The Weak are Meat 弱肉

The Weak are Meat, 2013

Mixed media Installation

Acrylic boxes, food packages, collages on glass, steel sculpture and a single-channel video

Dimension variable

video: http://vimeo.com/68334954

Taking the Chinese phrase “The weak are meat for the strong to eat” in the Tang Dynasty as a point of departure, Tang Kwok-Hin’s solo presentation titled “The Weak are Meat”, satirizes the powerlessness of mankind with an individual’s lack of retaliation towards commercialization of society by habituating the ingestion of packaged goods. The products are categorized by method of preservation as well as brand. The wrappings of the finished products are stored in the basement storage space after consuming. The hanging merchandise-oriented advertisement and related products paint a repetitive but polychromatic picture. In contrast, the colorless, transparent boxes present the objects within, not only glorifying but also in contrast projecting the gargantuan figure of a mercenary demon.

This presentation integrates works in video, mixed media, collages and a site-specific installation to exemplify the redundancy and tediousness of the contemporary society, of which are dominated by the basis of man-made civilization—mundane routines and urban structures. In the face of such monotonous daily practices, humankind gradually assimilates to homogenous lifestyle circles, becoming slowly confined to a synchronized world. The culprits of synchronization, capitalism, marketing, investment and sales are allegorized by Tang as slow progressing venom, which anesthetizes our senses using materialization and blinds our hidden apprehension. Aestheticized product wrappings and the lack of utility of the manufactures themselves create a beauty in the malady of compulsive buying. The glimpses of silver that signifies poison in industries represent the premonition of the overuse of products, and how its hidden devil gradually gnaws on human compassion.