From the countries of the current Czech Republic in 1940 to Hong Kong 2021
In the summer of 1980, 7 young artists organized an art seminar and placed some unusual sculptures in the small fortress in Terezín. Unfortunately, the management of the museum had decided to quickly end the exhibition due to pressure from the regime at the time. The installations and individual artifacts have not been preserved physically, the only record preserved is photographic. The aim of this exhibition is to create a multimedia project at the same location as in 1980. Therefore, the 75 years old Czech artist Jiří Sozanský has invited a Hong Kong artist, Loretta Lau, to take part in the exhibition, hoping that his experience of pursuing liberty and democracy would serve as a model for new generations of artists.
The exhibition features two of Loretta’s works, the live performance Distance and the painting installation The Cells. The temporal and physical distance is the reason why we find it difficult to perceive and sympathize with people who have suffered in Terezín years ago or are suffering in Xinjiang far away from us. In Distance. Loretta will use her movements and voices to commemorate the countless people who suffered in the concentration camps, to resonate between the tragedies in the past and the happening misfortunes. Terezín is not only a place where historical events take place but also provides a reflection of the world we are living in. A reminder to acknowledge the past and live in the truth.
From 1940 to 1945, the Little Fortress was a Gestapo prison for Czech political prisoners, representing the persecution of the Czech nation under the Nazi regime during the Second World War and chronicling the fate of Czech prisoners transferred to other concentration camps in the Nazi German Empire. The Cells depicts a number of Hong Kong political prisoners (including Tong Ying-kit, Lai Chi-ying, Ho Kwai-lam and more) imprisoned under the National Security Law. The white-on-white painting is signifying both the absolute truth and the futile attempts at resistance, the paintings are installed in solitary confinement for political criminals, the dark prison is a reminder of the nature of dictators has never changed. What have we learned from this parallel reality over 80 years?
