As part of its curatorial projects, Edouard Malingue Gallery is pleased to present "Clamour Can Melt Gold", a group exhibition that addresses the representation, cultural value and economy around the extraction of gold. It brings together works by Marcel Broodthaers, He Xiangyu, Alfredo Jaar, Regina Jose Galindo, Kwan Sheung Chi & Wong Wai Yin, Sarah Lai, Prabhakar Pachpute, Danh Vo, School of Zanabazar. The exhibition is curated by Inti Guerrero.

Gold has had an almost universal presence in the history of most societies as a symbol of wealth. It has also been regarded as one of the most trusted types of currencies, generally considered to be lacking the risks associated with paper money and other abstract currencies. In China and Hong Kong, gold has been a key element of traditional culture, its colour and symbols being widely represented as general signs of prosperity and good fortune. The major current market of golden jewellery in Hong Kong, catering increasingly to shoppers from the expanding Mainland Chinese middle class, is significant enough to influence general economic parameters, as seen in recent years.

The title of the show translates a Chinese idiom: 眾口鑠金. Having a moral dimension, it can be rendered as ‘clamour can melt gold,’ meaning that the voices of many people can confuse right with wrong. Legend has it that Sun Yat-sen used it regarding something being struck down by the majority. The exhibition presents two overlapping narratives. One addresses the gold market and the social representation of the value of gold. The other confronts the audience with the social complexities in the geographies related to the extraction of gold. The violence and inequalities associated with gold mining are often forgotten or overlooked in the markets of its consumption.

For the exhibition, Sarah Lai (b. 1983, Hong Kong) produced a new commission responding to the choreographed politics of representation in high-end jewellery advertisements. Her observations on the relationship between depicted object and gesture, flesh out centuries-old notions of value and the anxieties of consumption in today’s democratization of luxury. Shown closely to her work is an authentic late 17th century Mongolian sculpture from the School of Zanabazar. The golden figure is characteristic of a style depicting various Buddhist subjects, which has been highlighted by art historians as showing a high degree of individual artistry. It has contributed to the domestic adoration of golden statues and to the proliferation of Buddhism.

About the exhibition

Dates: Aug 7, 2015 - Sep 11, 2015

Opening: Aug 6, 2015, 18:00, Thursday

Venue: Edouard Malingue Gallery

Curator: Inti Guerrero

Artists: Marcel Broodthaers, He Xiangyu, Alfredo Jaar, Regina Jose Galindo, KWAN Sheung Chi + WONG Wai Yin, Lai Sarah, Prabhakar Pachpute, School of Zanabazar, Danh Vo

Courtesy of the artists and Edouard Malingue Gallery.