Spaces of Exception | Exhibition Information

In collaboration with the Department of Literature and Cultural Studies (LCS) and the International Research Centre for Cultural Studies (IRCCS) at the Education University of Hong Kong, Videotage is pleased to present Spaces of Exception, the first exhibition in Hong Kong featuring the sound installation of New York-based artist Freya Powell as part of the interdisciplinary project on death in migration titled Thanatic Ethics: The Circulation of Bodies in Migratory Spaces.

Spaces of Exception is a multi-channel, immersive sound installation that uses the voice as a medium to speak to the ambiguous loss experienced as a result of ‘Prevention Through Deterrence’, a US immigration policy along the US-Mexico border. Through speech and song, the piece will play sonically with ideas of echo and mirage, aurally exploring the experience of ambiguous loss and ideas of public grievability concerning the lives lost in the hostile terrain of the desert. The performers will take on the role of an ancient Greek chorus, becoming a collective voice of mourning, expressing an elegy for the unidentified dead. Their voices will merge and divide, testing pitch, intonation, breath, pacing, and silence from operatic singing to theatrical utterances, narrating the realities of this contemporary tragedy.

Exhibition details

• Spaces of Exception
• Date: January 8-26, 2024
• Time: 12pm-7pm
• Venue: Videotage
• Address: Room 13, Cowshed Art Village, 63 Ma Tau Kok Road, To Kwa Wan, Kowloon

Information Source: Videotage | Facebook