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ABSTRACT long-term action research platform driven by curatorial and tion of the art world and everyday urban reality, OSP is also a atmospherepolitical of contemporary [3]. canvassymbolic forexpressions artistic sensitive the within presents tower Harbor,the Victoria iconic the on London,seum ZKMand Ars the Festival Electronica [2]. Way,”among other venues including Victoria Mu Albert & - by in the field of urban media art, and in May 2016 it was listed displayed works, OSP quickly became an important reference (Figs 1 and 2). Given its huge visual impact and the quality of Jim Campbell, Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau as such artists distinguished to MFAstudents work—from frame OSP the under artists hundred a to close of works [1], RecordGuinness a previouslyheld national Commerce Centre (ICC). This media facade,which Inter Kong’sskyscraper—the Hong of tallest facade meter for facilitating art exhibitions on the gigantic 70,000-square- SkyOpen Project (OSP) was launched in 2014 as a platform context ofHongKongin2016. campaign—a collisionthattookplacewithinthedelicatepolitical OpenSkyProjectandtheCountdownMachine urban interventions, expands onsuchinquiriesbyanalyzingthecollisionoftwoartistic mediacontroversy?Thisarticle trapped inthebattlefieldofart-fueled become initiatives? Whathappenswhencorporatesponsorsofart versus infiltratingpoliticallysensitivepublicarenaswithlong-term the prosandconsofconductingattention-grabbingguerrillacampaigns andtheprofessionalethicsofexhibitioncontext?Whatare of art How docuratorialinitiativesinpublicspacesbalancethecriticalpursuit TaleA Cautionary ofUrbanMediaArt ’ s t s i t r a ©2020 ISAST with thisissue. See www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/leon/53/2 forsupplementalfilesassociated Email: [email protected]. of Hong Kong, 18, Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR. (artist, educator), School of Creative Media, City University Email: [email protected]. of Hong Kong, 18, Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR. Lisa SoYoung Park (researcher, artist), School of Creative Media, City University As a project of urban media art that works Commanding over a million viewers each night as it stands USA Today as one of “10 WaysBest to Art the See Digital and Its Repercussions Its and Censorship Planned Media-Bait, i L A S https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_01611 A e l c i t r o Y o S u P g n has since shown the the shown since has R A in the intersec - k

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M - - R U A Vibrations. Exhibition: Art Media Public Large-Scale fifth the exhibitionforofmonth a over with months,along secutive multiple exhibitions showing these 28 artworks for eight con cantlyimplementingfrom exhibitionssporadic planning to Consequently, the collaborative framework expanded signifi for ISEA2016 (International Symposium of Electronic Arts). call open an through curators international 12 of jury a by selected were works top 28 2016, in Musicprograms.Then, bitions that were slotted between ICC’s proprietary Light and in 2014, OSP organized monthlong, semesterly student exhi- curatedrencebyJeffreyBenayounwas Shaw which and [4] , and students. with Beginning Jim Campbell’s artists for platform exhibition an as Benayoun Maurice by Open Sky Project is a nonprofit, voluntary endeavor initiated S The nected contextnected of urban discourse. everyday interventions andcritical politicized interconhighly the in - potentialramifications enacting artists considermust when discussion of each intervention, we discuss detailed the approachwith and OSP.Beginning of manager project the and founder the as perspectives own our on based campaign, the of tactics short-term the and egy detailed analysis of the clash between OSP’s long-term strat- pression. In this article, we provide a first-hand account and Kong’s political Hong situation and highlight to to campaign for platform freedom OSP of ex- the leveraged that paign abruptly, following an activist-artist duo’s tactical media cam transitory two phase regimes between of governance? ies of creative expressions in Hong Kong during a precarious, maintaining a critical edge? How does one push the boundar still while parties, collaborating the all affecting siderations con- the negotiate spaces public in initiatives curatorial do How objectives? consumerist by obsessed not are who ists, - art as such actors, key its to back space public the give we artistic praxes. It pertinent poses questions such as: How do This In May 2016, this collaboration with the ICC tower ended i trat c

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t o L o LEONARDO, Vol. 53, No.2,pp.135–144, 2020 ay

ast o : : u Op n en Sk en y Countdown Machine Countdown P r oje Eternal Recur ct Human ------135 Fig. 1. Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau, Fly High Time Flies, Hong Kong, 2016. (Photo © Open Sky Project)

Fig. 2. Jim Campbell, Eternal Recurrence, Hong Kong, 2014. (Photo © Open Sky Project)

