Maria Hassabi: I’ll Be Your Mirror

The artist and choreographer Maria Hassabi (b. Cyprus) has long pioneered live installations that explore the sculptural body, image-making, and the deceleration of time. Frequently involving dancers moving at a glacial, barely perceptible pace, Hassabi’s works confront visitors as living sculptures. Her works bring the performing body into museums, theatres, and public spaces, which shift the boundaries between visitors and performers, subjects and objects.

Maria Hassabi: I’ll Be Your Mirror is the artist’s first solo exhibition in Asia. Comprising elements of performance, sound, photography and painting, the exhibition brings her pathbreaking practice to Hong Kong, with all works newly commissioned for Tai Kwun's architectural environment. The central body of work on 3/F gravitates around the production of image through the usage of mirrors dressed in gold, playing with the myriad meanings and representations of gold in ancient and contemporary myths—as a colour in divination, as a symbolic representation of capitalism, or even a kitsch sample from pop culture. The paradox between the immutability of gold and the shifting perceptions of its representation echoes the tensions in Hassabi’s practice—between subjects and objects, dance and sculpture, the live body and still images, the spectacular and the everyday.

The artist will be present in the exhibition for the first half of the exhibition period. A conversation with the artist will also take place in October; please stay tuned for further details.

Join our learning and experience programmes, designed for visitors of different backgrounds and needs. We hope to explore possibilities in the dialogue between art and visitors.

Due to the reflective flooring in parts of the exhibition, visitors who may be concerned about unwanted exposure should dress accordingly.
Note that no professional cameras, flash, or tripods are permitted in the exhibition. However, the artist welcomes the audience to take photos with their smartphones.