#NeverForget #Creativity
Hong Kong's June 4 Theatre: "Not a red line, but the red sea out there; however, we're not doing anything illegal"

Previously, Part 1:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/29982

Part 2

On June 4, 2021, the annual candlelight vigil in Hong Kong was banned by the policd on this 32nd anniversary of Tiananmen Massacre. Despite this, many Hong Kong artists and performers held memorials in their own ways, keeping the memories of the truth alive.

"June 4 Theatre", a stage performance group that has been commemorating the massacre for the past 12 year, was unable to find a performance venue. Instead, they changed this year's live show to an online script reading performance.

Producer Lit Ming-wai is well aware of the white terror every Hongkonger is facing: "The scariest is that they aren't telling you what law you broke; instead they ask you, 'what do you think you did wrong?' They make us constantly question ourselves: can I do this? Is that allowed? It's no longer a thin red line; it's a whole area, a vast, red sea."

Still, she says she will treasure the freedom of speech and creativity. "We're not doing anything illegal. I hope we can keep on."

Source: Stand News #Jun4
https://bit.ly/2RX81uN

#Arts #PoliticalCartoon #HongKongArtist

#NeverForget #Creativity
Performance Artist Reminds Hongkongers to "Spread the habit of seeking out the truth"

Source: Stand News #Jun4

Read more
⬇️⬇️⬇️
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/30004

#NeverForget #Creativity
Performance Artist Reminds Hongkongers to "Spread the habit of seeking out the truth"

Previously, Part 1:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/29982

Part 2:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/29994

Continue Reading Part 3:

Although the Hong Kong Police banned the annual candlelight vigil in commemoration of the 1989 June 4th Tiananmen Massacre for the second year in 2021, Hongkongers found different ways to mourn the casaulties of the pro-democracy movement for the 32nd year.

A performance artist in Hong Kong hid 89 political cartoons with June 4-related images inside books at three independent bookstores across the city, waiting to be found by readers.

The unorthodox art display is titled "123570 - Hide and Seek" -- the name references the numbers that seem to be banned from public speech in China for 32 years, and now Hong Kong also.

The artist says that he wants Hongkongers to go searching, "and spread the habit of seeking out the truth."

Source: Stand News #Jun4
https://bit.ly/34LLgN7

#Arts #PoliticalCartoon #HongKongArtist #HideAndSeek #IndieBookStore #PerformanceArt

#NeverForget #Creativity
Hong Kong Artist Invites the Public to Fill in the Blanks in "6:4" Ratio

Part 4:

Although Hong Kong Police banned the annual candlelight vigil on this 32nd anniversary of Tiananmen Massacre, the cordons cannot put out the flames of remembrance. Many artists and performers held memorials in their own ways, keeping the memories of the truth alive.

Hong Kong Artist Chan Ka-Hing designed an all-white t-shirt with no graphic, but only a flat, black rectangle -- with sides in the ratio of 6:4.

"Determining what message and memories the shirt conveys is left as an exercise to the observer," Chan reflected on the motif of his work.

Chan had been making art work of similar minimalistic style for the past two years on June 4. He aims to make it easier for the public to participate.

"Everybody can try it out, and do it on their own. Eventually, that idea or concept will become a connection for all of us," Chan said.

Source: Stand News #Jun4
https://bit.ly/3g2wLK8

#Arts #Designer #Fashion #TShirt #Blank #HongKongArtist #ChanKaHing

=====
Previously, Part 1:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/29982

Part 2:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/29994

Part 3:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/30004

#NeverForget #Creativity
Hong Kong Artist on Current Turbulent Times: "We're bringing light into darkness"

Source: Stand News #Jun4

Read more
⬇️⬇️⬇️

#NeverForget #Creativity
Hong Kong Artist on Current Turbulent Times: "We're bringing light into darkness"

Although Hong Kong Police banned the annual candlelight vigil on this 32nd anniversary of Tiananmen Massacre, the cordons cannot put out the flames of remembrance. Many artists and performers held memorials in their own ways, keeping the memories of the truth alive.

