Faan1jik6 Zi1gaan1: Language as Unruly Cultural Transmission in Hong Kong
Square Street Gallery in Hong Kong presents 'Faan1jik6 Zi1gaan1 (In Between Translations)', a three-artist group show examining language as an evolving marker of sociocultural relations. Yip Kai Chun's installation 'voice from the root, reclaiming' (2016) traces his reconnection to his father's native Hakka language, using Cantonese transliterations on a red screen. Yan Wai Yin Winnie's two-channel video 'Too Long Ago, Not Far' (2024) draws from a 19th-century Chinese-English pronunciation guide, juxtaposing Cantonese phonetic notations with English words. Melody Chan's 'Mind Palace' (2023) employs I-Ching hexagrams and binary logic to encrypt private writings and texts by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. The exhibition runs from 29 January to 7 March. The show refutes the idea of culture as immutable, revealing language as an unruly source-code of transmission across time and space.
Key facts
- Exhibition titled 'Faan1jik6 Zi1gaan1' (In Between Translations) at Square Street Gallery, Hong Kong
- Features three artists: Yip Kai Chun, Yan Wai Yin Winnie, Melody Chan
- Yip Kai Chun's work 'voice from the root, reclaiming' (2016) explores Hakka language reconnection
- Yan Wai Yin Winnie's 'Too Long Ago, Not Far' (2024) uses a 19th-century Chinese-English pronunciation guide
- Melody Chan's 'Mind Palace' (2023) uses I-Ching hexagrams and binary logic
- Exhibition dates: 29 January – 7 March
- Language is presented as an evolving, embodied form of cultural transmission
- Hakka is described as a phonetic bridge between Mandarin and Cantonese
Entities
Artists
- Yip Kai Chun
- Yan Wai Yin Winnie
- Melody Chan
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Institutions
- Square Street Gallery
- ArtReview Asia
Locations
- Hong Kong
- China
- England