The Art of Occupy Central

  8-10-14

This past week has been a pivotal week for artists in Hong Kong. Their work is being celebrated like no other time in HK and for the first time public art and street art have dominated the scene. It was stated earlier this week that the Lennon Wall was posted and liked on Instagram over 5,000 times since its creation! Here's some of the photos we've taken of the art of Occupy Central over the past week. Please enjoy and feel free to share them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We know it's a little sad to think about things like this, but we're working on a plan to preserve the art of Occupy Central once the protests end. We're emailing museums/art galleries/art foundations in Hong Kong to help us preserve them. Many of the pieces are very large in scale, so they will be difficult to find homes for and many of the people we've contacted in the past couple of days haven't been open to taking the pieces due to their political nature.

 

 

We're most concerned about the preservation of three works:

 

1)The Lennon Wall

 

2) The Umbrella Man
Created by: Milk

 

3) The Umbrella Bauhinia
Created by: the students of City University

 

 

We are working with several artists on location at Occupy to keep updated with what is happening on the ground; to make sure these pieces don't end up in the trash. They are important from an Art History perspective for Hong Kong and it's important that we archive them for future generations to see. It is also important to note we don't want them sold for profit but rather stored or displayed for historical purposes. 

 

 

How can you help?

 

Share this article. Like it. Tweet it. Pin it. Whatever it. If you know somebody who might be able to help us- leave a comment or send us an email. It would be heartbreaking to see these beautiful pieces of art end up in the garbage simply because of lack of storage space. Let's work together to make sure that doesn't happen!

 

We'll also be collaborating with a gallery in the future for a photo exhibit on the art of Occupy Central. Please take plenty of photos and keep your originals. Proper historical preservation of moments like these in Art History is incredibly important. 

 

UPDATE (THURSDAY, 6:30PM)
A home has been confirmed for these three pieces at the storage facility of a private collector/art dealer in Hong Kong. They will never be sold for profit. We plan to set up an NGO to keep the art safe and sound. They will also be working with us to help archive the art. We are in need of transport options to move these pieces. We have one truck lined up but will most likely need more than one. Let us know if you have any ideas! The power of the internet is a beautiful thing...

 

To keep updated with all the latest information on the protests go on twitter and check out hashtags: occupycentral, occupyhongkong, umhk and umbrellarevolution.

 

*All photos in this story are property of @mmcgurgan unless stated. Feel free to share on all social media platforms!

 

 


Comments

  • Leo Weese
    08 October 2014

    Great project, I will certainly share it. Do you also plan to just accumulate pictures of the art on your page? There is so much, banners, posters, sculptures, stickers, graffiti and else. I'm sure I still havn't seen it all, and I believe everyone should have access to it.

  • Meaghan
    08 October 2014

    Hi Leo! I would love to save as much of it as we can. Some of the things like the chalk art and graffiti aren't possible to physically save but if we could get a storage space I think an exhibit that also displays the banners and Graphic Design would be amazing. We gotta find space for it though... That's the key

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