SILAS FONG

Category: Installation

  • SAD Kitchen – Oi! Guide: A Comfort Food Journey

    Solo Exhibition at Oi!, Hong Kong, 1 Sep 2023 – 7 Jan 2024

    In my recent project “SAD Kitchen: Oi! Guide – A Comfort Food Journey,” I utilized 3D printed objects, 3D scanning, animation, wall vinyl, printed matters and installation art to transform the Oi! Warehouse into a multi-sensory “kitchen.” This interactive space invites visitors to explore personal emotions and communal bonds through a site-specific game. Hidden psychological test questions were integrated into the 3D objects and animated features, encouraging self-reflection. Visitors received a personalized “Comfort Food Guide,” pointing them to local dishes in the North Point community. My art aims to use food—and digital media—as vehicles for social and cultural construction, connecting people, places, and stories.

  • SAD School of Artists Development, Department of Bread

    Solo Exhibition at Gallery Chosun, Seoul, 6 – 29 Nov 2024

    The SAD School of Artists Development, Department of Bread transforms bread-making into a satirical exploration of education and validation systems, critiquing the relentless pursuit of credentials in a society fixated on external measures of success. Through workshops like Flourglass, where flour and time slip away in futile races against the clock, and the Shape and Score Clinic, where dough is shaped but never allowed to rise, the project playfully exposes the absurdities of institutional pressures. Surreal photographs from the Stretch series, blending yoga poses with intertwined masses of dough, reflect the balancing act between external expectations and raw creativity. By focusing on process over results, the work challenges visitors to question how institutions shape value and meaning, offering a humorous yet reflective critique of a system where showing up often matters more than true learning or growth.

  • Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

    FUSE Artist Residency: Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
    Supported by Hong Kong Arts Development Council
    at Videotage, Hong Kong
    2 Feb – 11 Mar 2018

    ‘Through slow-moving videos, images, and objects that are oft missed, Fong creates an encounter with the everyday in a controlled environment to allow the visitor to be with the urban in a different way. Many of the images are personal to Fong, and he brings in three textual perspectives (including this one) to obscure this narrative of his memories, opening them up to be shared. Bringing in media art theory into more traditional image-making practices, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening employs a light touch in a grand gesture toward a place where we can choose to be still.’

    – Excerpt from Hera Chan’s text, The Freedom To Be Still

    香港錄映太奇 FUSE 藝術家駐場: 雪夜林邊
    由香港藝術發展局資助
    2018年2月2日至3月11日

    透過在日常常被忽視的錄像、圖像及物件緩慢的移動，方氏在特定的環境內讓觀眾以日常以外的方式感受城市。作品中源用方氏私密的圖像，他引用了三個文本作為作品的切入點，混淆了對其回憶的敍述，開放予觀眾加以幻想。結合媒體藝術理論及傳統製圖方法，雪夜林邊 壯麗地輕描淡寫出選擇安穩的空間及狀態。

    – 節錄自陳思穎所寫的文章《面向安穩的自由》並由姚玠廷從英文原文翻譯

    Exhibition view

    At the entrance, visitor picks up one of the catalogues and misses out the two others which look seemingly identical. In fact, each catalogue contains a different text that guides the visitor to an alternative experience of the same exhibition.
    參觀者在展覽入口拿起其中一本場刊，錯過了貌似完全相同的另外兩本。 實際上 ， 每本場刊內有不同的文本，引導觀眾在同一個展覽裏經歷不同的體驗。

    Digital print on paper, A5, 32 pages, 3 in a set, 2018
    紙上數碼打印, A5, 32 頁, 3本1組, 2018

    Dye sublimation print on voile, 140 cm x 260 cm, 2 in a set, 2018
    透明紗上熱昇華印刷, 140 米 x 260 厘米, 2件1組, 2018

    Lambda prints, table, chairs, carpet, size variable, 2018
    能達相片, 檯, 櫈, 地氈, 可變尺寸, 2018


    Digital video projection on wall, HDV, colour, 20 minutes, 2018
    牆上數碼錄像投影, 高清, 彩色, 20分鐘, 2018

    Digital photo projection on screen, 2018
    屏幕上數碼相片投影, 2018
    Digital video on TV, HDV, colour, 16 minutes, 2018
    電視機中數碼錄像, 高清, 彩色, 16分鐘, 2018


    Digital printed vinyl on plexiglass, 30 cm x 20 cm, 2018
    亞加力膠片上數碼貼紙打印, 30 厘米 x 20 厘米, 2018

    Photo & rainbow film on stainless steel, motor, 40 cm x 40 cm, 2018
    不鏽鋼片, 相片, 彩虹膜, 摩打, 40 厘米 x 40 厘米, 2018

    Mixed media tucked in You Come Too, 21.1 cm x 14.5 cm x 1.8 cm, 2018
    《 你也來》 書中混合媒介, 21.1 厘米 x 14.5 厘米 x 1.8 厘米, 2018

    Visitor participates in the exhibition according to the instructions in the Exhibition Guide.
    觀眾根據展覽場刊中的導覽的指示參與展覽.

