As part of its episodic exhibition “trust and confusion,” Tai Kwun Contemporary brought two of Tino Sehgal’s “constructed situations” to Hong Kong for the first time. Both first shown in 2012, This Variation and These Associations are human installations and ephemeral encounters activated by selected local participants—“interpreters”—and their engagement with the space and the viewers. On this page are responses to the works by AAP’s staff. 

It was dark. Tino Sehgal’s This Variation (2012) is not something to see. It is instead the feelings of vulnerability and confusion that surge as one enters the closed, pitch-black performance venue, the piqued interest when people in the room begin moving and creating sound, and the caution and skepticism that ensue the revelation that the person next to you may be more than just a fellow audience member. People danced. I sensed the movements before I could glean the outline of their maker’s form. Someone fell next to me and another person dropped to the ground somewhere else, but the singing continued. The collective sound was almost liturgical. It was the intermingling of voices in search of crescendo, the anticipation of a climax, the expansion of lungs. Reverberations left one person’s body to enter another’s. This Variation is a process of exchange.

There is a visceral urgency for human beings to communicate, connect, and form communities. Initiating a member of a collective may involve a ritual and a celebration, and often singing and dancing are involved. In the Philippines, folk dances are passed down through our grandparents, teachers, and neighbors, commingling their memories while allowing for a sway or a kick that speaks of an individual’s interpretation. This Variation reawakens these intuitions and recalls acts of community-making that predate written language. Sehgal’s practice, which does away with documentation and relies on the transmission of knowledge through voice and action, reinstates art as experience—as what we do together.

While the piece gradually quieted down, I waited for the choreography to repeat like a video work on loop, but I was consistently indulged with new gestures, a new song—at one point, it was an acapella rendition of “Good Vibrations” (1966) by The Beach Boys. The work is true to its name for it seems no matter how long one stays, it will never be the same.

NICOLE M. NEPOMUCENO

In Tino Sehgal’s performance These Associations (2012), which is unfolding in Tai Kwun’s courtyard as part of the show “trust and confusion,” presenters and audiences meet and mingle in unpredictable ways. You may encounter 30 performers walking in slow motion across the site, or see them scattered, frozen in various scenes. Sometimes they run in a frenzy, other times they stand still and hum. I once saw a man walk through the group of performers only to be caught in the current of them mimicking his motions, before he too joined in on the fun. You may even catch the eye of one of them who might invite you to listen to a personal anecdote. Some stories were about vulnerability, shamefulness, and guilt, and exposed the darker sides of the human psyche. Other stories were fascinatingly confusing, starting off with a problem that gets more and more complicated before finally reaching a comical end. You laugh, some cry, others press in to share their own anecdotes. Pretty soon, there is no clear distinction between audience and performer. We are one, a collective, two individuals having a conversation in the mass of people performing and participating, co-creating stories. Then, the encounter ends, sometimes abruptly, and you watch as someone who was a stranger a while ago melts back into the crowd, becoming a stranger again. One is suddenly acutely aware of how transitory human encounters can be, and how precious the time shared. Each connection you form in the sea of strangers ultimately returns to the sea, but such is the passage of birth, death, and the journey in between. These Associations encourages you to break barriers and build bridges, bursting into a dialogue between you and those around you, but also prompts you to reflect further on how lives interweave meaningfully in the ocean of life. You leave, wondering about your next encounter.

VICTORIA CHAN

Tino Sehgal’s This Variation and These Associations are on view as part of “trust and confusion” at Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong, until December 5, 2021.

Nicole M. Nepomuceno is ArtAsiaPacific’s assistant editor; Victoria Chan is editorial intern; and Amy Fan is designer.

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