Political cartoonist Wong Chiu-tat created an image of a burning candle, and made it available for public to use as a phone background image.

"Every time you turn it on, you light a candle," he explains the message of the art.

"In the times we're living in now, this is even more meaningful: we're bringing light into darkness."

Wong scoffs at the Hong Kong government's aggressive crackdown on the #VictoriaPark vigil, "Our candlelight had never been in Victoria park; it's in each of our hearts. No one can take it away."

Source: Stand News #Jun4
https://bit.ly/3ySGo6J

#Arts #PoliticalCartoon #HongKongArtist #WongChiuTat #CandleLightVigil

#Creativity #ProtestArts #Video
#Ode to Hong Kong Pro-democracy Movement

The video is a visual and audio poetry produced by the pro-democracy Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (#HKCTU) on the second anniversary of the population's fight for democracy in June 2021,

The music video captures many objects representative of events that took place over the course of the 2019 #AntiELAB movement.

The #lyrics of the #song go:

"I light up the madman's candle
And follow the ants into the crowd,
There is nothing recognizable in the scenery anymore,
But it all feels familiar.

None of this will fade away,
Though footsteps crush each name into dust,
Let the song that flows across the eons
Befriend the souls not yet laid to rest.

Let the moth visit this burning heart

For a moment I remember who I was,
For a moment I remember.

To all who have persevered to this day."

Source: Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions #Jun16

#SaveAppleDaily #Creativity
In the Rain, #Hongkongers Record their Emotions in #Art

Mr Lo, from the engineering sector, came to the #AppleDaily headquarters after work on June 23, 2021, drawing the final look of the building under the heavy rain.

Lo says that wants to record the feelings at the time in his drawing. He frankly says that his feelings are complicated, since this is the last day of Apple Daily, and the government will soon repossess the land on which the headquarters is built.

He has subscribed to Apple Daily for a long time, and says of his drawing: "This is a sign of something that will later disappear. When Apple Daily stops operating, the news industry will obviously get worse, only allowing one voice."

But he says to all Hongkongers, "There's room in any position at any industry to work hard and shine".

The pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily was closed down after releasing the final edition on June 24, 2021.

Source: In-Media #Jun23
https://bit.ly/3vKjGuN

#PoliticalSuppression

#ProtestArt #Creativity
The Second Anniversary of Hong Kong's Pro-democracy Movement: Memories don’t fade, Revisiting #LennonWalls from 2019

During the #AntiELAB movement in 2019, citizens in Hong Kong spontaneously built Lennon Walls all over the city to make their voices heard.

Harvey, a photographer, visited many areas of the city and took hundreds of shots to record every detail of the Lennon Walls.The photos were stitched together to become panoramic images of the Walls.

With Harvey’s permission, Stand News was able to share three of his works as an interactive webpage for readers to visit these virtually rebuilt Lennon Walls from 2019.

See here:
https://beta.thestandnews.com/interactive/回憶撕不走-重見-2019-連儂牆

Source: Stand News #Jun30

#Memory

#GreatChinaWall #Piracy
Hong Kong Filmmaker Inserts "Sensitive" Words to Curb Video-Piracy by Chinese Netizens

Hebe is a Hong Kong filmmaker who fell victim to video piracy: Chinese netizens have been reposting Hebe's original videos to make profit without his consent.

Hebe has a video channel with over 60,000 subscribers. His videos introduces the locations wherein Hong Kong films in the 1980s and the 1990s were shot.

He made complaints to websites in China after discovering that his videos have been 'stolen' and reposted on the Chinese Internet; however, no action has been taken.

In the end, Hebe used an unconventional way to fend off video pirates from China by inserting words that are deemed "sensitive" by Chinese authorities.

Even when his videos were reposted on Chinese websites, the censors would soon take them down.