    Printed catalogues available, please contact via info@silasfong.com

  • In-Attention

    Part of the Group exhibition titled Mark CHUNG, Silas FONG, Nicole WONG
    Gallery Exit, Hong Kong
    29 Jul – 19 Aug 2017

    Silas FONG is interested in our struggle to remain calm and focused in an urban environment flooded with information. He often explores this problem with the help of found objects drawn from the world of technology. The video “Focus Test”, for example, consists of a series of tests charts for cameras. Their geometrical patterns, designed to determine the focusing ability of optical lenses, are equally challenging to the human eye. FONG’s fascination with test patterns is also evident in “Nozzle Check/Head Alignment”, a printout whose original purpose was to verify the proper function of a printer. Its fragile array of colour fields and lines is a constant reminder of how little it takes to become misadjusted, for both machines and humans.

    在充斥大量資訊的現代都市環境，人們為了保持平靜心境和專注力，往往面對掙扎。方琛宇以此為創作題材，並從科技世界挪用現成物，探討這方面的問題。錄像作品《Focus Test》由一連串相機測試卡所組成，上面的幾何圖案原意為測試相機鏡頭的對焦度，但也是對觀者專注力的考驗。打印紙本作品《Nozzle Check/Head Alignment》也清晰體現了他對測試形式的興趣，其原本功能是檢驗打印機的性能，單薄隱現在紙上的排列色域與線條，顯示出機器和人類均易於進入錯誤調整的狀態。

    – Ashley Chan

    Exhibition view

    Wallpaper 牆紙, 2017, digital print on photo paper 290 x 140 cm set of 2

    Focus Test 對焦測試, 2017, digital video 12’51”

    Photo Projection 照片投影, 2017, digital projection on wall, dimension variable

    Screen Time 螢幕時間, 2017, LED TV, bed, digital video, 7’00″

    Nozzle Check/Head Alignment 打印排列測試, 2017, digital print on photo rag 308 gsm paper, 70 cm x 50 cm

    Grain Focus 微粒觀察, 2017, LED light panel, glass, film negatives, 10x base magnifier, 100x microscope, 50 cm x 77 cm x 13 cm

  • There is No Time

    Solo Exhibition
    Hong-ti Art Center, Busan
    25 Nov 2016– 16 Dec 2016

    Artist Statement

    Time is always not enough, but it is only true when we have things to do. Artist residency is an experience of time travel. Once you step into another culture, far away from your own. Suddenly you realize that you have to learn from the very beginning, from the basic understanding of daily life. It recalls memories of childhood, of youth and of future. Nothing is necessary to be done. Just stay in the studio, which is very spacious compared to that I had in Hong Kong, allows a lot of solitary thought to fill up until your back feel painful with the chair. The spacetime is open. ‘Time is an illusion.’ – Albert Einstein

    After arriving Busan for a month, mostly I stay in the area nearby Hong-ti Art Center. It is an industrial area where things are made. There is not much traffic. In a foreign place, most fundamental elements become sentiments. The air, the light and shadows, the sea, the ambient sound, the fallen leaves and the sense of time seems dilated. To start from a personal perspective, I couldn’t help but reflect on my life in Hong Kong. I hope to describe the feeling of living here from Hong Kong.

    One touristic attraction in my studio is definitely the sunlight. Here I could see the same ‘light drawing’ on the wall and the floor from 8am to 3:30pm in my studio. Outside there are different trees and plants filling up the window scene. It is somehow rare in Hong Kong, at least in my neighbourhood. It might sound awkward to you, but the residential life in Hong Kong are mostly in a high-rise, far off the ground. Still, the windows are blocked by the other buildings so you hardly see ‘light drawing’ on the walls and shadows of trees in your flat.

    The sense of timelessness may not be a thing of Busan, but certainly for me in Hong-ti.

