To leave 2cm3 for myself 留下兩立方厘米給自己

To leave 2cm³ for myself, 2012

Two-channel video installation with an optic ornament made of glasses parts, a glass cover and a pedestal

Dimension variable

installation view: http://vimeo.com/55639505, 1min1s

run: http://vimeo.com/55297832, 4min15s
tears: http://vimeo.com/55277119, 1min18s

 

In To Leave 2cm³ for Myself, Tang Kwok-hin explores the quiet desperation and emotional suffocation of living in a hyper-dense, monitored, commercially saturated city. Walking along Canton Road — a major thoroughfare emblematic of Hong Kong’s chain-store-dominated urban landscape — the artist runs aimlessly through Tsim Sha Tsui East. He collects his own sweat with a handkerchief, squeezes it into a glass bottle, and freezes it into a tiny 2cm³ ice sculpture. This minimal personal essence is then paired with a handmade optical ornament crafted from glass parts, designed to be worn over the eyes.

When the ice melts, the liquid flows down the wearer’s face like tears — an imagined transformation of sweat (the body’s involuntary response to the city’s pressure) into emotional release. Presented as a two-channel video installation accompanied by the physical sculpture and glass ornament on a pedestal, the work creates a poignant loop between physical exertion, bodily residue, and emotional catharsis.

Through this minimal gesture, Tang reflects on the suppression of authority, overwhelming standardization and commercial occupation of public space, which leaves little room for individual identity or private emotion. The 2cm³ of frozen sweat becomes a metaphorical act of reclamation — a small, almost absurd attempt to carve out personal space and emotional autonomy within an environment that constantly demands conformity and consumption.