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M+, Hong Kong. M+ Council for New Art Fund, 2020, © Lee Kai Chung
On View
Mediatheque
Lee Kai Chung 李繼忠
The Retrieval, Restoration and Predicament 復還、繕修與進退維谷
2018–2019
The Retrieval, Restoration and Predicament is an installation composed of a single-channel video and nine bronze sculptures—all replicas of parts of the Queen Victoria statue in Hong Kong, that Lee Kai Chung cast using a 3D modelling process. The work traces the circulation of several bronze statues that were damaged and looted by the Japanese army during the occupation of Hong Kong in the Second World War. In Lee’s video, three narrators recount the life of these statues from the viewpoint of a stonemason for the Imperial Japanese Army, a Cantonese-speaking lady, and a soldier from the Royal Hong Kong Regiment who was a prisoner of war. Narrated in three different languages, the lives of these bronze objects are given a new dimension and considered in relation to the complex transnational forces at the time. The different narratives, voices, and materials come together in a work that is not only speculative, but also based on historical documentation and research. Lee’s interest in the archive is revealed through these stories of monuments and their symbolic role in society.
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