The art project planned by Audemars Piguet has confirmed the participation of Hong Kong multimedia artist Phoebe Hui as co-curator for the 5th edition this year. A large-scale installation titled “The Moon is Leaving Us,” conceptualized and designed around lunar exploration, has been on display at Tai Kwun since Sunday, April 25, for four weeks, until the closing of the Hong Kong art event “Art Basel in Hong Kong.”
As the first exhibition of the Audemars Piguet Contemporary Art Creation Project held in Asia, the appearance of “Silent Moon Passing” allows modern people to deepen their understanding of the subtle relationship between advanced innovative science and exquisite art. Through the conception and interpretation of Ms. Xu Fanghua and the curator of this exhibition, Ms. Guo Ying, who are also from Hong Kong, the exhibition also raises questions about how the general public should treat nature. Rarely held in Hong Kong, ZTYLEZ specially invited Ms. Xu Fanghua for an interview to learn more about her story and connection with the moon, as well as to share more about the conception and ideas of this exhibition.
ZTYLEZ: Z; P: Phoebe Hui
Z: What attracts you the most when traditional art collides with innovative technology?
P: Before embarking on my university career, I used to draw cartoons and illustrations for local newspapers and magazines. Although I occasionally created experimental comics during my university years, I basically stopped working on drawing after that. However, my interest in drawing has never ceased, I just need to find a drawing method that is not repetitive and too familiar.
When I was looking for new drawing methods, I began to explore computer programming. Generating algorithms was a concept and style that I had never encountered before. Using my self-made and designed robotic arm – Selena, I created a series of computer graphics. Even now, I still appreciate the material properties of ink, color, and paper, and enjoy the unexpected moments in the drawing process. For me, the elements of traditional painting still exist in my new art practice with technology as the main medium. Sometimes the computer brings me unexpected results, and the robot also seems to have its own personality.
Z: What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding between the general public and the intersection of innovative technology and artistic expression, traditional craftsmanship?
P: Perhaps in the public’s understanding, innovative technology and artistic expression seem to be at odds with traditional craftsmanship, or even in an incompatible relationship. Innovative technology propels human civilization forward rapidly, while artistic expression serves as a moment of pause for reflection, and traditional craftsmanship is sometimes inevitably suppressed or eliminated by innovative technology. Looking at it from a different perspective, this is a misunderstanding.
“The Silent Passing of the Moon” can inspire the audience to understand that innovative technology can provide a new perspective for artistic expression, and this work also combines innovative technology with artistic expression.
Z: What symbolic meaning does nature have for you?
P: Many times, we treat nature with a sense of familiarity. Nature seems enduring and unchanging, compared to the various uncontrollable and unknown aspects of life. Invisibly, nature accepts and encompasses many emotions and hopes projected by people, just as one’s longing is projected onto the moon. Our attitude and emotional hopes towards nature, like gazing into a mirror, also reflect ourselves.
Z: From the first time you met the moon in your childhood to now “The Moon Passes Silently”, how has the moon changed in your eyes?
P: My understanding of the moon has also changed with age. What I remember most vividly are some moments related to the moon, such as the moon lamp I made in my own studio, which accompanies me working late into the night, the bright full moon I saw when visiting the Ru La Valley, and this work, each time getting closer to “observe” and “understand” the moon step by step, my state of mind is different.
Z: Having visited different places, in your heart, where is the moon still the most profound?
P: Invited by Audemars Piguet, I visited the birthplace of Audemars Piguet – Le Brassus, Switzerland. I remember that evening, walking on a snow-covered path, entering a quiet forest, feeling the peaceful atmosphere around me, looking up to see a clear full moon illuminating the entire mountain top, a breathtakingly beautiful scene that I will never forget.
Z: In “Silent Passing of the Month”, when it mentions passing away, how do you understand the flow and passing of time?
P: In “Silent Passing of the Moon,” the departure of the moon is a kind of contemplation and an indefinable emotion. Compared to the moon’s departure, the flow and passing of time may be a more easily perceptible and acceptable reality, as it happens every day and has existed since the beginning of human knowledge. Even though people of all ages have always regarded it as a philosophical proposition, discussing it repeatedly through literature, art, and scientific research, it seems that this cannot change the inevitability of its occurrence – this is somewhat similar to the passing of the moon.
Interestingly, the moon’s departure is gradually lengthening each day on Earth, coinciding with the passage of time.
Z: In “The Silent Passing of the Moon,” the proposition of comparing what we perceive as facts with the invisible world that we cannot see with our own eyes, do you think this situation exists in the world of time?
P: In the world of time, there are still things that we cannot touch, see with our own eyes, or experience firsthand. We often rely on media or tools to see, hear, and understand them. The vertical development of time also leaves behind milestones, confirming the footprints of the gradual narrowing distance between our understanding and the “facts” themselves.
《Audemars Piguet 當代藝術創作項目》
日期：4 月 25 日至 5 月 23 日
地點：大館古蹟及藝術館複式展室
詳情：https://www.audemarspiguet.com/com/en/news/art/phoebe-hui-the-moon-is-leaving-us.html
資料及圖片來源：Courtesy of Audemars Piguet
