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Adrian Wong 王浩然
A Hare Turned Two-Hundred and Seventy Degrees 被轉270°的兔子
2012
This work forms one part of a larger project titled Rodentia in Absentia by conceptual artist Adrian Wong. Exploring the notion of artistic collaboration with non-humans, Wong created objects in his studio that he left for a group of animals—two hamsters, a rabbit, and several rats—to alter by chewing, scratching, or soiling them. In the case of A Hare Turned Two-Hundred and Seventy Degrees, a composition of triangular ‘canvases’ acts as a kind of excerpt or quotation of Hong Kong’s vernacular built environment, formed from fragments of materials such as vinyl flooring, plastic laminate, and upholstery foam. Wong’s animal partners chewed through the materials to reach food he had hidden underneath.
In its appearance, the work pays homage to the history of geometric abstraction and industrial materials in post-war painting and sculpture, but its conceptual bent requires more than a straightforward visual understanding. Wong avoids projecting human values and intentions onto the animals, noting that they are not guided by the same mechanisms of memory and time that shape our own perceptions. Through the process of creating the works, Wong was forced to consider how his mammalian collaborators’ experiences were alien to his own.
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