They Come in Droves: In Search of Lo Ting with The 20/FAsia Art Archive

In 1997, the mythical half-human, half-fish creature, Lo Ting, made its entrance into Hong Kong’s cultural landscape when Oscar Ho commissioned authors and artists to create portraits of Lo Ting for the exhibition Hong Kong Incarnated—Museum 97: History Community Individual. The project later evolved into a trilogy that included Hong Kong Reincarnated: New Lo Ting Archaeological Find and Lo Ting: New Discovery on 1197 Massacre. Despite the project’s mythical context, the exhibitions reflected Hong Kong’s anxiety surrounding its post-handover identity.

As a “species indigenous to Lantau Island,” the Lo Ting is a fitting embodiment of the coastal lifestyle of island communities—that of living off the land and the water, of thriving off both sides, yet not belonging to either. Between the land and the sea, human and creature, hidden and exposed—what exactly is the myth about? The forgotten past? The collective silence of the present? Or the revival of the future?

This conversation will explore the curatorial concepts of Lo Ting’s trilogy of exhibitions, followed by a discussion with members of the art collective, The 20/F, who participated in them. The discussion will reflect on the project’s creative processes that appropriated history for other narrative purposes, the exchanges that occurred among artists, and the nature of myth itself: is it to be taken seriously, or is it merely a farce?

This event is part of the Hong Kong Room talk series. A key feature of AAA’s new library, the Hong Kong Room is a display and meeting place that activates and develops AAA Collections focusing on Hong Kong artists, art spaces, and publications. We currently hold over 20,000 records dedicated to Hong Kong, documenting the activities of over 7,000 individuals and organisations in the local arts community. These range from reference books, exhibition catalogues, journals, and independent publications from the 1960s onwards, to the personal archives of key figures such as Ha Bik Chuen, Oscar Ho Hing Kay, Frog King Kwok Mang Ho, Ellen Pau, and Nigel Cameron.

- This talk will be conducted in Cantonese.