LONDON.- VOMA, the world’s first virtual museum, and GIANT, the largest artist-led space in the UK, presents the major new hybrid exhibition, ‘Why We Shout: The Art of Protest.’ Curated by Lee Cavaliere across physical and virtual galleries, the show explores the ways in which artists have, and continue to, engage with protest and activism.

Central to the show is important work by Kacey Wong, who recently fled his native Hong Kong to take himself into self-imposed exile in Taiwan. Before he left, he sent to be exhibited the performance film work 'The Loveliest Person', alongside the featured Chinese military uniform and an impassioned email, writing:

dear Lee,

i got good news and bad news for you..

the good news is i was able to evade and successfully relocated in taiwan now.

the airport was closely monitored by the police, at the gate where they check documents the government added extra runner catcher type of immigration officers watching everyone, my name wasn't on the blacklist, i found out by going through it, some wasn't so lucky...what's worst is even when you go through custom at the boarding lounge, when boarding 4 secret police will line up afar and watch every passenger in case they miss anyone or received last minute catch list, very scary and depressing.

i will reestablish basecamp here, i will not return to hong kong anymore unless glory descend. my wife and my cat will join me later. when the retreat route is burnt, the only way is to go forward.




how exciting, middle age with new life planning. our exhibition is important, in my little white card on the wall please also print:

"Due to the political situation in Hong Kong, the artist is now under self-exile in Taiwan."

appreciated.

cheers,
kacey

The Loveliest Person is a performance piece in which Wong plays the ghost of a People's Liberation Army soldier.

The work comes in response to the 1989 Beijing Tiananmen Square Massacre, where the PLA brutally put down a student-led protest in Beijing, resulting in thousands of deaths. Chinese Communist Party sent Peng LiYuan (Xi Jinping’s wife) to comfort the soldiers. The song had its origins in a famous 1951 essay by journalist Wei Wei, about the Chinese People's Volunteer Army in Korea, battling to death when attacked by American soldiers. Beloved by Mao Zedong, the song was used frequently in Communist Party propaganda, and it seemed grotesque to the artist: “Murderers become the loveliest person.”

In the ghostly guise of a PLA soldier, Wong playing the funeral version of the Chinese National Anthem with an accordion, based on Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor.

"With this music I am Death, whoever hears my tunes shall perish." - Kacey Wong

In 2020, the Chinese Government implemented a National Security Law in Hong Kong. Any dissent against Chinese rule has been criminalised and freedom of speech severely curtailed. Artists like Kacey Wong are in danger of arrest and imprisonment for advocating protest and freedom of speech. As a result, Wong is now under self-imposed exile in Taiwan.

The text above is an email received just before this show opened, from Kacey Wong to Lee Cavaliere, exhibition curator and Director of VOMA.