Source: RTHK #Jul12
https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/ch/component/k2/1600320-20210712.htm

#Creativity #Sensitivity

#ProtestArt #NeverForget #Interview
Traces of Graffiti in Hong Kong: "If we can write them easily, then we can write them more”

When passing the streets of the Hong Kong, be it inside the tunnels, the flyovers, or by the roads you drive by every day, it is hard to miss the many grey cover-up patches on the pale walls and washed-out letterings.

These marks are some of the many traces left in the city, reminding Hong Kong people of what they went through two years ago.

MC Yan, the lead singer of local Hip Hop band #LMF , also known as "Asia's first graffiti artist", calls these "Cleansed Fonts” (清潔體), because they are presenting the original message in a fresh new way.

Since Beijing's implementation of #NationalSecurityLaw in Hong Kong on June 30, 2020, the words "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our Times" have since been considered taboo.

MC Yan feels that it is a foolish move on the regime, because “they have highlighted something, and given people a target to be directed against.”

In fact, he feels that it has become an opportunity to inspire people to think. This has also led to many derivative creations; people were inspired to arrange shapes like triangles and circles together to remind people of the popular “revolution” slogan.

“On the surface, it looks like the movement has become scattered, but in fact, the symbols are still there, the idea lives on,” said MC Yan.

When asked whether the change from words to symbols is a submission to the regime, MC Yan replied by saying that, “when these ideas are turned into symbols, it is being simplified but it doesn’t mean that they were faded”.

He believes that using symbols only made it faster and easier for people to write, “if we can write them out so easily now, then we can write them more.”

Source: Hong Kong Citizen News #Jul18
Image: #FirstHand
https://www.facebook.com/hkcnews/posts/1496216894055048

#Symbol #Graffiti #MCYan #LMF #Icon #Creativity #CleansedFonts

#Creativity #LocalCulture
Local Cafe Promotes Alternative Culture in Hong Kong Despite 229 Fine Tickets

On July 17, 2021, over 200 people in Hong Kong joined the Basketball Music Bazaar that took place in an alley.

The police surrounded the alley and ticker 229 civilians for violating the gathering ban, amounting to a fine of around HKD1.15 million.

The bazzaar organizer is a music cafe where local indie music is played. Outside their store there is a neon light that writes "In need of" and a wall full of graffiti.

The owner Ah Fung said, "I want to bring the so-called "non-mainstream" or "underground" to mainstream platforms."

Source: Stand News #Jul25

https://bit.ly/2WikNFX

#Art #Creativity
Activists Preserve HK's Tiananmen Memorial Pillar in Digital 3D Model: "They Can't Silence Us All"

In October 2021, the University of Hong Kong (#HKU) demanded the Danish creator Jens Galschiøt to remove the statue which has been on display on campus since 1998.

An activist group had digitally scanned the #PillarofShame and made the 3D model publicly available, in an effort to preserve the statue commemorating the pro-democracy protesters killed during the 1989 Tiananmen massacre in Beijing.

Thre group "Lady Liberty HK" announced the release of the publicly accessible file in a Facebook post on October 29, 2021.

"The 3D file preserves details including every face on the statue, #JensGalschiøt's signature, the writings and plates on the base," said the post.

While Galschiøt, the statue's creator, had made similar pillars commemorating other ignominious events in other countries, all pillars are unique.

This 3D model therefore represents "THE Pillar of Shame that belongs to Hong Kong."

The original Pillar had been placed on permanent display inside Hong Kong University's campus since 1998. However, HKU had recently demanded its removal, a move that drew condemnation from civic groups worldwide, as well as Galschiot, the statue's creator and owner. He had called on Hong Kong citizens to, in the event that the statue is demolished, gather as many pieces as they could, so that it could be rebuilt elsewhere in the world.

Echoing the artist's call, the group Lady Liberty HK wrote: "If one day #HKU act in accomplice to Hong Kong Gov. and the CCP and removes the statue, anyone in the world can still view it online and recreate it."

The group takes its name from the 4m-tall statue of a Hong Kong protester, which it created and displayed during the 2019 Anti-ELAB Movement, but had been destroyed by unidentified individuals. The group had also published the model file for the statue; one 3D-printed replica is now preserved in the collections of the Museum of New Zealand.

