From November 1 to December 15, 2013, audiences will be invited to ‘view’ The Social Contract at Spring Workshop, Hong Kong’s leading independent artist-in-residency space, dedicated to an international cross-disciplinary arts program. Upon arrival at the exhibition, viewers are invited to sign a legally binding confidentiality agreement, prohibiting them from revealing what they will see or experience in the subsequent spaces.

The exhibition engages the audience in the very production of art, with a method that engenders mystery but concurrently raises provocative questions around the ideas of honesty, authenticity, freedom and creation. Moreover, the artwork delivers participatory art to Hong Kong, a genre that is still in the natal stages of development in the scene.  Showcasing the work of artist duo, A Constructed World; The Social Contract is curated by Heman Chong, as part of Moderation(s), an ongoing collaboration between Spring Workshop, Hong Kong and Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam that generates special programs in both cities. A Constructed World will install the work during their three-week period as artists-in-residence at Spring Workshop. Their residency will span from October 14 to November 7.

The Social Contract is not produced until the viewer completes the artwork; it is the act of signing that creates the piece with each viewer, combining strands of performance, community art and the conceptual. The intent is to challenge the creation and consumption of contemporary art and to raise audience awareness of their role in the production of the work.

The title of the artwork solicits fundamental questions about human society itself, raising questions that have been debated by Western philosophers for millennia. However, the value of the project lies in its ability to generate critical thought on issues relevant to our society – integrity, transparency, responsibility, and the consequences of transgressing accepted conventions – notions particularly relevant to the socio-political scandals of late. A Constructed World state: “It is up to each member of the audience to decide and measure his or her own honesty and authenticity with regard to this event and exhibition. The real work will continue on, even in indecision, and is performed by those who came to look.”

The Social Contract requires imagination, risk, generosity and desire, both from the artists and the participants. Toying with trust is provocative, and the nature of this artwork has the potential to spark controversy. The Social Contract will expire on the 15^th December 2013, after which participants are free to divulge the contents of the exhibition, thus re-igniting the performance in an evolved format.

Exhibition Hours

November 1 – December 15

12pm to 6pm (Tuesday to Sunday, Open on Public Holidays)

CONTACT INFORMATION

Spring Workshop

3/F, Remex Centre, 42 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aberdeen, Hong Kong

About A Constructed World

A Constructed World is an artist duo based in Australia, they have held solo exhibitions and performances in museums and art centres including Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers, Paris (2013), the Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne (2012), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2012), Cneai, Chatou (2012), La Ferme du Buisson, Noisiel (2011), Villa Arson, Nice (2010), CAPC Museum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux (2008), and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2007). 

A Constructed World is represented by Solang Production Paris Brussels. The Social Contract was previously shown at Australian Centre for Contemporary Art Melbourne N.O. Gallery, Milan and NUS Museum, Singapore.

About Spring Workshop

Spring is a non-profit arts space committed to an international cross-disciplinary program of artist and curatorial residencies, exhibitions, music, film and talks. Anchored in the Wong Chuk Hang industrial neighborhood of Hong Kong and opened in its current layout in August 2012, Spring serves as a platform and laboratory for exchange between the vibrant artists and organizations that define Hong Kong’s rich cultural landscape and the emerging and established artists and organizations around the world that seek to engage in far-reaching dialogue.

Visit http://www.springworkshop.org for directions to Spring Workshop.

About Moderation(s)

Moderation(s) brings together an international group of artists, curators, and writers who will participate in a program of contemporary discourse and production lasting for more than year and taking place between initiators Spring Workshop and Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam. Within this framework, Spring and Witte de With invited Heman Chong, a Singaporean artist, curator, and writer, to steer the program which will involve more than fifty artists and engender a conference, three exhibitions, three residencies, and a book of short stories.

Throughout the program, Bibliotheek (Library), a list of books, will function as both a bibliography for Moderation(s) as well as a physical library that has been installed both at Witte de With and Spring from February 2013 onwards. Future participants of Moderation(s) will also be invited to suggest books, creating an ever-expanding common library that can be replicated easily by any individual, community, or institution. 

As part of Moderation(s),“A Fictional Residency” was held in June 2013 in Hong Kong, led by Dutch novelist Oscar van den Boogaard as a writer-in-residence at Spring. During his stay in Hong Kong, he met and worked with Hong Kong-based artists, journalists, and writers Nadim Abbas, Encoh Cheng, Doretta Lau and MAP office.

The four-day writing session culminated in an eponymous book of short stories launched on June 29, 2013, at Spring. The Link of ebook: 

http://www.springworkshop.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/AFictionalResidency.pdf

About Witte de With

Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art is an international public institution with Rotterdam as its home base. Established in 1990, Witte de With explores developments in contemporary art worldwide and presents this through exhibitions, theoretical and educational programs, public events and publications.

Visit http://www.wdw.nl for information on Moderation(s) projects in Rotterdam.