Sculpture with figures in yellow raincoats will not be reinstalled ‘in situ' after repair, Hong Kong gov't says
Ju's sculpture 'Lining Up' featured 10 figures standing in a line. Some wore black suits, two were in yellow raincoats, and one woman stood in pink holding a yellow umbrella. It was installed outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui in 2017.
The artwork was removed in June after being covered by hoarding boards, sparking censorship concerns online. The government said at the time the piece was 'under repair.'
Locally, yellow is associated with pro-democracy movements, particularly yellow umbrellas. During the 2019 protests and unrest, a demonstrator wearing a yellow raincoat died after falling from a platform outside a mall – yellow raincoats subsequently became a protest symbol.
An HKFP reporter on Monday saw that the hoarding boards had been removed, leaving a white mark on the ground where the sculpture used to be. A few steps away, figures of Xi Yang Yang and Le Rong Rong, mascots for the upcoming National Games and other sports events, stood on display.
In response to HKFP's enquiries, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) said that 'the restoration has been completed' and that the artwork 'is now in [the] LCSD's collection storage.'
It also said: 'As the sculpture concerned had been on display at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza (the Piazza) for many years since 2017, it would not be reinstalled in situ.'
The LCSD did not reply to HKFP's question of whether the artwork would be displayed elsewhere.
The Chinese white dolphin-inspired mascots Xi Yang Yang and Le Rong Rong are currently exhibited outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre to promote the 15th National Games, as well as the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the 9th National Special Olympic Games, the department added.
The LCSD 'reviews its public art installations from time to time,' the department said.
Created by the late Ju in 2002, Lining Up is part of his Living World series. The LCSD hosted an exhibition of artworks from the series at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in 2014 – three years before Lining Up was displayed outside the centre.
In a Facebook post published in 2017, the Art Promotion Office under the LCSD invited members of the public to take photos with the artwork.
'Painted with vibrant colours, ten figures with different poses, clothes and body shapes are lining up casually… the queuing figures are expressively sculpted to large blocks with rough edges, which present a vivid depiction of people's contemporary life,' the post read. 'Among the figures, the one who wears a cap is actually the representation of Ju Ming himself!'
The artwork was covered with the hoarding boards, which bore a photo of the sculpture. However, the two figures in yellow raincoats in the image were obscured by a notice, informing people that a reinforcement project was underway, with the yellow umbrella barely visible.
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