Pak Sheung Chuen

Pak Sheung Chuen (simplified Chinese: 白双全; traditional Chinese: 白雙全), also known as Tozer Pak, is a Hong Kong artist. He represented Hong Kong in the Venice Biennale 2009.

He is known for the documentation of chance encounters and unconventional uses of daily objects in his artwork.

Early life and education

He was born in 1977 in Fujian and immigrated to Hong Kong in 1984. He obtained his bachelor of arts degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2002 with a major in fine arts and a minor in theology.[1] He was awarded the Overseas Exchange Prize (Chinese Performance Art) by the Macao Museum of Art in 2005, and sponsored by the Lee Hysan Foundation Fellowship to take up residency in the International Studio & Curatorial Program in New York City in 2007.[2]

Artistic career

Pak is known for his attempts in "calibrating and transforming uncontrollable variables" in daily life. His artwork often features chance encounters, conversations, and discovery.[3] His artwork is "difficult to collect and sell" and he has "no intention of participating in the system" of art commercialization.[4] His style of art is described as "almost invisible, almost impossible to document, but manages to explore the human condition in all its complexities and with loving precision."[5]

While in New York, he developed his "New York Public Library Projects", a series of covert interventions in New York's public libraries. In Norwegian Wood (2007), Pak interchanged pages from paper copies of the novel Norwegian Wood with actual leaves from Norway.[6] In Page 22: Half-Folded Library, he covertly folded the corner of page 22 of 15,000 books in 58th Street Library, Manhattan. Pak commented that these projects turned a public library into a "private museum" with "site-specific installations", and considered his covert interventions in 58th Street Library as a "permanent", "solo exhibition".[3][6] Pak participated in the 3rd Guangzhou Triennial (2008) with photographs of Page 22 as an exhibit.[7] Some readers criticized the ethics of these covert art projects, to which Pak humorously responded that it is "a shortcut for your artwork to enter a big institution".[6]

He participated in the 2008 Yokohama Triennial with the series Time Crevasse. It comprised two pieces of artwork exploring the concept of time: Inexistent Time was a film made from cutting and splicing the blank spaces between the frames of a motion film; Waiting for a Friend (Without an appointment) documented an experiment in which Pak selected a busy junction in Kowloon Tong station and waited until he met a friend by chance.[7][8]

In 2009, Pak was selected to represent Hong Kong in the Venice Biennale, the first time one artist was chosen to be in charge of the entire Hong Kong Pavilion. The exhibition was titled Making (Perfect) World and comprised four sections: Harbour, Hong Kong, Alienated Cities, and Dreams. One piece of installation art in the exhibition had a "production cost [of] $0" because it exclusively used materials that Pak collected for free in Venice, such as pebbles and disused cords. Another notable exhibit featured bottles of seawater collected from Victoria Harbour.[7][9]

Pak's A Travel Without Visual Experience was collected by Tate.[10] In order to produce this collection of photographs, Pak participated in a five-day organized tour to Malaysia but blindfolded himself throughout the trip.[6]

Awards

In 2012, Pak Sheung Chuen won the Best Artist Award in the Chinese Contemporary Art Awards,[11] and the HKADC Award for Best Artist in Visual Arts.[12]

Political views

Pak is critical of the Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publication constituency of Hong Kong, saying that it claims to represent the artistic industry in politics but the composition of its electorate is biased against individual artists.[13] In the 2016 Election Committee election, Pak ran for election in the Culture subsector as a member of the pro-democracy ARTicipants caucus. He and his team were defeated by the pro-establishment caucus led by veteran actress Liza Wang.[14]

Personal life

Pak is a Christian and attends church regularly. He converted to Christianity while studying at a Christian secondary school, and disciplined himself by reading the Bible every morning. Pak is married and resides in Hong Kong.[15]

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References
  1. "Pak Sheung Chuen". Spring Workshop. Retrieved 2015-09-22.
  2. "Pak Sheung Chuen, Tozer". Hong Kong Art Archive. 2015-05-19. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  3. "Pak Sheung Chuen - Artists". Klein Sun Gallery. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  4. "白双全：就是这么怪" [Pak Sheung Chuen: It is weird indeed]. 南都周刊 (in Chinese). 2012-08-09. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  5. "2012 CCAA CHINESE CONTEMPORARY ART AWARD". laboratory art beijing. 2012-11-12. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  6. "The Art Of Covert Intervention - Pak Sheung Chuen". ArtAsiaPacific. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  7. "Emerging Chinese installation artist Tozer Pak Sheung Chuen at Venice Biennale 2009 | Art Radar". Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  8. ""Inexistent Time" and "Waiting for a Friend" Pak Sheung Chuen". Asia Art Archive. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  9. Ting, Selina. "Interview: Tozer PAK". initiArt Magazine. Retrieved 2015-10-12.
  10. "Pak Sheung Chuen, 'A Travel without Visual Experience' 2008". Tate. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  11. "Winners of 2012 Chinese Contemporary Art Award [CCAA] Announced". Randian. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  12. "2012 Awardees List". Hong Kong Arts Development Council. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  13. "「體育、演藝、文化及出版界」不代表我！ | 白雙全 | 立場新聞". 立場新聞 Stand News. Retrieved 2016-12-14.
  14. "Pro-democracy camp takes record quarter of seats on Election Committee that will choose Hong Kong's leader". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2016-12-14.
  15. 曹疏影; 陳銘恒 (June 2010). "白雙全：看書，像看海一樣自如" [Pak Sheung Chuen: I read books like I watch the sea]. 明日風尚 (in Chinese). Retrieved 2015-10-12 – via 二樓五仔記事簿.
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