Fascinating works by international artists – including Hong Kong light Kingsley Ng – mark the revival of the brand’s global showcase for contemporary art
HONG KONG, March 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Incl March 25, 2024The Peninsula will herald the return of its acclaimed global art program, Art in Resonance, with a new exhibition in its flagship Hong Kong hotel. The opening, which opens during Hong Kong Arts Week, features specially commissioned works by four visionary artists: Elise Morin, Kingsley Ng, Lachlan Turchanand I am Wulfalk. The exhibition will be open to visitors until May 17.
Originally presented by The Peninsula in 2019 in collaboration with Global Cultural Advisors Isolde Brielmeier and Bettina Prentiss, Art in Resonance offers Peninsula guests deeply immersive experiences in their hotels’ respective destination cities. The program also supports the larger cultural ecosystem by providing emerging artists with funding, curatorial support and logistical capabilities that enable them to create meaningful and complex new public artworks.
“This program has always aimed to engage in deeper and more impactful engagement with artists – providing patronage and a major platform for their work, rather than being passive venues,” said Gareth Roberts, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited. “We are especially proud to have given Hong Kong painter Kingsley Ng the ability to produce his most ambitious project to date. Ng has certainly proven that the hotel’s legendary facade remains a fertile canvas for artistic imagination.”
Strikingly compelling and innovative new works
We will see the exhibition Kingsley Ng (b. 1980, Hong Kong, China) reveal Esmeralda; a monumental kinetic installation created specifically for the hotel’s iconic forecourt. The piece takes its title from Italo Calvino famous novel from 1972 Invisible cities: a meditation on culture, memory, truth, past and present. Made of jade-colored ribbons, each 36 meters long and individually controlled by motorized winches, Esmeralda it will fluctuate between the physics of gravity and the buoyancy of air. The colossal work allows the artist to evoke the ephemeral ocean tides that brought the travelers Hong Kong from all over the world for centuries.
Another dynamic work commissioned for the 2024 exhibition is To Lachlan Turchan (b. 1993, The angels, USA) Harmonic resonance – a kinetic sculpture providing a hypnotic, meditative exploration of visible sound. The work includes a parabolic mirror measuring over 1.6 m in diameter that spans a shallow pool of water where low-frequency infrasonic tones allow the artist to choreograph vibrating patterns to form on the surface of the water. “I’ve spent the last decade perfecting an artistic practice that follows a simple, natural algorithm: sound shapes water, water shapes light,” explained the artist, who cites the California Light and Space Movement of the 1960s as a major influence.
Elise Morinon (b. 1978, Paris, France) shining SALTS originally launched in 2019, has been significantly expanded for Hong Kong exhibition. Maureen’s multidisciplinary studio practice fuses science, art and technology as she continues her exploration of landscape as a genre. The sculpture – made from thousands of obsolete CDs, each industrially pulverized to a security level – recalls the glittering palaces of her native Francebut instead offers a quiet commentary on the material weight of waste.
finally I am Wulfalk (b. 1979, Gifu, Japan) will present Visionary Reality Portal, immersive and multi-sensory digital meditation camera. Woolfalk’s studio practice is dedicated to her ongoing series The Empathics, a fictional group that fuses DNA with plants to achieve utopia. Through the physical transformation of empaths, the artist is able to explore themes of hybridity, spirituality, ethnography, and racial discourse. It is located in a specially built room on the ground floor, Visionary Reality Portal is constructed from hand-drawn paper, live action and 3D animation, and features countless cultural references from mandalas to stained glass to treatment (sacred traditional African objects that embody animal spirits). Woolfalk has also designed a custom Instagram filter that can be used within the exhibition, allowing visitors to become part of the installation and form a permanent part of the artist’s digital archive.
“Since the inception of the Art in Resonance program, The Peninsula Hotels has consistently demonstrated a bold commitment to artists’ visions,” said Bettina Prentissco-curator of Hong Kong exhibition. “Choosing to act as an incubator for bold and experimental ideas from new voices, the brand has turned these complex concepts into reality.”
Brand-wide dedication to contemporary art
The Peninsula has been committed to promoting the rich and vibrant cultural aspects of its properties’ destination cities for generations, inviting its guests to engage with the arts through numerous channels. The group hosts artist residencies, organizes enriching and culturally representative exhibitions, talks and symposia, and offers studio visits and workshops with local artists whose work exemplifies the distinctive flavor and energy of their hometowns.
The artworks in the exhibition will remain at The Peninsula Hong Kong until 17 May, after which they will be exhibited at other Peninsula properties and will join additional, newly commissioned installations by local artists. During the exhibition, The Peninsula Hong Kong will offer visitors free access to all works, as well as guided tours and activities that further illuminate the city’s vibrant art scene.
In tandem with the exhibition, The Peninsula Hong Kong will offer guests a special cocktail menu of Art in Resonance concoctions at Felix Lab in Art Basel Hong Kong’s Collectors’ Lounge. The menu includes four cocktails and one cocktail, all designed to resonate with the hotel’s art installations: Potato Monologue, Grape Monologue, Juicy Monologue, Corn Monologue and non-alcoholic Coconut Monologue. They will also be available at The Bar of The Peninsula Hong Kong from 26 March to 17 May 2024.
More information is available on The Peninsula’s Art in Resonance program webpage, www.peninsula.com/art.
About The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited (HSH)
Established in 1866 and listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (00045), HSH is the holding company of a group engaged in the ownership, development and management of prestigious hotel, commercial and residential properties in key locations in Asia, United States and Europe, as well as providing services for tourism and recreation, club management and other services. The Peninsula Hotels portfolio includes The Peninsula Hong Kong, The Peninsula Shanghai, The Peninsula Beijing, The Peninsula Tokyo, The Peninsula New York, The Peninsula Chicago, The Peninsula Beverly Hills, The Peninsula London, The Peninsula Paris, The Peninsula Istanbul, The Peninsula Bangkok and the Manila Peninsula. The group’s property portfolio includes The Repulse Bay Complex, The Peak Tower and St. John’s Building in Hong Kong; The remarkableness in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam; and 21 Avenue Kleber in Paris, France. The group’s portfolio of clubs and services includes The Peak Tram in Hong Kong; Quail Lodge & Golf Club in Carmel, California; Peninsula Clubs and Consulting Services, Peninsula Merchandising and Tai Pan laundry in Hong Kong.
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SOURCE The Peninsula Hotels