136 Park and Benayoun, A Cautionary Tale of Urban Media Art

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01611 by guest on 26 September 2021 Fig. 3. The Hong Kong island and the Kowloon sides of the Victoria Harbor in 2016, highlighting the visible surfaces taken up by corporate advertising, in comparison to the ICC facade. (Note: While the ICC and IFC buildings are to scale, not all buildings appear to be of exact scales of comparison due to the curvature of the shorelines.) (© Maurice Benayoun. Source photos from the public domain.)

tunity to show nightly exhibitions made up exclusively of in tandem with Benayoun’s concept of “critical fusion” [6] artworks on the iconic facade, which, in 2016, occupied as a strategy for public art that is usually accompanied by roughly double the space taken up by all advertisements wariness toward critical interventions. As interpretation of that are visible across Victoria Harbor combined (Fig. 3). any given artwork is subjective and escapes exhaustibility, Further, the increasing number of OSP programs taking up critical fusion works with parallel narratives: one conciliat- slots dedicated to ICC’s proprietary content was indicative ing institutional boundaries, and another preserving the art- of the intervention’s rapid growth into a subtle yet highly ists’ critical intentions. E-scape Today! (Fig. 4), Occupy Wall symbolic expansion of the space for artistic expressions on Screens (Fig. 5) and Emotion Forecast (Fig. 6) are examples of the landmark skyline. such urban interventions in which Benayoun questions the Mooted together with Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), role of the artist in public spaces by contrasting two different which owns ICC, and the School of Creative Media (SCM) approaches, which he envisions as “Cosmetics vs Critical Fu- at City University of Hong Kong, the collaboration between sion.” By juxtaposing in real time the emotional state of the nonprofit, corporate and public organizations was conceived world (based on “human factors” as revealed via web data) with mutual benefits in mind: For SHKP, it entailed develop- with financial market values, these works become a subtle ing corporate social responsibility and building a positive form of urban hacking [7]. brand; for SCM, it meant new exhibition opportunities for Moreover, by interfacing with the corporate world, art- students; and for OSP, it realized an opportunity to turn the ists engage in critical brainstorming as they confront SHKP’s iconic ICC into an exhibition venue. specifications: Such interrelation is foundational for urban media art de- ICC does not accept lighting works designed for personal spite the ensuing need to be sensitive toward the concerns of and commercial events . . . themes that may be interpreted partnering corporations and/or the state. It is a double-edged as derogatory as to race, religion, sexual orientation, natu- sword, as circumstances including the site’s contextual, rela- ral origin, or physical or mental disability . . . or works tional, networked and interdisciplinary framework shape and containing any political elements [8]. drive urban interventions. Such collaborations lead to new interfaces for dialoguing with the multitude of domains that Given the drive to push existing boundaries that under- are participating in the urban reality and surface underlying lies artistic practices, restrictions become a necessary hurdle issues that are pertinent to daily discourse [5]. Moreover, by to negotiate. As such, questions including how one might working through constraints and unspoken relational ex- position, nuance and balance the aesthetic, pragmatic and pectations, the collaborative endeavor becomes an interstice political concerns within an artwork, or how one might push through which unarticulated sociopolitical processes can be the boundary without breaking the rules per se, or how one glimpsed. This is particularly meaningful within the context should interpret the term “political,” become experiments of Hong Kong and China, which is rooted in the high-context in and of themselves. Thus, Open Sky Project is a curatorial Confucian culture with its complex relational mores. mechanism that invites artists to explore the unspoken and However, to balance this emphasis on the relational as- unarticulated boundaries of the “sensible,” as envisioned by pects of the collaboration, OSP’s curatorial approach works Jacques Rancière [9].

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01611 by guest on 26 September 2021 Fig. 4. Maurice Benayoun, E-scape Today! Seoul, 2012. (© Maurice Benayoun)

Fig. 5. Maurice Benayoun, Occupy Wall Screens, New York, 2012. (© Maurice Benayoun)

Fig. 6. Maurice Benayoun, Emotion­ Forecast, , 2011. (© Maurice Benayoun)

