Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Attachments, Hong Kong in Venice
Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Curated by Olivia Chow of M+ and co-commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and M+
(x February 2024, Hong Kong) M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) are pleased to announce the exhibition Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Attachments, Hong Kong in Venice, Hong Kong’s participation in the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia as a Collateral Event. This solo exhibition of brand-new works by Hong Kong–based artist Trevor Yeung is curated by Olivia Chow, Assistant Curator, Visual Art, M+, and marks the sixth collaboration between M+ and HKADC at one of the world’s most prestigious platforms for international contemporary art.
In his Venice presentation, Yeung explores sentimentality, desire, and relationships of power through the concept of attachment, which manifests as feelings of connection with objects as well as a longing for someone special. The exhibition articulates the artist’s intimate experiences and keen observations of the relationships between humans and aquatic systems, drawing from references that include his father’s seafood restaurant, pet shops, feng shui arrangements, and the fish he kept as a child.
Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Attachments, Hong Kong in Venice consists of eleven new artworks, four of which are specific to Venice and respond to the architecture of the exhibition venue. The site-specific works are Pond of Never Enough, Salty Lover (Venice), Gate of Instant Love, and Night Mushroom Colon (Hong Kong in Venice). Yeung articulates his fascination with artificiality in nature and urban space with aquariums that are fully operational but contain no fish. The landscapes of these fishless aquariums saturate the exhibition with a palpable sense of absence and allude to the fragile equilibrium that characterises our relationships. The other works are Mx. Trying-My-Best, Two Unwanted Lovers, Night Mushroom in shade (Teak Cabinet), Rolling Gold Fountain, Little Comfy Tornado, the stealth that doesn’t hurt/the scratch that doesn’t help, and Cave of Avoidance (Not Yours).
At the heart of the exhibition are the works Little Comfy Tornado and Cave of Avoidance (Not Yours). Little Comfy Tornado consists of a miniature tornado whirling inside a small fish tank placed atop a tower of stacked plant stools. It is connected to a professional-grade filtration system through a network of tubing, a seemingly excessive support mechanism that evokes a sense of unease. Cave of Avoidance (Not Yours) is an immersive installation that recreates the interior of a pet shop, with aquariums devoid of fish. By omitting the fish from the meticulously arranged row of tanks, Yeung leads us to reconsider our motivation for creating artificial environments designed to condition or control another living being. These two works encapsulate Yeung’s approach to the exhibition, in their combination of familiar elements of Hong Kong visual and material culture to craft an immersive environment that brings deeply felt emotions to the surface. This has been an enduring interest for the artist throughout his career, and it takes on a new eloquence in Venice.
Bernard Charnwut Chan, Chairman of the M+ Board, says, ‘We are deeply honoured to join hands with HKADC once again for this Collateral Event, Hong Kong’s participation in the prestigious 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, to promote arts and cultural exchange and strengthen Hong Kong’s position on the global arts map. I look forward to sharing this new exhibition by Trevor Yeung, an outstanding artist from Hong Kong.’
Kenneth Fok, Chairman of HKADC, recognises the far-reaching impact of promoting Hong Kong artists abroad: ‘HKADC has participated in the International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia since 2001. Throughout the years, we encourage and support Hong Kong artists to participate in this international art event. We are pleased to present Trevor Yeung’s solo exhibition this year with M+ as we look forward to empowering Hong Kong artists to contribute to the development of Hong Kong’s thriving arts scene.’
Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, highlights the importance of fostering a new generation of Hong Kong artists and curators on the international stage through ongoing collaboration with HKADC: ‘The collaboration between M+ and HKADC—now more than a decade long—showcases the best of Hong Kong contemporary art practices and curatorship to an international audience. I am thrilled to see Trevor Yeung’s exhibition take shape in Venice, and I am particularly delighted that our own museum curator Olivia Chow is curating this exhibition. Her selection to be the curator of this edition of Hong Kong’s exhibition in Venice affirms M+’s role as an incubator of curatorial talent.’
Doryun Chong, Deputy Director, Curatorial and Chief Curator, M+, reflects on Yeung’s artistic practice: ‘Trevor Yeung weaves together deeply personal encounters with astute social observations in his work. His commentary on the ambiguities of human relationships and the social systems we perpetuate is articulated with lyrical nuances. His presentation in Venice captures the entanglements of power that are part of loving and feeling in an increasingly complex world.’
