Performance and digital prints

2012

Hong Kong Art Walk is Hong Kong’s annual charity art event, where galleries around Hong Kong Island open their doors in the evening so audiences can visit the galleries and enjoy complimentary food and drinks after purchasing tickets.

Invited by the organiser to participate in Hong Kong Art Walk 2012 as artists, RU brought “Performance C” outdoors. Without notifying participating galleries in advance, RU dressed in suits, appeared in galleries across Central, Soho and Sheung Wan, and “cleaned” the galleries’ front windows. After the cleaning, a service payment invoice would be stuck on the front window to inform the gallery of the “cleaning service”.

While one could describe the 1st Performance C as a passive act - with RU waiting for the audience to arrive at the scene - the Art Walk version was aggressive, as they would risk the chance of confrontation or refusal by the participating galleries. They were dressed resplendently, just like every ticket holder who donated to participate in Art Walk. Still, they were neither audience members nor participating artists who were “well-behaved” or staged. Instead, they joined the event as “well-dressed janitors” to be hired.

Note: Hong Kong ArtWalk was an annual one-night art crawl charity event around Central District between 2001 and 2015