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01611 by guest on 26 September 2021 The Blast Tactic: which excluded the original names of the exhibition and The Countdown Machine Campaign the artwork. Countdown Machine is an agonistic case in point. Its creators The original work was inaugurated on 17 May 2016, to- leveraged the OSP platform to exercise a political gesture gether with 28 selections from the ISEA2016 open call as through controversial tactics. The campaign was based on well as Sommerer and Mignonneau’s piece for the Human activist-artists Jason Lam and Sampson Wong’s video Our Vibrations exhibition. Then, on the following day, articles 60-Second Friendship Begins Now (Fig. 7), which was com- from major media outlets, including the New York Times missioned by Hong Kong’s fifth Large-Scale Public Media Art and CNN, were published based on a press release blast by Exhibition, Human Vibrations. the duo during the opening night [11]. Presented as a mes- Sponsored by the Hong Kong Arts Development Coun- sage addressed to a high-ranking Chinese official whose visit cil (HKADC), and facilitated under the framework of OSP to Hong Kong opportunely coincided with the opening, the with ICC as venue sponsor, the facade segment of the Hu- artists expressed their desire to “illustrate the biggest anxiety man Vibrations exhibition was organized through temporary of the Hong Kong people” [12] against the government’s ef- partnership between the statutory board and nonprofit and fort to muffle the voices of dissidents during the visit. The corporate organizations. Moreover, it was planned in collab- New York Times lauded the work as a brave, “subversive” act oration with ISEA2016 to enable resource sharing. However, [13], and this perspective, which echoed through other media this impromptu collaborative framework became a point of platforms, transposed the focus of the artwork to the context vulnerability through which the Countdown Machine cam- of prodemocracy activism. paign [10] was launched. In all this, the exhibition context was largely neglected, The nine-minute video was officially proposed as an hom- with Wong stating, “Most of the animations shown on the age to Wong Kar-wai’s acclaimed film Days of Being Wild. ICC are ad-like, meaningless videos” [14]. With this partial However, the key element was concealed in the last minute of and polarizing narrative, Wong and Lam flattened the com- the work, which was later revealed through a tactical media plex reality in order to portray their own work as a brave, campaign to feature the number of seconds counting down heroic gesture that infiltrated authoritative institutions, while to the end of the one-country, two-systems arrangement in speculating that censorship would be the likely response to 2047. The campaign also comprised a website showing a live this political gesture. Their narrative further neglected key countdown to 2047 overlaid upon an image of their work facts such as the 29 other artworks being exhibited, SHKP’s on the ICC, a statement of their tactical media campaign sponsorship of the arts over the years, or the curator Caro- and a short video excerpt of the original display informing line Ha Thuc and HKADC’s track records in supporting free when this segment can be witnessed on the facade—all of speech.

Fig. 7. Jason Lam and Sampson Wong, Our 60-Second Friendship Begins Now, Hong Kong, 2016. (Photo © Open Sky Project)

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01611 by guest on 26 September 2021 Initially, reflecting SHKP’s expectation of a limited impact, accused HKADC of “calling a deer a horse,” claiming that the collaborating parties did not react to the provocation. HKADC’s systems “served only people with power and at However, on 22 May 2016, as the artists intensified the me- high levels” [18]. They called the artwork’s removal an “at- dia pressure, Ellen Pau, the chair of the Film and Media Art tack” and an “attempt at banning interpretation [to] limit Group at HKADC, along with Caroline Ha Thuc, released a freedom of expression” [19] and continued to reinforce this public statement on HKADC’s website, announcing the re- stance via Facebook. moval of the work from the Human Vibrations exhibition. Ha Thuc and Pau, having been aware of the meaning of They held the artists accountable for changing the title and the numbers in the original work, claimed that “the decision artists’ statement of the work and for publicizing the new title had nothing to do with the artwork’s content, and thus did and statement without consulting them, thus undermining not represent any censorship.” Instead, the work was removed trust between HKADC, the curator, the artists and the col- in disapproval of Wong and Lam’s unprofessional choices in laborating partners. Pau and Ha Thuc’s statement indicated “[using] the contractual framework of a large public festival that the media campaign’s approach was disrespectful and for self-serving purposes” [20]. Moreover, Ha Thuc high- unprofessional and thus jeopardized future collaborations in lighted that the curatorial statement, which invited artists to the urban space [15]. envision the invisible sentiments emanating from the every- Wong and Lam denied the accusation that they had day realities of the city, implied the inability to avoid political changed the title and statement, insisting that Countdown nuances within Hong Kong’s context. This curatorial direc- Machine was a separate work, or “at best an interpretation” tion was precisely the reason why the duo was commissioned based on the last minute of their work on the facade [16]. despite their reputation as activists. Then, based on this technicality, they seized upon the ar- This incident generated both constructive discussions and gument that HKADC was using arbitrary excuses to legiti- disruptive and polarizing debates. Reducing the issue to one mize the alleged censorship. They claimed that HKADC was of censorship by speculating on the political motivations of “abusing their power” by “denying civil rights” and “limiting HKADC and SHKP, the media and the public lashed back the freedom of expression” under “political pressure” [17]. in support of free speech. Speculations circulated in social Further, while omitting any discussion of the problematic media and on blogs, stating that HKADC was retaliating in way they had publicized the alternative narrative, Wong anger as “it was duped into thinking the light show was po-

