Pak Sheung Chuen (白雙全) is a Hong Kong-based artist known for his artistic interventions in everyday life. Whether by engaging ini personal experiments or by facilitating chance public encounters, he seeks to reveal the structures of contemporary society and to prompt his viewers to reflect upon their positions in a globalising world. The performative and ephemeral nature of Pak's works reflects the lack of space in Hong Kong, to which the artist has responded by locating his creations in experiences.
Read MoreMany of Pak's performances do not involve audiences; instead they rely on the artist himself as the subject of inquiry. In 2008, Pak took a five-day trip to Malaysia during which he kept his eyes closed for the entire duration. The photographs he took allowed him to discover and remember his journey when he returned home. During the actual trip, Pak found that he was compelled to utilise his body and other senses to navigate his changing environments. For Breathing on an Old House, one of his most iconic works—exhibited in the Busan Biennale in 2006—Pak similarly disrupted an otherwise ordinary experience by collecting his breath into plastic bags and storing them inside his apartment. Within days, the air-filled bags had all but overtaken the small residence. Through distorting 'ordinary' actions such as seeing and breathing, Pak heightens the sense of those experiences.
Pak's public performances invite viewers to rediscover the 'meanings' of frequently overlooked daily actions, by inserting chance encounters into everyday life. In his 2006 project Waiting for a Friend (without Appointment), the artist stood outside a train station in Hong Kong until a friend appeared. In another project, Going Home, which took place at the 2010 Taipei Biennial, Pak waited in the museum lobby in search of strangers who would allow him to accompany them home. His interruptions in everyday life are witty yet poignant, and offer thought-provoking alternatives to experiencing the contemporary world.
Although Pak's works are often ephemeral and presented afterwards through documentation, physical works such as Flowing Boundary: The Western Border (113°52'E) (2016) demonstrate his ability to manipulate various media to his vision. The large stone fountain, which represents the western boundary between Hong Kong and China, was created in response to the failure of the Umbrella Movement in 2014. Pak wished to portray the 'heaviness' of Hong Kong's complicated history and discovered the appropriate channel in a tangible form.
Despite his propensity for conceptual and performative works, Pak does not define himself as either a conceptual or performance artist. Rather, his performances are a vehicle through which he presents his thinking, ideas and emotions.
Pak was born in Fujian, China, in 1977. His family immigrated to Hong Kong when he was a child. Following his graduation from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2002, Pak has participated in numerous international exhibitions including the Taipei Biennial (2010, 2012); Venice Biennale (2009); Yokohama Triennale (2008); Guangzhou Triennial (2008) and Busan Biennale (2006). In 2012 Pak was the recipient of the Best Artist prize in the Chinese Contemporary Art Awards, Beijing, as well as the Frieze Best Stand prize at Frieze Art Fair, London.
Sherry Paik | Ocula | 2017
