiences into close contact with performers and traces of the body left behind in the installation.
Over four weeks, the live performance An Intimate Surrender evokes the physicality of stage performances and makes references to the Peking Opera gestures found in the film to re-examine the artistic forms of cross-gender performance. The large-scale performance-installation series Touched features bodily imprints etched onto glass and mirrored surfaces. These fragmented, spectral images attempt to drift away from traditional linear narratives, reinterpreting the multilayered interlacing of memory, space and time.
Throughout the show, Chong’s meticulous choreography and durational interventions from performers deconstruct intimate interactions and fragile encounters into prolonged states of repetition and suspension, leading audiences to reconsider the legacy of gender performativity in the arts.
Exhibition curator Louiza Ho said: “Isaac Chong Wai’s solo exhibition An Intimate Surrender offers audiences a space to revisit and connect with tradition, reflect on the present and explore future possibilities at the intersection of rehearsal and performance, life and reality, and dismantling and reconstruction. Through choreography, durational interventions, sound, objects and installation, Chong captures and preserves traces of ‘performativity.’ Etched, abstract body imprints on glass, the deconstruction and reassembly of phoenix coronets from Chinese opera costumes, spatial arrangements that balance rigidity and fluidity, and corporeal language all culminate in a profound rendition to the theme of performance explored in Farewell My Concubine, while also questioning the fluidity of bodies, gender and identity both on and off stage.”
Deputy Director and Head of Art Philip Tinari said: “In recent years Isaac Chong Wai has emerged as a leading Hong Kong voice on the global art stage, creating works that enchant, delight and challenge. Tai Kwun is honoured to have commissioned a substantial work that integrates and amplifies many of Chong’s ongoing interests and concerns, and thrilled to be sharing it with local and international audiences this summer.”
Over the course of the exhibition, Tai Kwun Contemporary will host public programmes and educational events exploring the exhibition’s themes. These include Tai Kwun Conversations moderated by Louiza Ho with artist Isaac Chong Wai and Hong Kong performer and marine ecologist Cheung Wai Yin; Teachers’ Morning and Teachers’ Workshop, and an Artist-led Professional Workshop. The Hi! & Seek Corner, an open space on the 2nd floor, will be open for visitor interactive experiences related to the exhibition.