Fig. 8. Sampson Wong protesting at the opening of Carnival—Defending Freedom of Expression through Art, curated by Ha Thuc for Amnesty International. (Photo © Maurice Benayoun)

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01611 by guest on 26 September 2021 litically correct” [21]. Such ungrounded accusations became Countdown Machine as a amplified via social media echo chambers. News coverage Tactical Media Campaign further stretched the assumptions, asking questions such as, Countdown Machine, which brought accolades and interna- “Does whoever pays for any artistic endeavor have the right tional recognition to the artists [28], was indeed able to draw to censure the true intent of artists and monopolize the inter- public attention to Hong Kong’s political situation. It also re- pretation of an artwork?” Or, “Can genuine artistic freedom inforced solidarity between activists and the local population in Hong Kong be maintained until 2047 and beyond, even as by advocating citizens’ creative engagement in reimagining funding for the arts increasingly comes from the government their future. Most importantly, it instigated heated debates on and wealthy landlords with ties to mainland China?” [22]. freedom of expression through its wide-reaching, controver- Contrarily, individuals in the local arts community who sial campaign. Nonetheless, we must reexamine its approach, were aware of Ha Thuc, Pau and HKADC’s track records of as it has resulted in long-term repercussions by destabilizing supporting and promoting free speech perceived the issue the trust between the arts community, the state and the cor- to be the artists’ code of conduct. Disputing political censor- porate sector, as is evident in SHKP’s excessively stringent ship, local artist Phoebe Man pointed out that the video was disposition moving forward. removed after the Chinese official’s departure [23]. Curator While the artistic merit of the original video is debatable, and educator Oscar Ho also deplored the artists’ approach as the work itself did not warrant censorship, since the num- one that could affect the entire art scene [24]. ber of seconds remaining until 2047 is an easily calculable A comprehensive dialogue needed to elucidate these con- fact. Further, it could not even convey the actual seconds tradictions never came to fruition. In an interview with au- remaining due to the façade’s inability to display a live count- thor Park, Ha Thuc stated that Wong and Lam had declined down. Nonetheless, the campaign had two artful objectives: her invitation to join a public debate with all the artists who One was to float a countdown video via the opportune con- had participated in the Human Vibrations exhibition [25]. text in order to call for public action, whereas on a covert Instead, a petition cosigned by 10 local arts practitioners was level, the video actually served as “media-bait” to unleash submitted to HKADC on 7 June 2016 [26]. It requested expla- a larger-than-life provocation by leveraging international nations of four questions: why the work was pulled if SHKP news media. On one hand, the press release strove to provoke didn’t object to it; how the “false accusation” condemning the the organizers by publicizing an alternative narrative that original work’s change in title and statement was justifiable; points clearly to the original work on ICC. At the same time, whether politicization of an artwork is reasonable grounds it painted the organizers as evil oppressors who are likely for removal; and whether the “artists’ behavior” condemned to pull the work “once the meaning of the countdown be- by the organizers was sufficient rationale for the removal came widely known” [29]. Through this tactic, which we call of their exhibit. In a private conversation with Benayoun, “planned censorship,” the campaign successfully provoked a Pau clarified that while she had unofficial discussions with much-anticipated removal of the work, which enabled the some of the artists on the issue, HKADC did not give any artists to launch their campaign for free speech. One could official response to this petition. OSP and the curator were say that the work’s removal (un)intentionally completed the excluded from these exchanges, which took place in Can- work, because, in doing so, it provided more arguments for tonese, so in this article we seek to shed some light on these media attention, thus adding more oil to the machine, as very ­questions. ­opportunely suggested by the artists’ group name: “Add Oil On 4 August 2016, OSP received an email from SHKP that Machine.” suspended the project indefinitely. Moreover, the previous This scenario would have been brilliant, if it had taken the arrangement to show the 28 selected works from ISEA2016 exhibition and the art world context into account. Hacking for six additional months was drastically curtailed to show- a government building during a protest is one thing—as the ing only five pieces, once each. Bearing in mind that only artists had done with their previous work, Add Oil Machine, Countdown Machine and Mignonneau and Sommer’s work during the umbrella movement—whereas hacking institu- were created under a paid commission by Human Vibrations, tions and projects that work to negotiate spaces for artistic it is ironic that the free speech campaign waged by the fully expression is another, particularly when the artists have been remunerated artists led to the curtailment of exhibition for officially invited and paid for their endeavor. 27 uncompensated artists who had won a competitive, jur- However, such ethical concerns can be conveniently de- ied competition, while also terminating future access to the flected within the theoretical framework of tactical media. As facade for students and artists. Additionally, the Large-Scale a hybridized artistic practice arising out of ’90s hacktivist cul- Public Media Art Exhibition has been quietly discontinued ture, tactical media is broadly articulated as “the intervention after its fifth installment, during which this incident took and disruption of a dominant semiotic regime . . . [involving] place. temporary creation of a situation in which signs, messages, Today, even though Wong is personally aware of and and narratives are set into play and critical thinking becomes somewhat apologetic about the termination of OSP, Wong possible” [30]. Thus,Countdown Machine enacted an aware- and Lam’s ongoing campaign for free speech omits any men- ness campaign by amassing popular support through a mis- tion of these grave consequences as they continue to portray chievous “bad attitude” approach rendered “cool” by popular themselves as victims while vilifying the curator (Fig. 8) [27]. culture [31] while aligning with the media through the shared

