Swire Properties has been a pioneer in transforming retail space into museums and this tradition has been carried out year by year in all properties.
This year for the arts month, Retail in Asia visited Pacific Place and met Jim Lambie, the artist in charge of the installation.
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Lambie’s major new installation, Spiral Scratch is a dazzling distillation of the artist’s energy that adds a fun and engaging sensory dimension to Garden Court in Pacific Place.
The ambitious site-specific work juxtaposes an intricate, rhythmic floor work with the installation of 15 ladders, painted in vivid hues and anchored in an overlapping formation throughout Garden Court, transforming the space with surprising new perspectives.
A floor-based sculptural work, The Strokes, sweeps across the floor in an interwoven pattern of monochromatic curves laid in vinyl tape, which continuously fill and empty the space, undulating like the top of an ocean.
Operating like a spiral scratch on a vinyl record – a groove which slowly descends, spiraling into the center – the multi-layered floor work sets a new visual rhythm to Garden Court, altering the psychology of the space through a continuous process of adding, removing, repeating and recomposing.
From this black and white bassline, the luminous-coloured ladders of Shaved Ice (reflector) stretch towards the ceiling at angles that recall their functionality. Yet here these commonplace objects have deliberately been stripped of all utility by mirrors installed between the rungs. The combination results in a kaleidoscopic interaction of colour, shape and form that beguiles the viewer with its familiarity, while intriguing them with its reversal.
Lambie’s work at Pacific Place brings together basic materials – ladders, tape and mirrors – to create a prism of continually changing reflections. This in turn generates new perspectives and surreal moments of engagement for the viewer as the ebb and flow of public movement brings to life this immersive installation.
“Spiral Scratch deliberately looks to change the space it occupies, redirecting the rhythm and psychological dynamics in much the same way putting a record can. As the black and white floor-work swells through Garden Court the space grows and shrinks, pulling the viewer through the space, only for the ladders to demand attention by showing new perspectives in their unexpected reflections.” Said Jim Lambie.
Retail in Asia asked Jim what was the major challenge in creating the installation for a retail space, what were the enablers but also the constraints in realizing such a piece. Jim explained that his major source of inspiration in terms of adjustments to the location was the fact that the art installation had to be conceived for a public space. In doing so, Jim thought of an installation that people would bump into while running their errands, that’s why it had to blend with the space and create a natural continuation of the elevators, pillars of the building, without intefering with the existing environment.
Theresa Leung, General Manager of Pacific Place, added: “As we continue to make the arts accessible to everyone and a part of everyday life, we look forward to continuing to inspire visitors of our mall and offering them new perspectives on their surroundings. Jim Lambie’s works have a profoundly transformative power over the spaces they occupy, and we are excited to witness that power in Garden Court as we reveal this new installation, Spiral Scratch.”
Besides Pacific Place, Swire Properties unveiled two major Urban Art projects in Taikoo Place, presenting the work of four British urban artists; Remi Rough, Phil Ashcroft, Xenz and Mr Jago, in public art installations as part of the ongoing Swire Properties Arts Month 2018 programme.
A new site-specific geometric mural by British Artist Remi Rough, Morning Dynamics, has been unveiled in the Taikoo Place exit of Quarry Bay MTR Station.
Commissioned by Swire Properties and MTR in their first collaboration for Art in MTR, Morning Dynamics injects vivid colours and vitality into the MTR Station, stimulating Hong Kong’s general public on their everyday commute, and encouraging a fresh engagement with the space.
Phil Ashcroft, Xenz and Mr Jago began a live painting performance today, working on three large canvas murals brought to Taikoo Park by Swire Properties in collaboration with Aedas, architecture and design firm based in Taikoo Place.
This celebration of urban art gives a rare platform to the art form in Hong Kong while
bringing its vibrant and spontaneous energy into Taikoo Park. Each is the result of the artists’ unique responses to Hong Kong, which are being painted on murals composed of 40 smaller canvases (50cm x 40cm). These will be sold in an online auction to raise funds for the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation’s programme for disadvantaged and underprivileged youth.
Live Painting performances continued on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 March, with the murals exhibited in One Island East until Tues 3 April, see details below.
“Swire Properties believes that art plays an important role in sustaining vibrant communities,” says Fiona Ma, Director, Marketing and Communications of Swire Properties. “We are constantly looking for ways to engage the community working, living or travelling to Taikoo Place, in ways that enrich, engage and foster creativity within this major business district.”
Also part of the Swire Properties Arts Month programme, Notating Beauty That Moves – Music at an Exhibition is an ongoing exhibition and performance series at ArtisTree in Taikoo Place.
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The programme includes Upclose Encounters and Good Music This Lunch @ ArtisTree music concerts which bring creative interludes into the daily lives of the tenants of Taikoo Place, presenting new perspectives towards musicality with international guest artists and avant garde performances of notation scores.
Sponsored by Swire Properties, presented by Hong Kong Sinfonietta and curated by two leading Hong Kong artists; Samson Young, the award-winning sound artist, and Yang Yeung, Founding Member and Artistic Director of soundpocket.