Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Detachments

M+, Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK) in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) are pleased to co-present Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Detachments. This exhibition is an adaptation of Trevor Yeung’s solo exhibition representing Hong Kong in a Collateral Event at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia and is curated by Olivia Chow.

As with previous Hong Kong presentations at the Biennale, the 2024 Venice exhibition returns to Hong Kong in an adapted form. Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Attachments, Hong Kong in Venice (April 20 – November 24, 2024) saw Yeung explore sentimentality, desire, and power dynamics through the concept of attachment. For the return presentation, titled Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Detachments, Yeung’s installations continue to examine the relationships between human and aquatic ecosystems, but now through the concept of detachment.

Raised and living in Hong Kong, Yeung draws inspiration from his surroundings, including pet shops, his father’s seafood restaurant, public fountains, feng shui arrangements, and his childhood pet fish. In the exhibition, he carefully constructs landscapes of fishless aquariums as metaphors for the social systems that govern our lives. With water removed from the once-operational tanks, his works evoke a poignant sense of longing, desire, and containment, prompting reflection on absence and attachment.

The first part of the exhibition takes the form of abandoned pet fish shop. In Cave of Avoidance (Not Really), racks of empty fish tanks, marked by dried algae and water stains, set a sombre tone. Mirrored walls reflect visitors into the installation, casting them as participants in this scene—perhaps as a fish, a customer, or a fish seller. Behind the racks, Little Comfy Tornado (After Typhoon) features a complex filtration system that creates the highly regulated environment fish need to survive. However, this delicate, artificial ecosystem is broken, a warning of the consequences of neglect.

The second part of the exhibition resembles a Venetian courtyard, a space for visitors to rest and contemplate. The centrepiece, Pond of Never Enough (Under Construction), is a fountain boarded up with wooden panels. Although it was functional in Venice, the fountain is now defunct and stands suspended in time. Gate of Instant Love resembles a hanging display in a pet fish shop, subverting the excitement of bringing home a new pet fish. In this room, Yeung also introduces the motif of the wilting lotus with photographs (Pondering Ponds) and four sculptures (Mx. Tried-My-Best). The lotus can thrive even in the most difficult conditions and is a metaphor for cycles of decay and birth. Yeung’s presentation combines familiar elements of Hong Kong visual and material culture in immersive environments that bring deeply felt emotions to the surface.

Trevor Yeung (born 1988, Guangdong) was raised, lives, and works in Hong Kong. His practice excavates the logic of closed systems and the ways in which they create and contain emotions and behaviour. Fascinated by ecology, horticulture, and aquatic ecosystems, Yeung presents carefully staged objects, photographs, animals, and plants in his mixed media works to address human relationships and the artificiality of nature.

Yeung has participated in numerous international exhibitions, including the Biennale of Sydney (2024); the Singapore Biennale (2022); the Kathmandu Triennale (2022); La Biennale de Lyon (2019); EVA International, Dublin (2018); the Dhaka Art Summit (2018); and the Shanghai Biennale (2015).

Olivia Chow is a curator working between Hong Kong and Vancouver. Chow served as Assistant Curator, Visual Art, at M+, and her projects include Nalini Malani: In Search of Vanished Blood (2012/2022); Nalini Malani: Vision in Motion (2021); Shirley Tse: Stakes and Holders (2020); and Shirley Tse: Stakeholders, Hong Kong in Venice (2019). Chow is the incoming Director of Curatorial Programs at the Chinese Canadian Museum, Vancouver.