Artwork
Making Thousands of Suns 2010
Window sticker and book installation
Vinyl, wooden shelf and books
Making Thousands of Suns has been created with the help of libraries across Queensland. The window artwork directly uses images of the sun collected from book covers found in Queensland library collections. As the radiant light of the sun is cast through the window, the work metaphorically creates thousands of suns from one sun.
State Library of Queensland location: Red Box
Shanghai Library location: Level 3
Visit the project page for Making Thousands of Suns
About the artist
Pak Sheung Chuen visited Brisbane in June 2010 for a Light from Light residency, supported by MAAP – Multimedia Art Asia Pacific, the State Library of Queensland and the Griffith University Queensland College of Art.
During his stay, he developed a site-specific artwork for the exhibition: Making Thousands of Suns, which is created with the help of libraries across Queensland.
Pak spoke about this new work, his experiences in Brisbane, and his practice more broadly in an artist talk presented at the State Library of Queensland on the 29th of June 2010.
This Chinese conceptual artist has been recognised through significant exhibitions in China, Italy, New York and London. In the past, many of Pak’s works have documented performances dictated by the artist’s own simple instructions. His 2006 work, Breathing in a House saw the artist fill a rented apartment with his own breath (collected in plastic bags over ten days), until he could no longer fit in the space. For Alternative Tokyo Travel Project 2: Valley’s Trip (2007), the artist travelled from southern to northern Tokyo, but walking only in the areas corresponding to the middle folds of his map. His permanent solo exhibition at New York’s 58th Street Branch Library, Page 22 (Half Folded Library) was created by the folding of the 22nd page of every second book in the library’s collection.
“Influenced by the politics and identity of post-1997 Hong Kong as well as the tradition of Performance Art, Pak’s distinctive methodology towards ‘adaptation’ consists of inserting himself as the subject into the equation, adopting this position to question and explore the notion of individual identities against the new globalised societies and realities that are of extreme relevance to the ongoing modernisation of Asia’s mega cities”. (Press release, Hong Kong Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2009)
Artist’s C.V.
Lives & works in Hong Kong.
Solo Exhibitions
2009
Venice Biennale, Hong Kong Pavilion
All Day(s) All Night(s), Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou
2008
From Everyday Objects to Eternity, Diogene Bivaco Urbano, Turin
Page 22, 58th Street Branch Library, New York, U.S.A.
2006
Artysta z Hong Kongu, WAA Art Space, Warsaw
2004
Overlapping, A’ha Bar.Gallery, Central, Hong Kong
Group Exhibitions
2009
The First Stop on the Super Highway, The Nam June Paik Art Center, Seoul
Charming Experience, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong
2008
Departure, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen
Yokohama Triennale 2008, Shinko Pier, Yokohama
The Third Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou Museum of Art, Guangzhou
Connection, Hanart Gallery, Beijing
Map Games, Today Art Gallery, Beijing
Du Dialogue Social, Motorenhalle, Dresden (Germany)
Ethnographies of the Future, Rotunda Gallery, New York
China China China!!! Chinese Contemporary Art Beyond the Global Market, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence
Everyday Anomalies, Phoenix Art, Brighton (England)
Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win, Deutsche Bank Gallery, New York
2007
China Power Station: Part II, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo
Time After Time, Hollywood Centre, Hong Kong
Reversing Horizons, Artist Reflections of the Hong Kong Handover 10th Anniversary, MOCA, Shanghai
I Love Mongkok, Langham Place, Hong Kong
Among others…, Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong
Out Look Shenzhen, Coco Park, Shenzhen
AIRPORT: Flying thought, Space E6, Shenzhen
China’s Performance Art Photography, 798 Inter Art Center, Beijing
The Reading Records of Cities, 798 M Art Space, Beijing
Inside Looking Out, Osage Art Gallery, Hong Kong
Stranger, Contemporary Art Factory, Tokyo.
2006
Arrivals and Departures: New Art Perspectives of Hong Kong, Urbis, Manchester.
hk.cityu.hk: An art exhibition by Luke Ching and Tozer Pak, CityU Gallery, Hong Kong.
Busan Biennale 2006, Busan Contemporary Museum, Korea.
Yellow Box Art Project, Shanghai.
Art in Progress (Performance festival in Paris), France.
Realm with No Coordinates, NTUE Nan Hai Gallery, Taipei.
Away, 1a Space, Hong Kong.
Fotanian 2006, Fotan Industrial Centre, Hong Kong.
2005
Inward Gazes – Documentaries of Chinese Performance Arts, Macao Museum of Art, Macao.
In Between Meals, Program of Business of Design Week 2005, Art Tube, Central MTR Station, Hong Kong.
Power Plays (Artists Challenge Authorities), Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong.
2004
Fotanian 2004, Fotan Industrial Centre, Hong Kong.
melbourneconnectionasia 2004, Urbanart group inc, Melbourne, Australia.
Toys’bout, Habitus Design Space, Hong Kong.
Man Made – A Project about Masculinity and Art, Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong.
2003
A time like this … Zeiten wie diese…, Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong.
Fotanian 2003, Fotan Industrial Centre, Hong Kong.
2002
Invitational Exhibition by Department of Architecture, Department of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Graduation Exhibition of Fine Arts, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Small, Hands, Made Sculpture Exhibition, Hui’s Gallery, New Asia College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
2001
Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition 2001, Hong Kong Museum of Art.
Mission / Vision: an artistic dialogue with religion, Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong.
2000 Gordon Lo and Tozer Pak Joint Exhibition, Sir Run Run Shaw Hall, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Artist in Residency Program
2008 AAA (Asian Art Archive), Hong Kong
2008 Diogene Bivaco Urbano, Turin
2007 ISCP (International Studio and Curatorial Program), New York
Awards
2008 Outstanding Work, “Inward Gazes – Documentaries of Chinese Performance Arts”(2008), Macao Museum of Art.
2006 Lee Hysan Foundation Fellowship (12 months in USA), Asian Cultural Council (Hong Kong/2006)
2005 Oversea Exchange Prize, “Inward Gazes – Documentaries of Chinese Performance Arts”(2005), Macao Museum of Art.
2001 Hui’s Academy Fine Arts Award (2D / Mixed Media), “Annual Art Exhibition of The Department of Fine Arts 2001”, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
2000 The Culture Corner Art Academy Fine Arts Award, “Annual Art Exhibition of The Department of Fine Arts 2000”, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Publication
PAK Shuung-chuen (2005), See Walk What on 1 July, Hong Kong: Artopia Publishing Limited and 70+ art/words
PAK Shuung-chuen (2005), Odd One In: Hong Kong Diary, Hong Kong: Artopia Publishing Limited and 70+ art/words
白双全（中国 香港）
千个太阳 Making Thousands of Suns 2010
窗贴和书籍装置
塑料，木架，书籍
“千个太阳”是通过昆士兰州众多图书馆工作人员的协助来实现的。这件窗贴艺术品使用的太阳图案是直接从昆士兰省图书馆的藏书封面上收集到的。当阳光照射透过窗面时，作品比喻性的从一个太阳创造出千个太阳。