Hope and Glory: A Conceptual Circus Conceived by Simon Birch

April 8th has been set as the opening date for artist Simon Birch and his exhibition Hope and Glory: A Conceptual Circus Conceived. Birch is taking a multimedia approach, collaborating with many creatives including artist Stanley Wong, photographer Wing Shya, British rock band UNKLE, filmmaker Eric Hu, designer Douglas Young, architect Paul Kember, actor Daniel Wu, and Beijing-based artist Cang Xin. You can read more about the show below, namely the theme of an interactive experience telling the story of the “hero myth.”

Hope and Glory: A Conceptual Circus Conceived by Simon Birch
April 8th to May 30th, 2010
ArtisTree, 1/F Cornwall House, TaiKoo Place,
Island East, Hong Kong

Hope and Glory

A Conceptual Circus Conceived by Simon Birch

April 8 to May 30, 2010

March 22, 2010 Hong Kong – Hong Kong-based artist Simon Birch has created Hope and Glory, one of the most ambitious multi-media art projects ever undertaken in Hong Kong.

The unprecedented scale of the show, filling the 20,000sq ft ArtisTree exhibition space in TaiKoo Place, Island East from April 8th – May 30th, will challenge established paradigms in art presentation and construction while bringing the audience on a fascinating and immersive adventure through a metaphorical world – a conceptual circus – created by the artist.

A series of interlinked multi-media installations will transform the vast space into a mythological labyrinth, where cultural and personal histories merge, and generating questions of one’s own relationship with the past, the present and the future.

Just as the archetypal circus brought together spectacular “sideshows” from all over the world to create a multi-sensory allegory of foreign adventure, Birch has brought together artists, designers, musicians, filmmakers, photographers, actors, gaming wizards, and architects, from Hong Kong and abroad.
Each has contributed their own particular vision to Hope and Glory’s conceptual world of spectacle and wonder. Among Birch’s collaborators are artist Stanley Wong, photographer Wing Shya, British rock band UNKLE, filmmaker Eric Hu, designer Douglas Young, architect Paul Kember, actor Daniel Wu, and Beijing-based artist Cang Xin.

Birch’s monumental show explores a number of major themes that recur in the artist’s work: the idea of art as a spectacle; the fascination with circuses and fairgrounds, science fiction and mythologies; as well as a preoccupation with the traditions of craftsmanship and labour in art production.

Hope and Glory is deeply informed by the structure of the ‘hero myth’ that appears in different guises throughout history and across cultures, ranging from the Odyssey of ancient Greece to modern science fiction films like Star Wars and Blade Runner. The narrative that unfolds is a retelling – through film, sculpture, music, video, painting, gaming, and live performance – of archetypal themes, such as the duality of human existence, the relationship between suffering and redemption, the journey from darkness into light, and the leap from adversity into transcendence. By entering into its all-immersive environment, the audience becomes part of this unfolding experience.

The title of the project, ‘Hope and Glory’, is an appropriation of the title of a British patriotic song from the close of the Victorian era, ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, an anthem that hopes for a mightier and more powerful empire. The use of the title is both ironic and meaningful, referring to the hope and glory that is relative to individual human experience, as well as to the negatives which burden imperial dreams.
One of Birch’s intentions in conceiving this monumental installation is the creation of an all-enveloping artistic space that echoes the function of the circus in traditional culture: offering within the frenetic urban environment a temporary place of other-worldly respite and the experience of a communal sense of wonder.

The challenges of realizing a visual arts exhibition of this scale and complexity in Hong Kong have been enormous, but facing them has generated the creation of new mechanisms for building bridges between private and public institutions, and for bringing artists, entrepreneurs, academics and government together. The support has been extraordinary and quite unprecedented for a visual arts project, and on 5th March, the HKSAR Mega Events Fund formally announced its support for the Hope and Glory project with a 2 million HKD pledge.

A series of innovative forums and interactive educational talks exploring topics and questions generated by Hope and Glory will be held throughout the exhibition period (schedule to be announced).