Alicja Kwade /
Pretopia /
Jan 10 – Apr 6, 2025 /
Tai Kwun Contemporary
10 Hollywood Road
Central, Hong Kong
Tu – Su, 11am – 7pm
Tai Kwun Contemporary proudly presents renowned contemporary artist Alicja Kwade’s inaugural solo exhibition in Hong Kong. Alicja Kwade: Pretopia showcases nine works that spanning different periods of the artist’s career, together with newly commissioned installations tailored to the history and architecture of Tai Kwun’s F Hall. Blending various mediums, including sculpture, sound, light, and performative installation, Kwade draws inspiration from abstract scientific and philosophical concepts, posing questions about reality and social structures. Alicja Kwade: Pretopia is on view from 10 January to 6 April 2025 as part of Tai Kwun Contemporary’s new Breakthrough series. Additionally, Kwade’s first site-specific public art in Hong Kong, Waiting Pavilions, is now on view. The work transforms the landscape of the Prison Yard, investigating the passage of time in the setting of a former prison, bridging the past and present within this landmark heritage site. The work was unveiled on December 20, 2024, and will remain on display through the second half of 2026.
Artist Alicja Kwade (born in Katowice, Poland, and currently based in Berlin), is one of her generation’s leading contemporary artists. Leveraging her expansive experience in outdoor public sculptures and installations, Kwade has crafted a perceptually extraordinary multiverse at Tai Kwun called Pretopia, a conceptual state preceding utopia. We see a clock turning in reverse, rocks floating in orbit, an anti-fragile chair, and clock hands faintly shifting its visibility with time. The exhibition offers a sensory experience in a sculptural environment that intertwines reality and illusion. It invites the audience to contemplate and reflect on their perception of time, space, systems, and the world.
Alicja Kwade: Pretopia is part of Tai Kwun Contemporary’s new Breakthrough series, which underlines emerging artistic positions through solo presentations, commissions, and innovative formats. For Spring 2025, Alicja Kwade: Pretopia is presented alongside Hu Xiaoyuan: Veering and Maeve Brennan: Records. These solo exhibitions by three female artists explore materials and storytelling through diverse approaches.
During the exhibition, Tai Kwun Contemporary will host a series of diverse public and education programmes, including Family Day at Tai Kwun Contemporary and Teacher’s Morning! and Teacher’s Workshop offering insights into the artists’ exploration of material and narrative. Guided Tour: Who’s Next? invites docents to share their perspectives on the artist’s creative process, techniques, and sources of inspiration with the audience.