     

    Exhibition view
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  • Piccoloministr. 316

    Goethe-Gallery and Black Box Studio, Goethe-Institut Hongkong, Hong Kong
    11 May 2016– 31 May 2016

    Exhibition view

    Light from Window, Paint on Wall, 250 x 250 cm, painted by Hye Kyoung Kwon

    Afternoons

    Working Report for Museum Ludwig

    Photograph, digital print on wallpaper, 60cm x 60cm

    Attendance Report for Academy of Media Arts

    Passenger Report for Meinfernbus

    In the Room, Video projection and sound

    Exhibition Catalogue

     

  • Under the Linden

    2016- Installation
    Direct UV inkjet print on roller blind, inkjet print mounted on translucent black acrylic plates
    200 x 140 cm; 180 x 90 cm, 90 x 90 cm (2 pcs)

    The room I lived was on the first floor of a building in a small quiet street. It was surrounded by towering trees with not much traffic. In winter, snow covered the trees and the roofs of the houses. In summer, the flourishing leaves almost pushed their way into the window. Sunlight fell into my room, casting on my table a blue and greenish shadow, swayed gently with the wind.

    The room I live is on the sixth floor of a high rise in an estate made up of ten blocks. The view from the window stays the same throughout the year. Tall concrete penetrates the hazy sky. In the small slit of the harbour view, I can see ships passing by. Sunlight also comes into my room, but it looks quite different. It is just the reflection from a window of the building opposite.

    One day I walked around the streets alone. I looked at people’s faces, but few looked back at me. They weren’t even aware. They don’t look around now. They may well be living a second life in another space and time. At some point I walked pass a tree and realised there was a big sky high above the black mirror.

    Exhibited in
    POST PiXEL. Animamix Biennale 2015 – 16, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, Hong Kong

     

    椴樹底下
    2016-     裝置
    捲簾上UV噴墨打印, 透光黑色亞加力膠片上噴墨打印
    200 x 140 厘米; 180 x 90 厘米, 90 x 90 厘米 (2 件)

    我住過的房間位於一條寂靜的小街上，就在樓房的第一層，被大樹包圍着，沒有太多車輛經過。冬天時屋頂和樹上都蓋着積雪；夏天時樹葉都快長到窗內。陽光射進房間裏，書桌上晃動着一叢藍綠色的影子。

    我住的房間位於十棟屋苑大廈其中一棟的六樓。窗外風景四季如一，石屎高聳入朦朧的半空，大廈之間的縫隙中還能看見海港上船隻駛過。儘管陽光也能走進我的房間，但看來頗為不同，因為這是對面大廈窗門反射過來的光線。

    有一天我在街上獨自游蕩，我凝望着路人的臉，但他們都沒有察覺，甚少有人回望，現在他們都不再四處看。或許他們可能在另一時空過着第二個人生。走過某棵樹下，發現黑色鏡子上還有一大片天空。

    展覽
    像素之後　動漫美學雙年展2015-16, 香港邵逸夫創意媒體中心

     

    Overview

    Reflection of the shadow from the roller blind, the ceiling and image of the table top

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  • Flat D, 6/F, Aldrich Garden

    CASE – Project Space of Photography, Academy of Media Arts Cologne
    18 Jun 2015– 22 Jun 2015

    Text by Anthony Yung

    Flat D, 6/F, Aldrich Garden’ is the title of this exhibition but also the artist’s home address. This implies a doubleness: an address is functional and indicative – as a concept, it is most commonly understandable – but at the same time it is also meaningless because it is not meant to help you to find the place, as for the audience of this exhibition it refers to a place so far away that it may as well not exist. Such a conceptual doubleness epitomizes Silas Fong’s artistic project in temporal experiences and psychological activities – things that are utterly personal, yet also entirely common.

    The address is also giving us hints with which to understand the exhibition: first of all, it brings us to Hong Kong. A global financial center built first by manufacturing industries (the predecessor of ‘the world’s factory’), then by financial-trading freedoms, the city likes to evaluate its business and its people in terms of productivity and efficiency. In this society of pragmatism, wasting time is no different to burning billnotes. Growing up here, people pick up an almost ethical obligation to spend time in the ‘correct way’, and for the younger generation to not do so is a major rebellion. With this context in mind, Fong’s works are actually a research on sheer unproductivity, on the moments that we learn to feel guilty and negative about. He questions if these moments really are worthless and whether our personal histories are not in fact constituted within all these ‘ahistorical times’.

    The address also brings us to Flat D, a piece that was first shown in the Hong Kong Art Centre in 2015. There, Fong had taken corner of the exhibition space and reconstructed it into his bedroom at home. He then invited visitors to spend ten minutes in this room. With the time set to precisely 10 minutes, and the fact that there was not anything at all in the room to look at or contemplate, visitors could do nothing but go with whatever came up their minds. Coming inside Flat D, their plans, their experiences of the day were interrupted, though voluntarily, and now they had to stop and think about the interrupted. Eventually, the piece provided an experience and a question: what does this interruption, these ten minutes that are cut out of our life, mean to us?

