A Collective Present
September–December 2017

This autumn as a conclusion to the five-year cultural initiative, Spring Workshop explores the idea of freedom with a set of sparks called A Collective Present.*

A Collective Present begins September 23 with a program featuring filmmaker/writer/actor Rashida Jones, who will lead a journey into the issues at stake where sex on film and feminism intersect via screenings, workshops and a discussion with Hong Kong’s foremost thinkers. Next comes a spotlight on Ha Bik Chuen’s archive, a resource which Asia Art Archive has made extensive efforts to open to the public. From October 14, art critic and curator John Batten will present a new vantage point into Ha’s world using the archive’s diverse holdings which include designs for Christmas cards, blueprints for his largest public sculpture in nearby Aberdeen, scrapbooks and diaries, shown alongside memories of Wong Chuk Hang’s printing factories. October also includes a deep-listening adventure with non-profit soundpocket, whose mission suggests “using listening as a way to know ourselves and each other,” and Current, an expressive arts therapy experiential workshop presented by Jessica Kong and collaborator/artist AMA.

From November 4, artists Tiffany Chung and Koki Tanaka will present separate research begun during their residencies at Spring, unpacking Hong Kong’s recent history in a presentation assembled by Curator-at-Large Christina Li. As an extension of her ongoing research for the Hong Kong chapter of The Vietnam Exodus Project, Chung will exhibit archival materials and notes from her academic research and ethnographic fieldwork that excavate personal/collective histories and remap the now-erased spatial/historical narratives of the local Vietnamese refugee community in Hong Kong. It is part of her long-term project's framework in protest of the erasure of this history in the new Vietnam. As a continuation of his research on the potentials of temporary communities birthed from adversity, Tanaka’s new work Precarious Tasks #9: 24hrs Gathering (Timeline) invited eight participants to Spring to jointly compose a possible timeline of Hong Kong’s social movements starting from the 1960s, interwoven with their personal stories. On show will be threads extracted by Tanaka from the session.

In mid-December, we will publish a book on the Industrial Forest, an installation planted on Spring’s rear terrace in 2012. Created by the artists/architects ESKYIU, the book will document the colorful lifespan of the project alongside words from Spring’s extended family, while laying the groundwork for future iterations of the artwork. Spring Workshop’s last public moment on December 10 before closing indefinitely will feature artist/composer Samson Young and the Forest in sonic dialogue.

*As part of A Collective Present, writer/composer Michael Friedman (1975–2017) was invited to return to Spring Workshop for another residency this October as a follow-up to his first at Spring Workshop’s inception in 2012 when he depicted our Hong Kong landscape in a brilliant song cycle characterized by unvarnished truth, outsider insights and jocularity. Michael’s second volume of songs, pre-titled Adventures in Reality, Part 2: The Five-Year Plan, would have been performed at the end of his residency, a bookend to Spring’s five years in action. However, Michael passed away a week ago. So we followers of his work will have to content ourselves with celebrating our cherished memories of Michael and his extraordinary artistry, wherever we have been lucky enough to encounter them. 

About Spring Workshop 
Founded in 2012 and based in Hong Kong, Spring Workshop is a 5-year cultural initiative that brings people together to experiment with the way we relate to art. In 2016, Spring Workshop received the Prudential Eye Award for Best Asian Contemporary Art Organization. At the end of 2017, Spring will cease its regular activities to begin a planned hiatus.