Hong Kong art installation organiser and creator clash over ‘very ugly’ pieces
- Artist Joann says ‘Inflatable Wonders’ exhibition inspired by her resembles ‘inflatable graveyard’, but organiser vows to press on
The team behind a Hong Kong art installation mocked by some online users has said it will press ahead with the exhibition despite the artist who inspired the inflatable works saying she wanted the “very ugly” pieces to be removed.
Armenian artist Joann, who uses the handle @joooo.an on social media, on Saturday said the “Inflatable Wonders” exhibition was “very ugly”, “not well proportionated” and looked “like an inflatable graveyard”.
“They also did not send me anything for approval, before the exhibition [started],” she told local media. “I don’t like that they launched it without showing the works to me before launching it.”
The installation, which features five large-scale inflatable replicas of world-famous landmarks originally created using artificial intelligence by Joann, is part of “SummerFest@Central”, which runs July 5 to August 11.
The landmarks included the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, Stonehenge in England and the Tower of Pisa in Italy.
But they quickly triggered online criticism, with some social media users saying they looked like tombstones erected by the Central harbourfront.