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01611 by guest on 26 September 2021 goal of free speech. This theoretical context further validated based on long-term observation, the collaborators’ approach the campaign’s subversive approaches and justified the artists’ clearly influences how regulations are adhered to. Open Sky unsubstantiated accusations and inflammatory language. In Project has been mindful of SHKP’s circumstances as a major fact, the campaign’s spectacular gesture had a cathartic appeal owner of numerous real estate projects in Hong Kong and for local activists, many of whom prefer a more spectacular China and, as of writing, enmeshed in one of the territory’s form of dissent over subtler approaches—as epitomized by highest-profile corruption scandals, which has affected -in the more turbulent confrontations witnessed in 2019 protests, vestor confidence [34]. Nonetheless, up until theCountdown in stark contrast to the nonviolent umbrella movement of Machine incident, SHKP’s artwork guideline was applied 2014. Moreover, the amplified emotional charge and obfus- mostly as a generic, procedural formality, with no specific cation of facts in the media became a smoke screen to push work being removed because of political content per se. Art- an unsubstantiated allegation while neglecting to debate the ists were aware of the context, and the OSP team was able to details, which is ironically redolent of posttruth politics, present and discuss each work directly with the facade team, however unintended that may be. to shape exhibitions through mutual agreement. Thus, while Ethics can become a complexifying element when activ- we are unable to verify the venue sponsor’s involvement in ist-style tactical media and the strategic approach of urban political pressure on HKADC, it is clear that OSP’s suspen- media art clash. In a key debate on the use of ethical con- sion is a reactionary measure triggered by the undesired straints in social practices, art critic Claire Bishop speaks of media attention the venue sponsor received despite years of the dangers of letting ethical judgments dominate art criti- sponsorship extended to the arts community. cism [32], reflecting art’s historical desire for emancipation and autonomy from moral judgement in favor of freedom of The Opponent Is Often Invisible creative expression. Thus when HKADC’s statement accused The only time any kind of “political” request was implied was the duo of breaking the artists’ code of professional conduct, when inclusion of words such as “threat, decay, danger, viral, it further appeared to be prioritizing institutional ethics over and phobia” in Mignonneau and Sommerer’s work Fly High- free speech. Hence the notion of ethics was implicated both Time Flies were asked to be reconsidered by SHKP. While as a limitation against freedom of speech and as an enabling this request may not appear “political” in the conventional framework that helped justify the campaign’s subversive tac- sense, this insistence on positive nuance could possibly be tics and shortcomings. interpreted as reflecting PRC President Xi Jinping’s vision of While there is no universal code of ethics applicable to an ideal aesthetic that strives toward “serving the people and art criticism, HKADC and Ha Thuc’s concern was not an serving socialism” by “enlightening thoughts, caressing spir- ethical judgement on the artistic merit of Lam and Wong’s its and molding people’s lives” [35]. However, such a request piece. Instead, it was in consideration of the long-term ef- may not even be attributable to rigid, top-down regulation fect the campaign might have on the arts community, which but may have simply reflected an ordinary inclination of an is governed by relational ethics as an integral part of local individual in charge or may be ascribed to a generic market- society. These “relational ethics” are the rules of the game ing strategy of maintaining positive branding. by which urban media art judiciously navigates the realm Thus, without long-term observation it is difficult to dis- of the everyday, and hence astute consideration of both the cern one intention from another within the actions of a large short- and long-term impacts of artworks are of substantial organization. Hence it is tricky to adopt a firm oppositional concern for the curators. stance, as artistic interventions work within the “pool of As urban media art is woven predominantly out of ev- liquid power” [36] of societies where control is “dispersive eryday materials and contexts, it occasions direct political rather than concentrative . . . [and works via] communication consequences. Thus one must consider the artwork’s overall rather than by confinement” [37]. Therefore, in dense, politi- impact on the community, not as an arbitrary ethical con- cized urban settings where numerous artistic interventions sideration for an autonomously existing aesthetic object coexist, a network approach is required, within which “a mul- but as an artistic intervention that becomes a highly visible, titude of different creative agents . . . situated between the symbolic gesture received by the public without relevant individual and the collective” work together to leverage the theoretical context. By speculating aloud in the absence of “emancipatory potential of sociality and cooperation” [38]. sufficient evidence, the Countdown Machine campaign fu- eled the emotional undertone of the activist circle instead of Long- and Short-Term Initiatives Coexist bringing critical attention to a proven violator of free speech. As such, both short-term tactics and long-term strategies Could it have been a case in which a man with a hammer necessarily coexist. According to tactical media group Car- took for a nail something that wasn’t quite one? bon Defense League, incident-based parasitic media takes place in a specific time and space to reveal a critical discourse Conclusion at the expense of the host. On the other hand, generative par- The Approach Matters asitic media does not take advantage of its host’s vulnerability In an interview with Hyperallergic, Wong questions whether but lives and feeds alongside its host [39]. So if Countdown the public discussion on whether the artists “[had] the right Machine employed the incident-based tactic, Open Sky Proj- to announce it like that” is a “good debate” [33]. However, ect is comparable to the latter strategy—however, without