Olivia Chow, Curator of the exhibition and Assistant Curator, Visual Art, M+, elaborates on Yeung’s presentation: ‘It has been a pleasure and an honour to collaborate with Trevor Yeung on his most ambitious presentation to date. This exhibition is a true group effort. It is possible only through close collaboration within a tightly knit team, which speaks to the sense of community fostered by this generation in Hong Kong’s art ecosystem. Yeung examines emotional complexity, human relationships, and ecology in the widest sense. Courtyard of Attachments aptly invites us to reflect on the expectations and social codes that condition the ways we relate to one another, raising questions about power dynamics and the limits of rationality in human connection. This is something we can all benefit from thinking about.’
Trevor Yeung expresses his excitement at the opportunity to represent Hong Kong in Venice: ‘I am deeply grateful for the support from M+ and HKADC to present a new body of work on such a special occasion. It is an honour to represent Hong Kong and to look into ideas of longing and belonging in Venice. I hope visitors find a piece of themselves in the exhibition and that it leads to thinking about the strong attachments we all form. Thank you to my team and to everyone who has supported this project. Creating an exhibition is never something you can do alone.’
As with the five previous collaborations between M+ and HKADC for La Biennale di Venezia, Hong Kong audiences will have the opportunity to view Yeung’s work at an exhibition at M+, to be held in 2025.
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Notes to editors
Exhibition details: Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Attachments, Hong Kong in Venice is co-presented and co-promoted by M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District, and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. It is curated by Olivia Chow, Assistant Curator, Visual Art, M+, assisted by Jenny Tam, Assistant Manager, Exhibitions, M+ and Dorothea Lam, Curatorial Assistant, M+.
Location: Campo della Tana, Castello 2126, 30122 Venice, Italy (in front of Arsenale entrance)
Dates and times: 20 April to 24 November 2024,10am–6pm. Closed on Mondays. There will be special opening hours for certain Mondays throughout the exhibition period with details to be announced.
Coordinator in Venice: PDG Arte Communications
Graphic design: Studio Hik
Exhibition website: 2024.vbexhibitions.hk
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication featuring an overview of Trevor Yeung’s projects with plants, fish, and meticulously constructed environments. Edited by Olivia Chow, the exhibition’s curator, the richly illustrated publication is Yeung’s first monograph.
About Trevor Yeung
Trevor Yeung (born 1988, Dongguan) was raised, lives, and works in Hong Kong. In his artistic practice, he excavates the inner logic of human relations. Fascinated by botany, horticulture, and aquatic ecosystems, Yeung features carefully staged objects, photographs, animals, and plants in his mixed-media works as aesthetic pretexts to address notions of artificial nature. He often projects emotional and intellectual scenarios onto living substitutes in his work, translating his own social experiences into elaborate fables through which he continues to explore failure and imperfection. Yeung ultimately questions how closed systems contain and create emotional and behavioural conditions.
Yeung has participated in numerous local and international exhibitions, including the Singapore Biennale (2022); Kathmandu Triennale (2022); la Biennale de Lyon (2019); EVA International Biennale, Dublin (2018); the 4th Dhaka Art Summit (2018); and the 10th Shanghai Biennale (2015). He has exhibited at institutions including Gasworks, London (2023); the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (2022); Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2022); Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai (2022); PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv (2021); M+, Hong Kong (2021); the Shanghai Power Station of Art, Shanghai (2021); Para Site, Hong Kong (2020); and Stiftung Skulpturenpark Köln (2020). He was shortlisted for the Sigg Prize (2023), the Future Generation Art Prize (2021), and the BMW Art Journey award (2015).
Yeung’s artworks are held in the collections of Centre Pompidou, Paris; Stiftung Skulpturenpark Köln; the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris; the Kadist Art Foundation, Paris and San Francisco; FRAC Alsace; and M+, Hong Kong.
About Olivia Chow
Olivia Chow is a curator and artist living in Hong Kong. As Assistant Curator, Visual Art, at M+, she works with artists to create exhibitions, publications, and public programmes, including Nalini Malani: In Search of Vanished Blood (2012/2022), Nalini Malani: Vision in Motion (2021), Shirley Tse: Stakes and Holders (2020), and Shirley Tse: Stakeholders, Hong Kong in Venice (2019), Hong Kong’s participation in the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Chow contributes to building M+’s visual art collection by managing the inaugural M+ International Council for Visual Art and leading acquisitions from around Asia and beyond. Prior to joining M+, she worked in various curatorial capacities at Para Site in Hong Kong (2015–2017) and at The Works Art and Design Festival in Edmonton, Canada (2010–2014).
