Glasgow School of Art Degree Show 2025 - "通往香港 (Leading to Hong Kong)"

In my final year at Glasgow School of Art, I chose to take a risk and attempt something new for my Degree Show. This happened to manifest in the form of an immersive installation.

"通往香港 (Leading to Hong Kong)", is an immersive, as real as possible, restaurant space. I chose to produce this work as a manner of tackling concerns with the post-truth and digital environments we inhabit daily.

I find at the base of my practice, following all the threads back, there are some key elements most of my work shares. I would categories these as manipulation, deception, subversion, and trickery. Take my paintings for example, they utilise a deceptive technique to manipulate the viewers way of thinking, mirroring the same pattern as social media. Or look at my collage work, juxtapositions and tiny details, manipulations, and distortions make for a purposefully confusing visual landscape. The goal is always a deception and a manipulation, much like the digital visual landscape.

Now within post-truth I wish to see how far I can go in manipulating the senses of individuals. Before deciding on what I wanted to make I knew I had this intention, and that I wanted to attempt to work in installation. I knew I had limited space, so the next issue was to decide what deception can be done in this space. Inspired by Jeremy Deller’s ‘Valerie’s Snack Bar’ and Pierre Sernet’s ‘Guerrilla Tea Room’ I chose a restaurant as my goal deception.

In practice my audience stumbles across my restaurant following their nose to be surprised with the contrast of the space. Entering into a seemingly new geographical location, being asked to make sense of their stark change in sensory stimulation. They then must assess the truth of their surroundings. This much I expect from every visitor. Further, I hope they will begin to consider the condition of truth and reality as it is presented to them. To what means are their individual realities manipulated by powers beyond their control?

As a white man who has not visited Hong Kong, I must acknowledge my appropriation of another culture. The appropriation itself, I aim to be, an as respectful and honest representation of a Hong Kong diner as it can be. But to do so, I must acknowledge it first, as must each viewer. With this the notion of appropriation acts as a red herring, an alternative conclusion to be drawn of my work. To be fooled and offended by media enough to cause division between you and the person next to you, is the desire of the current digital landscape. Rotting from within its façade of connection, the aim of the facilitators of social media sites is to divide. As my work intends to ask people to assess the truth within their own lives, the appropriation points to the purveyors of division. Will people be able to look beyond a perceived point of division, to an its true call for unity.

Many thanks to Jesse Ho, who has been instrumental to the production and running of this work, I couldn't have done it without him. And thanks also, to the excellent staff and faculty at GSA.


(At full function the space operates with many effects covering, air texture, smell, sound, visuals, and interactive performance.)