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01611 by guest on 26 September 2021 necessitating the view that artistic intervention has a parasitic In this line of thought, local artist Phoebe Man questions existence. Instead, OSP envisions a partnership that works whether HKADC should collaborate with venues that im- through discursive development to bear a long-term political pose restrictions on the freedom of artistic expression [44]. impact for the city. Our view is that in order to weave new possibilities that Although incident-based tactics are usually more spectac- hold relevance into the processes of everyday life, we must ular, the value of long-term strategies cannot be dismissed. see discursive development as an unavoidable option that As articulated by Geert Lovink, a certain vulnerability exists should run parallel to other initiatives. Otherwise, insisting in the temporary and revealing aspect of tactical media. on complete freedom of speech while avoiding realistic con- straints that need to be negotiated is a recursive gesture de- The ideal is to be little more than a temporary glitch . . . Tac- manding complete autonomy of the arts from the processes tical media set themselves up for exploitation in the same of everyday life—an act that will serve only to repel art fur- manner that “modders” do in the game industry: Both ther from everyday reality and preserve art’s irrelevance in dispense with their knowledge of loopholes in the system the context of our daily human life. for free. They point out the problem, and then run away. Capital is delighted, and thanks the tactical media outfit or Epilogue nerd-modder for the home improvement [40]. The clash between Open Sky Project and Countdown Ma- chine can be seen as originating from two fundamentally dif- A Critical Need for Factual Integrity ferent paradigms, while freedom of creative expression was Tactical media comes with a certain affinity for unpredict- paradoxically central to both projects. Countdown Machine ability, in connection with Deleuze’s belief that precipitating was a disruptive tactical media campaign, aiming to expose “events” [41] are necessary components for changing things the increasingly authoritarian approach to controlling cre- as they exist. However, this unpredictability needs further ative expressions. On the other hand, Open Sky Project is consideration when it comes to dealing with media that can a long-term strategy that aims to counteract the pervasive create dicey echo chambers that polarize and circulate un- commercialization of the urban skyline by nurturing and verified narratives. facilitating creative expressions. Although several analyses that defused the claims of cen- The controversy arising from the Countdown Machine sorship have been published, in public memory the case re- campaign triggered pertinent debates and raised awareness mains an infuriating example of HKADC censorship. Artists in view of the impending transition of 2047. However, the participating in the politically charged arena of media and campaign’s hasty implementation flattened the complex re- urban space must hold a tight rein on their artistic intentions ality, while the media took the bait, creating a David-and- and gestures to minimize undesired implications. Goliath narrative in which artist-activists used technology to hack the system against the “evil oppressors.” As a result, The Place for Activism? the campaign propagated unsubstantiated allegations against Should artivism take place only in environments that are the very people who had enabled the exhibition in the first highly conducive for free speech? Based on his review of place. This eventually led to diminished future opportuni- the global aCtIVISm exhibition at ZKM Center for Art and ties for students and other artists, and further triggered the Media in 2014 [42], observes that artworks discontinuation of Hong Kong’s Large-Scale Public Media cultivated in activism were to be found in guerrilla perfor- Art Exhibition. mances in the public spheres, without institutional invitation. The question then remains: Could political activism Similarly, Oscar Ho explains that while corporate-sponsored change society through gradual and artful maneuvering? Or venues may resist showing political content, public venues in could it achieve more by rattling the cage, with little concern Hong Kong should not be restricted by such pressures [43]. for the potential fallout?

