All that glitters is not gold, or so the saying goes. This ideology is explored by art critic and curator Inti Guerrero in the exhibition “Clamour Can Melt Gold,” currently on view at Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong. The title, a translation from a Chinese idiom (“眾口鑠金”), is believed to have been used by historic revolutionary Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925) to indicate that the voices of the masses can obfuscate the truth. Through drawings, sculptures and installations, the exhibition examines the moral and social implications of gold, tackling the subject using two overlapping thematic threads. On one hand, the activities involved in the processing of gold—mining, extracting and manufacturing—are considered in terms of the impact they place on laborers and the surrounding landscape. On the other hand, the symbolism, economic consumption and monetary value of gold are placed under scrutiny.
HE XIANGYU, Wisdom Tower, 2013, tooth, pure gold (99.9%), copper, bamboo stick, 1.9 × 1.9 × 7 cm. Courtesy private collection, Taiwan.Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar continues on the theme of gold’s perceived value in an especially large body of work, which was inspired by his visit to Serra Pelada, an open cast gold mine located in northeastern Brazil, during the mid-1980s. Jaar’s photography and video pieces have a distinct connection to the idea of gold, despite it not being physically featured in any of the works. Jaar’s video Introduction to a Distant World (1985) is particularly mesmerizing, showing an orderly chaos within winding lines of dirt-encrusted miners trudging uphill, interspersed with shots of a miner’s hands panning for gold in a rhythmic manner. Accompanied by three sprawling, two-meter-wide pigment prints that comprise Rushes, 1986–2015 (2015)—in which the rising prices of gold in Hong Kong and Shanghai flank an aerial shot of Serra Pelada—Introduction to a Distant World further emphasizes the contradiction between gold’s commanding market price (which is currently hovering around USD 1,135 per ounce) and the appalling conditions of the miners who are made to work nonstop to extract the precious metal.
ALFREDO JAAR, Introduction to a Distant World, 1985, still from digital
video: 9 min 30 sec. Courtesy the artist and Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong.
Nearby, Hong Kong artists Kwan Sheung Chi and Wong Wai Yin challenge viewers to consider the relationship between gold and our own morals. To Defend the Core Values is the Core of the Core Values (2012)—the two artists’ collaborative installation featuring a large, solid gold coin, one video and miscellaneous objects—explores the significance of gold’s perceived value. In one of the videos, filmed on June 4, 2012, the artists critique the fragility of one’s inner character when presented with the choice to keep or discard a large, solid gold coin—meant to symbolize Hong Kong’s core values as a society—into the city’s Victoria Harbour. The video documents Leung Kwok Hung, a local Hong Kong politician known for his radical actions, being presented with this decision. After a long period of deliberation, Leung chooses to keep the coin to help repay legal costs incurred in his own political activities, suggesting that to use the gold coin for its financial value is better than throwing it into the ocean. Leung comments on the perception of Hong Kong as a cash-obsessed, fast-paced capitalist society, and that by keeping the coin he simply reflected this mind-set. This forces one to consider how even the most radical people can be softened or their approach changed by the temptation of money, further emphasizing our obsession with gold.
KWAN SHEUNG CHI and WONG WAI YIN, Defend the Core Values is the Core of the Core Values, 2012, installation, video and object, dimensions variable. Courtesy private collection, Hong Kong.
The works throughout the exhibition broach the issue of gold’s effect on humanity. The shared motif of teeth in Galindo’s work and He’s Wisdom Tower, remind viewers that the consumption and production of gold are inextricably linked, emphasizing that gold is more than just about it being a precious metal or about its financial value. The show encourages viewers to contemplate the genuine importance and necessity of gold in both our consumerist world and everyday lives.
“Clamour Can Melt Gold” is on view at Edouard Malingue, Hong Kong, until September 11, 2015.