“Countdown machine (2016)”

Our 60-second friendship begins now (artists: Sampson Wong and Jason Lam), an artwork commissioned by the fifth “Large-Scale Public Media Art Exhibition” held in May 2016, was dismantled five days after the exhibition opening. A “Joint Statement” issued bearing HKADC letterhead, co-signed by Caroline Ha Thuc and Ellen Pao, the Chairman of the Film and Media Art Group of HKADC and chair of the Advisory Committee of the exhibition, announced the decision and proclaimed that “the disrespect demonstrated by the artists against the original agreement and understanding made with the curator and HKADC is jeopardizing our profession and put at risk any future possibility to work further in the public space.” Wong and Lam argued that they had never changed the title of the artwork while the curator had always been informed of the content. The incident triggered heated discussion in the art sector. Art practitioners, critics and art administrators voiced out varied opinions on areas including consensus and censorship of art in public space, the trust between artists and curators, political expression and professional ethics, the role and responsibility of funding organizations, the operational experience of artistic protests in Hong Kong, and the maturity of institutional condition and discursive language of its handling.