References and Notes 4 The fourth Large-Scale Interactive Media Arts Exhibition: Fleeting Light (Hong Kong, 2014). 1 “Largest Light and Sound Show on a Single Building,” Guinness World Records set in 2013 utilizing two sides of the facade: www 5 Susa Pop and Tanya Toft, What Urban Media Art Can Do (Zagreb: .icclightshow.com.hk (accessed 29 November 2019). Avedition GmbH, 2016) pp. 21–25. 2 Larry Bleiberg, “10Best: Places to Immerse Yourself in Digital Art,” 6 Maurice Benayoun, “Critical Fusion (Handle with Care!),” The USA Today (13 May 2016): www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinat Dump (blog), 13 September 2008: www.benayoun.com/the ions/10greatplaces/2016/05/13/digital-art/84282500 (accessed 2 De- -dump/2008/09/13/fusion-critique (accessed 19 January 2017). cember 2019). 7 Maurice Benayoun, “Urban Media” (list of urban media projects), 3 Disputes are arising around the interpretation of the “one country, November 2012: www.benayoun.com/moben/urban-media (ac- two systems” arrangement, which guarantees Hong Kong a right to cessed 19 January 2017). maintain a separate system from mainland China for 50 years fol- lowing Hong Kong’s handover from Britain to China in 1997. 8 Excerpt from “Selection Criteria and Guidelines for Displaying