Source: Lady Liberty HK Facebook #Oct30

https://www.facebook.com/LadyLibertyHongKong/posts/647090700010700

#Resistance #3DModel #PreservingHistory #LadyLibertyHK

#PopMusic #Censorship
Top Ranking Song Mocking Chinese nationalists Banned in China and Delisted from HK-based streaming app

Malaysian rapper #Namewee and Taiwan-based Australian singer #KimberlyChen Fang-yu rolled out a Mandopop song titled "#Fragile" (玻璃心, or literally meaning "#GlassHeart"), on Youtube in mid-October 2021.

The term "glass heart" is commonly used to describe nationalist Chinese netizens who become easily upset when a social media post attacks the Chinese Comminist Party (#CCP).

While the song can be interpreted as a love song, the music video satirizes the CCP and nationalist Chinese netizens
(aka "#LittlePinks") through the extensive use of the color pink, simplified Chinese subtitles, and a giant and clumsy panda.

References are made to China's claims to Taiwan, bat soup representing COVID19, the Great Firewall, and #XiJingping's latest political campaign Common Prosperity.

The song hit the internet with an overwhelming popularity, receiving over 10 million Youtube views in just first few days.

The pro-China netizens criticized the lyrics for "inflicting insults on China", leading to both the ban of the singers in China and the removal of their #Weibo accounts.

In response, Namewee wrote on his Facebook page pointing out that the song has reflected a general trend as more people are realizing CCP's oppression and encroachment. The artist said, "[this song is] not so amazing, it's just a mirror."

Commenting on the freedom of expression in artistic creation, Namewee said, "If I have to give up creative freedom and my ideals, this goes against any artististic pursuit.  I would rather stop creating."

Namewee added in his comment that with the growing number of supporters, he would consider leveraging their influence to resist and protest against authoritarianism.

He said, "I believe if one remains silent in the face of iron fist, it would foster and reinforce them [authoritarianism]. Until one day, the iron fist hits your head as it spares no one."

On October 27, 2011, the Hong Kong-based music app, #MOOV, was found delisted the song from its app. Netizens slammed the music app, calling it "#FragileMOOV".

Source: Stand News #Oct25; as1 entertainment #Oct27

https://thestandnews.page.link/v8e74czAgLL9oV6Z8/

#PopCulture #PopSong #MandoPop #MOOV #Delist #Creativity #Art #Culture #MusicVideo #Ban

#Art
#Brescia Exhibits #Badiucao's Artwork that Mocks Beijing’s #Propaganda

Defying the calls of the Chinese government to cancel an exhibition in a northern Italian city, #Brescia is hosting the first international solo exhibition by the 35-year-old artist, #Badiucao, an exile from China who now lives in Australia.

Displaying a torture instrument such as a rocking chair, dissident artist Badiucao mocks the propaganda of Beijing in this exhibition named “China is (not) near”.

The show denounces political repression in China and the country’s censorship of the origin of #Covid19.

Beijing responded to the exhibition in anger, accusing Badiucao’s works of being “full of anti-Chinese lies” that “jeopardise the friendly relations between China and Italy”. The PRC's embassy in Rome sent a letter to Brescia’s town hall.

Deputy Mayor #LauraCastelletti responded, “None of us in Brescia, neither in the city council nor among the citizens, had the slightest doubt about this exhibition going ahead.”

"Brescia, known for its Roman ruins, has a long tradition of welcoming dissidents, painters and writers, in defence of artistic freedom”, she added.

In an interview, Badiucao, who is nicknamed the Chinese #Banksy said he is “very happy and proud” that the city “had the courage to say ‘no’ to China to defend fundamental rights.”

Source: Radio Free Asia; #Nov13
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/11-11132021172450.html/ampRFA

#ProtestArt #WolfWarrior #FreedomofExpression #Creativity #Italy #NoToChina #Culture #Exhibition