CIC-Zero Carbon Park Presents: “Art in Construction” Exhibition with 3D Virtual Tour

• The
  Art of Innovative Construction
• Explore sustainable green living with Hong Kong artists

HONG KONG, CHINA
-�Media OutReach - 21
September 2020 – Construction Industry Council — Zero Carbon Park (CIC-ZCP) proudly
presents: “Art in Construction”, an exhibition that gathers local
artists to explore and showcase the connection and creativity between
construction and art through various forms including sculptures, installations,
paintings, photography, and workshops. Starting from today, “Art in
Construction” is held at the CIC-ZCP in Kowloon Bay and supported by a free
online virtual exhibition and a guided tour video. By incorporating 360-degree
camera technology, the exhibition allows everyone to experience the creativity
of construction, engage with art, and sample what it’s like to live a greener
lifestyle.

The Art of Innovative
Construction

The evolution of
construction throughout history demonstrates mankind’s creativity and
commitment to sustainability. From building houses and cities with wood and
stone to today’s use of innovative technology and sustainable methods to
establish communities living in harmony with nature. CIC-ZCP is pleased to
present “Art in Construction”, an exhibition and a series of activities that
showcases the synergy between construction and green living. Like art, the
imagination and creativity of construction are both impressive and breath-taking.

Mr. CHONG Kin-lit,
Paul, Chairman of CIC-ZCP, remarked in the exhibition’s promotional video: “Climate
change is one of the biggest challenges confronting mankind. CIC-ZCP is a
pioneering and inspiring project serving as a knowledge-sharing platform for
industry practitioners in low carbon building design and technologies. By
organising various types of promotional activities, it is our mission to increase
public awareness of low carbon living. Recently, CIC-ZCP has been completely
renovated with several innovative green initiatives. Allied with the art pieces,
we hope to bring an exciting facelift.”

‘Construction’ is more
than an industry. The word itself evokes a sense of mankind’s inventive spirit in
order to keep up with modern times. Located at CIC-ZCP, ‘Art in
Construction’ highlights the creativity of construction and the part technology
plays in turning high-quality green homes into a reality. This gives the public
a better insight into the philosophies that go into sustainable design, and
better appreciation for the creativity and vision behind them”. Mr CHONG
continued.

                                

Construction and art
never stops, even during the pandemic. “Art in Construction” is also
available for free as a virtual tour at www.zcpart.org. By browsing the virtual
exhibition, visitors can
get a 360-degree view of the exhibits. In addition, a guided tour video
will launch on 25 September, during which the curator and artists will take the
public into the world of art and construction to understand the stories behind CIC-ZCP
and the exhibits.

The
four themes of “Art in Construction”:

 

Art and Construction:
A Crossover Experience

While high-rises and
parks are designed meticulously by architects, building desirable homes
requires concerted effort from the community. With painting, toys and building
blocks, Artist LAM Tung-pang constructs his ideal city–complete with
hills, people and high-rises–in the installation, Things Happened on the
Island. He invites visitors to rearrange components to build the city together
with him, a process evocative of the collaboration and rapport behind green
communities and innovative technology in urban development.

Fusing Oriental and
Natural Charm

Sustainable development and green living
seem to be relatively modern concepts. In fact, since ancient times, the
Chinese have long believed in the importance of the symbiosis between man and
nature. Referencing natural elements like water and wind, veteran Hong Kong
Sculptor LEE Chin-fai, Danny has created Urban Waterscape, a
group of outdoor sculptures that double as benches for public use. Artist LAU
Hok-shing, Hanison has combined Penjing, or miniature landscapes in Sitting Table — Hong Kong, with Chinese Ta, a type of platform
seating, to create a space for outdoor recreation where people can meet and
relax. With artistic craftsmanship, Lee and Lau demonstrate mankind’s philosophy
of co-existing with all things in nature, whilst also preserving tradition and
illustrating the possibilities of green living.

Concerns about Environmental Issues

This year, temperatures in the Arctic
Circle reached a new peak of 20 degrees Celsius, while carbon emissions in
various regions are still on the rise. As people pursue their ideal homes,
global warming and the greenhouse effect remain acute issues that need to be
addressed. Many artists around the world are emphasising the importance of
environmental protection with their art. Photographer LAU Chi-chung has
been portraying the countryside for many years. In Landscaped Artifacts,
he has created a beautiful composition of woods and village houses that convey
the tension between human expansion and the forces of nature. Painter YUEN
Chun-tai, Ivy has spent half a year walking through multiple hiking trails
alongside reservoirs in Hong Kong. A series of drawings named Forestry illustrates
the rise and fall of Hong Kong’s horsetail pine population and how it parallels
the city’s urbanisation, as well as increase in plantation projects and the
threat of pests.

Sculptor MOK Yat-san
often depicts polar bears, one of the victims of global warming, in various forms.
The name of the art piece Beware of the P
Bear is a humorous but thought-provoking reminder to bear in mind the
severity of climate change. Another one of MOK’s exhibits, Lovingkindness,
resembles traditional Penjing (the ancient Chinese art of depicting
trees and landscape in miniature) by condensing architecture and juxtaposing
the mini-scenery with a polar bear. Visitors can then get a bird’s eye view of
the landscape from above, shedding their physical limitations, and exploring
the organic relationships between landscape, trees and rocks in miniature form.
The intention of using Penjing is also so that visitors can visualise
themselves taking a leisurely stroll through the scenery.

