Dorothy Wong Ka Chung and Benjamin Ryser
Exhibition opens on 13.2.2025 (Thu) at 6:00 PM with a guided tour by the artists Dorothy Wong Ka Chung and Benjamin Ryser. Free admission. All are welcome!
Supported by Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council
Artist duo Dorothy Wong Ka Chung and Benjamin Ryser's exhibition at the Goethe-Institut Hongkong focuses on the themes of ‘home’, ‘people and land’, and ‘sense of belonging’, featuring the works they have created with their friends from Taiwan's indigenous Truku people from 2017 to the present. Invited by the Tree Tree Tree Person - Taroko Artist Residency Programme, Dorothy and Benjamin have spent five summers since 2017 living with and learning from the Truku community in Alang Skadang, about a seven-hour walk from the closest city.
The exhibition features video and sound installations: about stories of the mountain homeland and forced relocation; about the memories of the tribal women of family and of collecting rare orchids in the mountain forest to sell in Japan; about the shock waves that an earthquake sent through the land and its people, and the song of the birds that escaped its force. Drawing on Truku personal and collective memories, the exhibition explores the community's resilience in the face of adversity and the deep connection between the Truku, the land and nature, tracing the contours of colonisation and history. During the exhibition, a talk by friends from the Truku community will provide an opportunity to learn more about the Truku's historical background and their relationship to the artworks.
During this long-term exchange, Dorothy and Benjamin have gradually evolved from familiar strangers to friends in the Truku community, often inspired by the community's stories and experiences. From the mountains of the Pacific Ocean to the densely populated city of Hong Kong, how do we understand our relationship with home, land and nature?
Special thanks to: Biyup, Bnu, Icyang, Kcing, Nac, Rimi, Simat, Yaya, Yuri, Yiji Dadao, 呀信, 志賢, 陳政道, Tree Tree Tree Person - Taroko Arts Residency Program, and 亮哥 who just returned from summer vacation.
Dorothy Wong Ka Chung (1991, born in Hong Kong) and
Benjamin Ryser (1989, born in Switzerland); in the Truku tribe also known as Qurug and Lowking. The artists, who have been working in Europe, Hong Kong and Taiwan in recent years, often intervene in local communities in different countries with images and sounds. They are concerned with displaced communities in different places, investigating the sense of belonging, identity, imagined homelands, as well as issues related to politics and history. In recent years, their works often collect the stories of different individuals to accumulate the urban memory of the community.
Their site-specific work has been shown in the streets of Hong Kong, on a Venetian boat in the Venice Lagoon at sunset, and on the traditional territory of Taiwan’s Truku tribe. They have collaborated with museums and institutions such as Tai Kwun Contemporary, Goethe-Institut Hongkong, WMA (Hong Kong), Kunst Halle St. Gallen, Kunstmuseum Thurgau (Switzerland), SomoS Arts (Berlin), Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Hong-Gah Museum, The Cube Project Space (Taiwan), Pro Helvetia - The Swiss Arts Council in Venice (Italy), and Borealis Festival (Norway).
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