JR's Hong Kong Installation Sparks Feng Shui Controversy

French artist JR has unveiled 'GIANTS: Rising Up' at Harbour City's Ocean Terminal Deck in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, marking his first Asian iteration of the GIANTS series. The 12-meter-tall photographic installation depicts an athlete mid-high jump, suspended over Victoria Harbour. Commissioned by Harbour City, the work was inaugurated on March 13 and runs until April 23, coinciding with Art Basel Hong Kong (March 23–25). The piece incorporates traditional bamboo scaffolding to honor local architectural craftsmanship. However, the installation has drawn criticism from Feng Shui masters who interpret the athlete's pose as a fallen body impaled on scaffolding—a bad omen. This echoes a 2019 controversy involving KAWS's inflatable sculpture in Hong Kong. JR previously engaged with Hong Kong in 2012 with his Inside Out project on Connaught Road's pedestrian bridge. The GIANTS series began at the 2016 Rio Olympics and includes notable iterations such as a child climbing the US-Mexico border wall and 'The Wound' on Palazzo Strozzi in Florence (adapted for Palazzo Farnese in Rome in 2021). Recently, JR also staged two Inside Out installations in Milan and a collective performance in Turin's Piazza San Carlo on February 7, preceding an exhibition at Gallerie d'Italia curated by Arturo Galansino, open until July 18.