Reading the signs

Children crossing sign from Puck, Poland

It is something you pass by every day while out on the street, either driving or walking, but that you don't give a second glance to. But for Hong Kong artist Clara Cheung, road signs hold deeper meaning. They are vital to the exploration of a new city and understanding its culture. "Although road signs nowadays have become the universal language in urban space, different cities often have their road signs differ in small details. I find this difference very interesting, for it actually represents that country's cultural identity," says Cheung.

Children crossing sign in Hong Kong

This week, Cheung and Gum Cheng, the founders of the alternative art space C&G Artpartment, will bring to the city a show titled Chasing the City Frames. The show looks at critical aspects of urban spaces. While Cheung uses road signs to reflect upon urban development, Cheng uses rapid changes of the city scenes and dance steps to describe his understanding of the cultural scene in a city.

Children crossing sign in Mumbai

Urban spaces
In the exhibition, artists will use stop-motion animation (in Chinese ink) that is hundreds of small freeze frames with minor variation in each frame, to capture the urban landscape of different cities they lived in. "Urban-scape often comes with speedy living habits which do not encourage any pause for appreciation or any pause for not doing anything," says Cheung.

I Can Dance by Gum Cheng is a roll that shows the artist in the frame dancing with his hair (appropriating the Cantonese Opera's dance)

The duo have been part of many artist-in-residency and art exchange projects in different places and it is their experiences across urban spaces that trigger them to compare and contrast different cities. For instance: a work by Cheng has him dancing in different cities - he took still photos of himself with different gestures and put them together to form a dance around different spaces. Then there are the varying road signs. "The children's road sign in Hong Kong is strict - an adult holding the child's hand. In Poland, it is cheerful - a girl holding a lollipop and in Mumbai, there is freedom in the running school kid road sign," says Cheung.

Gum Cheng and Clara Cheung

Hong Kong to Mumbai
This is Cheung's first exhibit in a gallery setting in Mumbai; in 2013, she had participated in [en]counters to show her art in public (Carter Road and Horniman Circle). Cheng has previously shown at Mumbai Art Room in 2014.

Cheung feels that there are many similarities between signboards in Mumbai and in Hong Kong, since they were derived from the British system. But the ones in the city have more variety and the human figures give them more energy because of the organic shapes and the usage of silhouettes in the design. In Hong Kong, signboards don't have silhouettes and they use only the ball-head figure with strict line for a body.

Both artists believe there's a major difference between Mumbai and Hong Kong. "Hong Kong has lost a lot of traditional rituals in our culture, after we entered the globalised culture of consumerism. It is wonderful that while Mumbai enters the globalization era, it still can preserve its culture," says Cheung.

The exhibit will feature Hong Kong artist duo Come Inside (Mak Ying Tung and Wong Ka Ying) who will perform a gig, A Man Who Doesn't Celebrate His Birthday.

Starts: October 13, 6 pm to 10 pm
At: Clark House Initiative, Clark House building, 8 Nathalal Parekh Marg, Colaba
Call: 9820213816