29 Jul 2016

'Between 1967 and 2009, Hong Kong-based artist Ha Bik Chuen collaborated with the Beirut-based artist Suha Traboulsi on a number of projects. Most of these remained out of view until 2010, after Ha's death, when his archives were unpacked and studied. The two met in 1962 when Traboulsi travelled to Hong Kong to research Chinese calligraphic practices. They struck an immediate friendship that soon turned into an artistic collaboration from afar: Ha in Hong Kong and Traboulsi in Beirut.'- Walid Raad

Asia Art Archive (AAA) presents Section 39_Index XXXVII: Traboulsi, a project by award-winning artist Walid Raad for AAA’s special anniversary programme series 15 Invitations. The project stems from Raad’s interest and research into AAA’s Ha Bik Chuen Archive. During his 2014 residency at AAA, Raad was introduced to the work of late Hong Kong-based artist, Ha Bik Chuen. Primarily known as a sculptor and printmaker, Ha Bik Chuen had parallel practices of photographing exhibitions he attended, and collecting materials including illustrated magazines and artist portraits, in part for the construction of book collages. Raad immediately realised Ha’s affinity to one of his collaborators, Suha Traboulsi.

Image: Walid Raad, Section 39_Index XXXVII: Traboulsi (Editor's Introduction V), 2016.
Image: Walid Raad, Section 39_Index XXXVII: Traboulsi (Editor's Introduction V), 2016. Photo: Kitmin Lee 2016.
Courtesy of the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery.

Section 39_Index XXXVII: Traboulsi presents works from two collaborative series are on display, including ‘sculptural spaces’ built by Traboulsi inspired by Ha’s ephemera-laden collage books, and Traboulsi’s reproductions of modern paintings by Arab artists scattered among several of Ha’s collage notebooks. The project is currently showing at the AAA Library until 3 Sep. 

In August and September, theme-based tours on the project in relation to AAA's work and collections will be led by AAA team members. Details as follows:

Staging and Performing the Archive
AAA Researcher Michelle Wong explores the concept of documents as neither art nor record, but the private performative space of an art practice through AAA's Ha Bik Chuen Archive.

Date & Time: Sat 13 Aug 2016; 11am–12pm (English); 2–3pm (Chinese)
Location: Asia Art Archive, 11/F, Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan

Art in the Age of Surpassing Disasters
AAA Head of Research and Programmes Hammad Nasar discusses Raad's project in relation to Lebanese artist and thinker Jalal Toufic's concept of 'withdrawal of tradition past a surpassing disaster'.

Date & Time: Sat 20 Aug 2016; 11am–12pm (English)
Location: Asia Art Archive, 11/F, Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan

The Artist as Author 
AAA Public Programmes Curator Ingrid Chu expands on the idea of the 'artist as author' in creating alternative readings of their work and how this resonates through AAA's growing collection of artist books.

Date & Time: Sat 3 Sep 2016; 11am–12pm (English)
Location: Asia Art Archive, 11/F, Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan



Walid Raad
Walid Raad is an artist and Professor of Art at the Cooper Union, New York. Raad's works include The Atlas Group, a fifteen-year project between 1989 and 2004 about the contemporary history of Lebanon, and ongoing projects Scratching on Things I Could Disavow and Sweet Talk: Commissions (Beirut). His books include The Truth Will Be Known When The Last Witness Is DeadMy Neck is Thinner than a HairLet's Be Honestthe Weather Helped; and Scratching on Things I Could Disavow.

Raad's works have been shown at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Louvre, Paris; Documenta 11 and 13, Kassel; Kunsthalle Zurich; Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; the Venice Biennale; the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Homeworks, Beirut; and other museums and venues throughout Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. Raad is the recipient of the ICP Infiniti Award (2016); Hasselblad Award (2011); Guggenheim Fellowship (2009); Alpert Award in Visual Arts (2007); Deutsche Börse Photography Prize (2007); and Camera Austria Award (2005).

Ha Bik Chuen Archive
The Ha Bik Chuen Archive presents one window into Hong Kong’s art history: through exhibition history, circulation of artistic practices and reading materials, and international exchange. Primarily known as a sculptor and printmaker, artist Ha Bik Chuen (1925–2009) had parallel practices of photographing exhibitions he attended, and collecting materials including illustrated magazines and artist portraits, in part for the construction of book collages. Ha’s entire collection has been stored in his Hong Kong studio since his passing.

Asia Art Archive began an initial pilot project to map, assess, and selectively digitise Ha’s archive by invitation of the Ha family in 2013. Made available to a wider audience for the first time, the archive consists of a continuously growing selection of Ha’s collage books, exhibition documentation, and exhibition catalogues.

The Pilot Project (2014–16) is supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. The Archive Project (2016–19) is funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.

The Archive is accessible on the AAA website.