    Three other pieces within the exhibition (Work Report for Museum Ludwig, Attendance Report for Academy of Media Arts Cologne and Passenger Report for Meinfernbus) can be seen as elements of ‘fieldworks’ relating to such research – with pictures and texts, he documents the activities of his mind during long hours undertaking internship duties in a museum, attending classes and taking long bus rides. These records may remind us of the typical texts of ‘stream of consciousness’, in particular Camus’s Outsider, but literariness is not Fong’s main concern here. What he tries to explore is the common rather than the unique – he wants these records to remind us of our own experiences. Think about it, we all talk to ourselves during moments of boredom and distraction, when in our minds words start to flow randomly, unbounded from social norms (manners, ethics, and so on) and a chain of memories appears, no matter how irrelevant they are to the things immediately surrounding us. Using the artist’s own experiences as case studies, these pieces ask us to pay attention to these conversations we have with ourselves.

    Even two years ago, Fong was already a considerably experienced artist. Coming to ‘study’ in Germany, what is the most precious to him is perhaps not the new information to even methodologies, but the unfamiliar environment, a sense of distance and indifference that provokes thoughts and experiences. For as we can tell from these works, the core theme of Fong’s practice is an inevitable loneliness, and art is a tool to process and transcend it and make us understand ourselves better. In this sense, we may see the last work in this exhibition as a beautiful metaphor – Afternoons (2015) is a series of books, but books with no words, no knowledge, no ‘history’ – just the sunlight that changes as time goes by. It symbolizes what Fong attempts to create with art: a sensitivity to the subtleties of our time and our mind.

    德國科隆媒體藝術學院CASE攝影項目空間
    2015年6月18 – 22 日

    文章 – 翁子健

    「愛蝶灣6樓D室」是方琛宇這次展覽的題目，但也是他家的地址。這個雙重性的意味在於：作為一個普通的概念，地址是功能性及指示性的，但以這個地址命名一個在科隆發生的展覽，這個地址便不再有任何實用意義，因為作為題目它不是為了讓人去尋找這個具體的地點，對於觀看這次展覽的人來說，甚至這個地點是否存在也不要緊。這種雙重性正是方琛宇創作中的核心命題：那些既是完全私密的、又同時極盡人所共知的事。

    這個地址當然也是一個提示，幫助我們去理解這個展覽：首先，它指向香港，全球金融中心，曾經的「世界工廠」的大腦，以貿易自由聞名，一個以效率和生產力作為最高評判標準的地方。這個務實的社會篤信時間就是金錢。在這兒成長的人自然而然地帶有一種道理的責任感：必須以「正確」的方式利用時間，而浪費時間就是一種反叛。從這個角度看，不妨將方琛宇的創作理解為一種對反生產力的研究，是對於那些令人罪疚和難受的不事生產的時刻之探討。他的追問是：難道我們的個人歷史不是由無數的這些「非歷史性時間」構成的嗎？這些時刻怎麼可能會毫無意義呢？

    這個地址也指向《D室》，那是這次展覽上的一件作品，2015年在香港藝術中心第一次展出。當時，方利用了展覽的一個角落，將之改造，仿製成自己家中睡房。展覽期間，他邀請觀眾每人獨自在房間內等待10分鐘，房門鎖上，任何計時工具都不得帶上。觀眾知道他將會在房中等待10分鐘，但是房間裡沒有任何值得一看的東西，他們只能把注意力放在自己的頭腦內。他們的日程計劃，他們的體驗，好比是突然被中斷了一下，儘管他們是自願參與這件事的，但是他們也不得不停下來，面對這個中斷。這就是這個作品的核心命題：這個沒有理由的中斷，這10分鐘裡的發生的事情，它意味著什麼？在未來我們還會記得它嗎？

    當下這次展覽的其他三件作品可被視為方的研究之考察素材。他以圖片及文字記錄了他在美術館實習值班時，在上課時，和在長途巴士上的心理活動。這些文字可能會有點像經典的意識流小說，尤其是卡謬的《局外人》，但是文學性不是方關心的問題。方要探討的是一種普遍的東西，而不是一些特殊的私人經驗。試想：在沉悶和分神時，我們是否都會在頭腦裡跟自己說話？我們都跟自己說了些什麼？這些話是偶然的嗎？它們為什麼會出現，為什麼會這樣出現？它們可能還會出現得毫無約束，不顧任何社會的基本禮儀和道德。與當下情境毫無關係的記憶畫面也會浮現，我們都不知道此事此地為什麼會想起這些事。方以自己的經驗，希望探討的正是這些我們自己跟自己的對話。

