Ho Rui An, “Lining”, screening and discussion with Tang Han

Artist and writer Ho Rui An will screen his film Lining (2021) which examines the rise and decline of the textile industry in Hong Kong against the historical shifts in labour, technology and capital taking place between the then-British colony and mainland China between 1946 and 1997. Weaving together archival material, interviews with former factory workers and managers and observational footage shot between Hong Kong and Guangdong, the film describes the transformation of Hong Kong from an industrial to a real-estate-centred financial hub while tracing the material networks that have connected the city to the mainland long before the official launch of China’s economic reforms.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Berlin-based visual artist Tang Han. The conversation will explore questions around the relationship between politics and technology in relation to textile production as well as the different forms of maintenance work performed by workers within the gendered division of labour in a textile mill.

The film has been commissioned by CHAT (Centre for Heritage Arts and Textile). The event at Pickle Bar is planned in collaboration with CHAT within the framework of their current exhibition Clouds, Power and Ornament – Roving Central Asia, co-curated by Slavs and Tatars, You Mi and Alexandra Tsay per invitation by CHAT curator Wang Weiwei.