Practise Green Living

Humans are like builders of life. Similarly,
artists are mindful of sustainability in their everyday lives and practices too.
In Modern Landscape, Artist WONG
Chun-yam, Leo upcycles rocks and cement fragments collected from
construction sites to form sculptures, recreating the stories once told by the
structures themselves. Meanwhile, Artist Duo MUDWORK invites visitors to
practise green living through their artistic creation, Tree Call which makes
use of wood fragments to create small DIY bird whistles. Farmside Art
Research Lab (Part-farmer, part-artist Monti LAI and cross-disciplinary artist Meiki
LEE) is inviting the public to
participate in the Roving with Bamboo Ink — Nature Is Art workshop. The
workshop is designed to take place in the familiarity of home and to initiate
one’s connection with nature through breathing exercises, creative poetry, and
drawings created by ink pressed from vegetable leaves.

Photos Download: https://bit.ly/3mwzAFM

“Art in
Construction” Programmes

Date                                18 September (Friday) to 17 October 2020 (Saturday)

Location                        Construction
Industry Council — Zero Carbon Park

                                        8 Sheung
Yuet Road, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong

Time                               09:00
— 20:00 (Indoor) ; 07:00 — 20:00 (Outdoor)

Online
Exhibition        www.zcpart.org

Guided Tour Video    Launch on 25 September 2020 (Friday)

Workshop Video         Roving
with Bamboo Ink — Nature Is Art

                                        Launch
on 26 September 2020 (Saturday)

Appendix:

 

“Art in Construction” Exhibits and Workshop Highlight

 

Things Happened on the Island

Acrylics, charcoal, pencil, scale model
and wooden toys on plywood

LAM combines painting with a three-dimensional
model and invites visitors to join the creative process in a humorous and
interesting way. Visitors can use the toy blocks to create their own ideal
cities as an extension to the scene.

LEE Chin-fai, Danny:

Urban Waterscape

Stainless steel, iron

Derived from the concept of
three-dimensional papercutting, the installation tries to capture the movement
of flowing water by simulating the silhouette of waves and ripples, forming an
interesting and welcoming urban waterscape.

LAU Hok-shing, Hanison:

Sitting Table — Hong Kong

Wood, daily objects

An art piece that doubles as a bench
that people can sit or lay on. By using regularly available materials and
discarded items found on the street, elements of a garden are combined to
create mountains and rivers in order to demonstrate enjoyment in life is not
merely based on materialism.

LAU Chi-chung:

Landscaped Artifacts

Photography

Seasonal changes make the process of
creation a volatile one. By capturing the ruins found in nature, LAU’s work
bears witness to lived lives and passed time. Mankind made his mark on the land
he walked, but Mother Nature is now taking her turn to give it a makeover.
Though unable to turn back the clock, she has transformed the land into an
environmental sculpture.

YUEN Chun-tai, Ivy:

Forestry

Installation

After reading through century-old
reports from the Hong Kong Botanical and Afforestation Department, YUEN walked
along reservoirs small and large, trying to find the remaining horsetail pines
(Pinus Massoniana) in Hong Kong — hundreds of thousands of which had
been planted (now gone) in order to present the tree-planting history of
previous generations.

 

MOK Yat-sun:

Be Aware of the P Bear

Painted fibreglass

It seems surreal that a polar bear is lying
on an open space in the heart of an urban metropolis. Although we are many
miles from the Arctic, as a member of the “Global Village”, how can we turn a
blind eye to the threat of global warming? The surreal artwork reminds us of
the need to strike a balance between urban development and nature conservation.

MOK Yat-sun:

Lovingkindness

Stainless steel & gold sheets

MOK’s work resembles the design of
Chinese Penjing with a view to portraying an elegant world within a
microscopic setting. Visitors can get a bird’s eye view of the landscape and explore
the organic relationships between landscape, trees and rocks amongst the
miniatures. A close look further helps unlock the imagination, taking the mind
on a leisurely stroll of the garden.

WONG Chun-yam, Leo:

Modern Landscape

Mixed media

WONG upcycles rocks and cement fragments
collected from construction sites into architectural sculptures, recreating the
stories once told by the structures themselves.

MUDWORK:

Tree Call

Installation

The trees may remember the birds singing
and the birds may remember the trees. However, the birds can no longer be
heard. Through processing local wood and turning it into bird whistles, the
tune of nature can be heard again.

 

Farm
Side Art Research Lab: Roving with Bamboo Ink — Nature Is Art
Workshop
The Bamboo Ink — Nature Is Art workshop is designed to take place in the
familiarity of home and to initiate one’s connection with nature through
breathing exercises, creative poetry, and drawings created by ink pressed from
vegetable leaves.

About the Construction Industry Council

The Construction Industry Council (CIC)
was formed in 2007 under the Construction Industry Council Ordinance (Cap.
587). The CIC consists of a chairman and 24 members representing various
sectors of the industry including employers, professionals, academics,
contractors, workers, independent persons and Government officials.

The main functions of the CIC are to
forge consensus on long-term strategic issues, convey the industry’s needs and
aspirations to the Government, provide professional training and registration services,
and serve as a communication channel between the Government and the
construction industry. Please visit
www.cic.hk for further details.

About CIC-Zero Carbon Park

Established
in June 2012 and located in 8 Sheung Yuet Road, Kowloon Bay, CIC-Zero Carbon
Park (CIC-ZCP) is the first zero carbon building in Hong Kong developed by the
Construction Industry Council (CIC) in collaboration with the Government.
CIC-ZCP is an exhibition and education centre for advanced ecological building
design, as well as an information centre for low/zero carbon building
technologies, promoting low carbon living and the development of smart city in
Hong Kong.

Website http://zcp.cic.hk/chi/home

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CIC.ZCPHK/

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/construction-industry-council

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cic.ZCPhk/

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsK1xjqkm-xHCZTe1E3B26Q