    在來德國兩年之前，方在香港已是一位受到認可、有相當經驗的藝術家。對他而言，來德國讀書，最重要的肯定不是獲取新的資訊和方法，而是對一個陌生環境的體驗，一種距離感和冷漠感，因為孤獨正是方最感興趣的感受之一，他的創作也往往旨在處理及轉化孤獨，以達致對自我的更深刻的理解。從這個角度看，這次展覽的最後一件作品《午後》真可謂是一個美麗的比喻：《午後》是一本沒有文字，不記載任何知識和歷史的書，書中只有陽光的映照，隨著時間轉變形式。這大概象徵了方的藝術創作之要旨：自我對於時間和心靈的最為細緻的感受。

    Exhibition view







    Working Report for Museum Ludwig







    A photo of Flat D



    Passenger Report for Meinfernbus









    Attendance Report for Academy of Media Arts







    Afternoons












    Exhibition Catalogue








  • Flat D

    Download PDF
    2015 Durational Installation
    Table, grey plastic tray, watch, attendant in formal wear, wooden door, soundproof walls and ceiling, laminate flooring, wall skirting, aluminum window with sanded glass, air-conditioner, wall paint, steel wall hanger, curtain, light bulb, kinetic light system
    300 cm x 220 cm x 250 cm, 10 minutes

    In front of a door, there is a person sitting on a chair. When you get close, this person greets you and asks if you want to enter. However, you are only allowed to enter individually, without your mobile phone, camera, electronic devices and books, etc. After you enter, the door would be locked, and it would only be unlock after 10 minutes. You would sign an agreement to confirm your decision at your own risk. Inquiries about what is behind the door would not be answered. Every visitor is only allowed to enter the door once for the whole exhibition period.

    There is overwhelming information all around that numbs our senses. We are constantly forced to fool our basic observation of our daily life surroundings. In urban city life like Hong Kong, it’s almost impossible to be alone. We are always occupied and distracted. With mobile communications, it gets even “better”. That actually hinders us to understand ourselves and our needs. It is believed by many and even proved that, indulge in boredom helps creativity. This work tries to offer a solitary meditative experience which is free from social pressure and provide guidance to inner exploration.

    Exhibited in
    《The 20th ifva Awards – Media Art Category Finalist Exhibition》
    Pao Galleries Hong Kong Art Centre, Hong Kong, 2015
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    An attendant sits next to the entrance of Flat D to control the operation.

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    A grey tray is used for visitors to leave their belongings (mobile phone, camera, watch and etc.).

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    Visitors are obliged to read the agreement carefully before entering Flat D. A watch is used for the attendant to keep time.

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    The attendant locks the door after the visitor has entered Flat D.

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    Light from outside the window scatters on the wall and the floor. It changes slowly across the room.

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    Air conditioner creates an atmosphere with ambient mechanical sound, temperature and humidity.

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    Sometimes the room turns darker.

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    Instructional/Documentation Video

  • Writing to reach you

    Collaborative work with Wendy Ng
    By I’m almost there. 幾乎做了
    – An artist met a designer (or the other way round) for almost a year. Through their struggles and misunderstandings in communication, they felt the need to express their contradictory thoughts and awaited for the unexpected agreements.

    2011 Spray paint, wall paint, wood, digital Video

    Every day we write to each other, but what we know of us? I tell you ‘I’m thinking of you’ in all sort of ways, do you weigh the message same as I? The group I’m almost there. is taking this chance to bring awareness on the topic of mobile communication technology and its impact to us. Technology has the power to shape or construct our interpersonal relationships, yet the realisations on some of us are uncertain. How much effect do we actually pay to reach out for a person or to a society? It is believed that the quantity of communication offered by technology does not reflect its quality, while the perception and the necessity of communication technology is yet to define…

    I’m almost there    . would try to provide alternative perspectives on the consumption of intangible commodity.

    Exhibited in
    《Detour 2011: Useless》Former Married Police Quarter, Central, Hong Kong


    Exhibition overview


    Viewing Area – The best spot for the imaginary exhibition


    Imaginary projection screen with specification


    QR code for accessing an online image of projection screen


    Imaginary working table with specification and QR code to access an online image of it


    Guided description of the imaginary exhibition and user manual for accessing the online video works


    Video stills