Unfounded X Museum of Swearing Art Exhibition

2021 JULY - Urban House Gallery

When the world spirals further into absurdity, swear words become more fitting for explaining oneself than any long speeches.

Have you ever cussed … and why so? Some would say that it is an uncivilized behavior; some say that it is a bad habit. There are even others who look down on those who cuss. Most of Cantonese’s foul language relates to sexual organs, and, in certain linguistic contexts, swearing may indeed offend or insult those around you, or at least upset their feelings.

With that said, if we removed all profanity from the world, would we make it better? Swearing provides a way to express our feelings through words, similar to how art is a form of emotional expression. Without seeing artistic expression as a businessperson’s investment, without exaggerating art’s emphasis on beauty and aesthetics, art is equivalent to swear words, and swearing is merely another art form.

Various artists and themes are divided across different exhibition rooms, to allow you to experience society’s daily culture and change from different perspectives. Artists Joshua Leung and Fanga O collaborated for the first time on 3 distinctive sections: the full-of-color “sexual minority”, the monochrome “unfounded”, as well as the “MK zone” a hallway decorated with internet lingo. These discuss the local subculture from an aesthetic point of view. In addition, “港字典 hk.dict” and popular AI technology creator, social media influencer Ted Wong (@Tedzted), with nearly 170,000 and 100,000 IG followers respectively, exhibit works related to local internet trends to which you can surely relate.

The exhibition is honored to have Societas Linguistica Hongkongensis, a long-time supporter and promoter of Cantonese culture, as co-curator, transforming this multi-purpose office into a “Museum of Swearing”, letting everyone better understand the local spoken language. Wandering in the Hong Kong streets, you may have seen the mark and signature that Matsushimaon (松島安) left. The exhibition has invited the low-culture poet Matsushimaon, who brings his pronouncements into the office gallery space, working out of the box while bringing visual stimuli to the audience. Last but not least, the exhibition has invited several local illustrators to express their own thoughts on the environment they are situated in. You will then be able to vote in the “trashy polling station” for who you want to cuss the most.

CURATORIAL STATEMENT

Greetings to those whose mothers have been the subject of foul-mouth before. I am locally born and raised in the 2000s, and love art and creating. Since long ago, I have been given the impression of being the polite “good kid”. Since long ago, people have told me that “swearing makes you look uncivil” or “swearing shows that your family didn’t teach you manners”. So, I’ve listened to my family for a long ago. But as I grew older (and because of puberty), I realized that life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, and the world is much more complicated than it seems. I started to problematize the meaning of everything’s existence and learned to rebut others’ ideas in a more confrontational way.

As I always tell the world, “Humans have multiple facades, and if you only ever see the nice side of somebody, I don’t think that is just somebody, but an idol who is commercially packaged!” I remember watching the Taiwanese romantic movie A Leg (2020) with my friend, with its most memorable line being “don’t pretend to be polite by saying rude things”. I don’t think there are perfect people in reality, and we are all learning how to be nice people. Nowadays, we try to seek things that are closer to the truth, so babe just live your own life.

(Inhales, tries to preach) Therefore, the reason why I chose "Cantonese “swear words” to be one of the themes of my exhibition, is kind of because we must first understand those things usually regarded as “bad”, and why they gave such a negative impression or label. I will leave it up to you to decide whether to swear, but still, we shouldn’t deprive others of their freedom to do so. This society comprises people from all walks of life, and we should attempt to know about those from different cultural backgrounds. It’s all about the RESPECT. Another reason is that in my opinion, Cantonese is my mother language, so it is natural that we all have a better grasp of the Cantonese language and continue to inherit this spoken culture.

I have a lot of questions in my mind all the time, and my friends always mock me for being such a “thinkhead”. This is why, spontaneously, “Unfounded” is another theme in my exhibition. I had, in the past, forced myself to be very purposeful with creating and providing an explanation for my works even though there might not be much thought put into them. Yet, as the world becomes more absurd and unfounded each day, you don’t really need to explain much about what you’re doing. You may say that it’s “art” if you don’t understand, or that it’s “relatable” if you understand.

Eventually, regardless of whether you like me or our work, (or not,) we do hope that you first like yourself. Pens Down! Stop writing!

Curator, Joshua LEUNG (written at the age of 17)