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01611 by guest on 26 September 2021 ­Students’ Work on ICC’s Facades,” Sun Hung Kai Properties, unpub- 27 Sampson Wong, “Dear All (Who Care about Freedom of Expression lished manuscript (2014). and Art),” unpublished flier disseminated at the Amnesty Interna- tional exhibition curated by Caroline Ha Thuc (2017). 9 In Rancière’s notion of distribution of the sensible, “the system of divisions and boundaries that define, among other things, what is 28 Koel Chu, “HKPS Person of the Month, May 2016: Artist Samp- visible and audible within a particular aesthetico-political regime.” son Wong Yu-hin,” Hong Kong Free Press (2 June 2016): www.hong Jacques Rancière, The Politics of Aesthetics, Gabriel Rockhill, trans. kongfp.com/2016/06/02/hkfp-person-of-the-month-may-2016 (New York: Continuum, 2006) p.1. -artist-sampson-wong-yu-hin (accessed 13 August 2017). 10 Campaign website, www.addoilteam.hk/countdown. 29 Qin [12]. 11 Cristina Sanchez-Kozyreva, “ ‘It’s All Fear Circulating’: Interpreting 30 Rita Raley, Tactical Media (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota a Towering Artwork’s Removal in Hong Kong,” Hyperallergic (6 June Press, 2009) p. 6. 2016): https://hyperallergic.com/303427/its-all-fear-circulating-in terpreting-a-towering-artworks-removal-in-hong-kong (accessed 31 Alan Liu, The Laws of Cool: Knowledge Work and the Culture of In- 23 February 2017). formation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004) p. 294. 12 Amy Qin, “A Subversive Message in Hong Kong Goes Up in Lights,” 32 Claire Bishop, “The Social Turn: Collaboration and Its Discontents,” New York Times (18 May 2016): www.nytimes.com/2016/05/19 Artforum (February 2006) 178–183. /world/asia/hong-kong-2047-countdown-icc.html (accessed 23 Feb- 33 Sanchez-Kozyreva [11]. ruary 2017). 34 “Sun Hung Kai’s Struggle to Restore Investor Confidence,” Finan- 13 Qin [12]. cial Times (1 August 2016): www.ft.com/content/c558abcc-54dc-11e6 14 Qin [12]. -befd-2fc0c26b3c60 (accessed 10 January 2017). 15 Ellen Pau and Caroline Ha Thuc, “Joint Statement,” Hong Kong 35 Shuang Wang, “习近平：文艺不能在市场经济大潮中迷失方向” Arts Development Council (22 May 2016): www.hkadc.org (“Xi Jinping’s Talks at the Beijing Forum on Literature and Art”), .hk/?p=14364&lang=en (accessed 14 August 2017). Xinhua News (15 October 2014): www.xinhuanet.com//politics/2014 -10/15/c_1112840544.htm (accessed 14 August 2017). 16 Sampson Wong and Jason Lam, “Artists’ Response to the Suspension of ‘Our 60-Second Friendship Begins Now’ by Arts Development 36 Critical Art Ensemble, “Nomadic Power and Cultural Resistance,” Council and ‘Human Vibrations’ Exhibition Curator” (23 May 2016): in The Electronic Disturbance (New York: Autonomedia, 1994) www.sampsonwong.hk/Resonse%20to%20HKADC’s%20statement pp. 11–30. .pdf (accessed 14 August 2017). 37 Raley [30] p. 21. 17 Wong and Lam [16]. 38 Raley [30] p. 10, p. 11. 18 Elizabeth Cheung, “Lights Out for Controversial 2047 ‘Countdown 39 Carbon Defense League, “Parasitic Media: Creating Invisible Slic- Machine’ Art Installation on Hong Kong’s ICC Building,” South ing Parasites and Other Forms of Tactical Augmentation,” Nettime China Morning Post (23 May 2016): www.scmp.com/news/hong .org (10 November 2002): www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime -kong/education-community/article/1951495/lights-out-controver -bold-0211/msg00416.html (accessed 14 August 2017). sial-2047-countdown-machine (accessed 10 August 2017). 40 Geert Lovink and Ned Rossiter, “The Dawn of Organised Networks,” 19 Wong and Lam [16]. The Fibreculture Journal No. 5 (2005): www.five.fibreculturejournal 20 Caroline Ha Thuc, “Art Should Remain Free,”Art Asia Pacificblog (1 .org/fcj-029-dawn-of-the-organised-networks (accessed 14 August March 2017): www.artasiapacific.com/Blog/ArtShouldRemainFree 2017). (accessed 10 April 2017). 41 Gilles Deleuze, Negotiations 1972–1990 (New York: Columbia Univ. 21 “Lights Out for Multilayered Art Installation,” The Fragrant Har- Press, 1995) p. 176. bour (blog) (23 May 2016): www.thefragrantharbour.blogspot 42 Peter Weibel, Global Activism (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013) .com/2016/05/lights-out-for-multilayered-art.html (accessed 14 Au- pp. 29–61. gust 2017). 43 Ho [24]. 22 Vivienne Chow, “Hong Kong Wants to Remain a Global Arts Hub While Censoring Political Art,” Quartz, 24 May 2016, accessed 14 44 Man [23]. August 2017, www.qz.com/691105/hong-kong-wants-to-remain-a -global-arts-hub-while-censoring-political-art. Manuscript received 27 April 2017. 23 Phoebe Man, “Only Numbers,” Art Asia Pacific 101 (November–­ Updated 29 November 2019 for the printed version. December 2016): www.artasiapacific.com/Magazine/101/OnlyNum bers (accessed 14 August 2017). Lisa SoYoung Park is a PhD researcher at the School of 24 Oscar Ho, “何慶基：藝術抗爭，也需顧及團隊” (“Even Artistic Resistance Need to Take the Collective Whole into Account”), Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. She is also an The Initium (1 June 2016): www.theinitium.com/article/20160601 artist and the project manager of Open Sky Project. -opinion-oscarho-art2047 (accessed 14 August 2017). 25 Lisa SoYoung Park, interview with Caroline Ha Thuc (3 November Maurice Benayoun, French but based in Hong Kong, is a 2016). media art pioneer, curator and theorist. Most of his works dur- ing the last decade have been based on critical practices applied 26 Sampson Wong, “致「感頻共振」策展人及藝發局代表公開信” (“To the Curator of Human Vibrations, and the Representative of to urban media art. He conceived the Open Sky Project as a ADC”), unpublished petition (2 June 2016). full-scale experimental urban media art platform.

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