Tatton Park Biennial: Sited Commissions
KONGKEE investigates issues around diversity and migration within his own animation-based practice.
Kongkee’s work for Tatton Park was part of a joint venture involving The Chinese Arts Centre and Tatton Park Biennial. Based in Hong Kong, but living and working in Manchester during his residency, the artist investigated issues around diversity and migration, specifically locating the migration of people and plants within his own animation-based practice.
Identifying Hong Kong as a city on the move, Kongkee was keen to explore the movement of one-time inhabitants of this exceptional conurbation. Noting that Hong Kong’s unique historical position within the Chinese constellation – one that welcomed immigrants and outsiders – was not dissimilar to Manchester’s experience in the early twentieth century, the artist sought out older Mandarin-speaking residents to talk with them about their experiences of dislocation and renewal.
The discussions, workshops and resulting animations reflect the varied experiences of ex patriots. They also shed light on the plethora of plants regularly used in English gardens that hail from China, which have taken on new significance as a result of their new locale. Looking at the way plants travel – by wind, water or animal intervention, suggested new ways of depicting travel.
Biography
Born in 1977, Kongkee works in comic as well as video imaging in Hong Kong. A found member of creative group '29s' from 2003, which keep encouraging artists from different professional to cross over thought independence publishing. Then he published his first comic, a dark-city-fairy tale Imperfect Shoes. In 2007, he worked with Chihoi, also a comic artist, using comic to introduce 'Hong Kong literature'. They trying to transform the literature idea into a new style comic. These experiments become the comic album Hijacking. In his comic works, there are senses of humor & crazy imagination. And he loves to express the ironic situation of ordinary life. So he starts posting the Rice-gas comic online, this comic series getting positive feedback & support from readers. Comic collections just published in April 2008.
Kongkee is also active in the visual art scene in Hong Kong, and loves to use his work to question the 'over management' of public space. In 2007, he used the cartoons sticker to protest the commercial booming from train broadcast system. His video Name of Wu Mei received a Special Mention by ifva Short Film Festival 2005 and was selected by Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition 2005.