Video documentation - M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong, 2016
M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong 2016
Video projections, sound, wood, stainless steel, soil, and text installation
Dimension variable
Commissioned by M+ Museum
Video projection on glass facade
Black & white video, stereo sounds, 6'57"
Video projection on 4 walls
Black & white , stereo sounds, 4'10"
Video projection on floor
Projector, black & white video, silent, 2'27"
Nothing (2016)
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
— William Shakespeare, Macbeth
A re-examination of human existence and an echo to the artist’s previous work, Nothing combines metaphors and allegories drawn from philosophies, literature and religious concepts, with elements of film, music and other popular culture references—ranging from the Christian Tree of Life to the Buddhist Bodhi Tree; from Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange to the music of Kurt Cobain, the lead singer and guitarist of Nirvana; and from Shakespeare’s Macbeth to Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse. Nothing invites viewers into the emotional ebbs and flows of the artist’s inner world and compels them to reconsider life’s absurdity and nothingness.
The tree at the starting point of the exhibition serves a symbolic purpose, posing to viewers a philosophical question: all lives are rooted in dust and shall return to dust, so what significance does life possess? To Tsang, the whole life is an interminable illusion, in which a myriad of things and matters recycle and reincarnate. Thus the meaning of life lies perhaps in the endless journey of epiphany, overthrow and emancipation of the self.
