tsang king-wah, ‘it would be better if you have never been born’hong kong museum of art, hong kongmay 22nd to august 9th, 2009

image courtesy of pékin fine arts

on now at the hong kong museum of art as part of the ‘louis vuitton: a passion for creation’ group exhibition, is tsang kin-wah‘s video installation, ‘it would be better if you have never been born’.

using computers, projectors and speakers, video projections of text, swirl around on the ceiling – a mass of jumbled words that question our greedy existence and character:

(excerpts from text)the one / the night / the kiss / the love / the body / the soul / the nature / the artifice / the goodness / the evilness / the devil / and … the money

the lust / the gluttony / the greed / the sloth / the wrath / the envy / the pride

your one / your night / your kiss / your love / your body / your soul / your nature / your artifice / your goodness / your evilness / your devil / your … the money

tsang kin wah at the hong kong museum of art image courtesy of pékin fine artsthe contention and the robbery the violence and the banditry the perversion and the chaos the envy and the hatred the desires and the betrayal

quickly do it quickly just do it and do it quickly do quickly that you want to do do quickly what you have to do in your fucking life

tsang kin wah at the hong kong museum of art image courtesy of pékin fine arts

tsang kin wah at the hong kong museum of art image courtesy of pékin fine arts

tsang kin wah at the hong kong museum of art image courtesy of pékin fine arts

tsang kin wah at the hong kong museum of art image courtesy of pékin fine arts

truly, truly, he says it to you, you are not on your side truly, truly, you say to yourself, you are not on your side truly, truly, he says to you, you will betray yourself truly, truly, you say to yourself, you will betray yourself

tsang kin wah at the hong kong museum of art image courtesy of pékin fine arts

the nature and the essence your nature and your essence

the evil, the devil you evil, you devil your evil, your devil your shadow, his $hadow

the dark side of god and the dark side of you he is finished and you are finished

victory over materialist world victory over $piritualist world

tsang kin wah at the hong kong museum of art image courtesy of pékin fine arts

tsang kin wah at the hong kong museum of art image courtesy of pékin fine artsit would be better for you if you had never been born it would be better for him if you had never been born it would be better for the whole world if you had never been born

tsang kin wah at the hong kong museum of art image courtesy of pékin fine arts

back in 2005, tsang kin-wah designed ‘f-ing t-shirt’ for designboom. the screen printed t-shirt which came in a limited edition of 100, sold out quickly. as a follow-up, tsang collaborated with us and developed ‘another f-ing t-shirt’ in 2008. there are still a few t-shirts available in the designboom shop!

tsang kin-wah was born in shantou, guangdong province, china and now lives and works in hong kong. his video projections and installations, pose questions about ‘truth’ and ‘reality’, that make us consider the legitimacy of pre-existing things, ideas, and beliefs.