ZEITGEIST Hong Kong series
Halfbread Club: Would you be willing to give half of what you have to the next artist?
Fri, 21.03.2025 -
Sat, 29.03.2025
Goethe-Gallery & Black Box Studio
A VIP Programme of Art Basel Hong Kong 2025
Co-organised by Goethe-Institut Hongkong and SOMEHOW
When resources and space become increasingly limited, what can artists do, and how should we possibly act and react toward each other? Halfbread Club invites artists to share half of their resources with one another. The collective SOMEHOW will share half of Goethe-Institut's 190m² gallery and black box space, along with a budget of $8000 from "ZEITGEIST Hong Kong series" with the next artist. The next artist will then share half of their resources with another artist, based on their own discretion, and this will continue until there is no more space left… Any form of creation is welcome! SOMEHOW applies the halfbread-technique* to radically share space and resources with other artists, examining the value of art and togetherness in times like these.
Progress Update on 20.03.2025 "Halfbread Club: Are you willing to give half of what you have to the next artist?" Ready to kick-off!
After experiencing the Halfbread Assembly on March 10th alongside approximately twenty publicly recruited artists, some artists successfully acquired half of SOMEHOW's venue and resources through Halfbread-technique. This process also sparked concepts and creations born from mutual collaboration. SOMEHOW has divided its 190 square meters of space and resources into eight progressively smaller units, with each unit (temporarily) planned as follows:
Unit One (95m²) SOMEHOW will transform the Goethe Gallery and Black Box Studio into the "Halfbread Club Club House" from March 21st to 29th. This space will be open to the public, artists, and performers for live creation, interaction, or relaxation. It will also showcase works responding to the Halfbread concept, records of the creative process, or traces of thought.
Unit Two (47.5m²) Good Night Gym will display practice tools and everyday objects, drawing on the abstract concept of Kalis, the Filipino magic wand, to explore alternative uses for items. A workshop is scheduled for March 29th at 4pm, led by a Kalis coach. Participants will learn introductory skills and basic exercises, exploring everyday items while preparing to face unknown challenges. For details or to register, visit IG @goodnightgym.
Unit Three (24m²)
This unit will feature an on-site installation, zines-making, and online sequencing sessions. The three founders of Phoboko will invite Halfbread Club artists to submit photos of works created between March 21st and 29th. These will be compiled into a collaborative photo zine. Each work will have two copies: one retained in the zine, and the other shared with viewers. Viewers are invited to respond with a photo—taken using a camera provided by Phoboko—to the piece they take. Phoboko will print these responses and add them to the zine. By the end of the Halfbread Club event at Goethe, the zine will combine the artists’ creations with viewers’ responses, serving as a documentation of the project. The photo sequencing sessions will be held March 24th at 3 - 4pm and March 29th at 2 - 3pm, public participation is welcome.
Unit Four (12m²)
"At this stage, my two daughters have no choice but to share their lives with me, and almost all of my time, resources, and emotions unavoidably must be shared with them. Now that they are seven and five years old, they’ve reached an age where I can no longer casually film them and share the footage publicly. So this time, I’m using the $500 and 12m² I received to exchange for the chance to record and publicly broadcast our lives with their consent. The money and space are theirs to share and use as they wish, while I film and document from the sidelines." — Chow Yik Lam
Chow Yik Lam’s eldest daughter, Mimi, plans an on-site dance performance (time TBD), and there will be video playback (subject to updates during the period).
Unit Five (6m²) Sin Wah Lai aims to transform the story of a "failed artist" from the Halfbread Assembly into "energy bars" for the public to taste on-site (time TBD). [Update from Sin Wah Lai at midnight of March 20th] The artist became an official invited artist to collaborate with her, and his name is Tong Kwok Kwan (Twist4U).
Unit Six (3m²) Wong King Yu will explore "boundaries" as a starting point, reflecting on how to establish and dissolve them while addressing the theme of "home" and its fluidity and fragility. The artist will create a fluid installation on-site during the afternoons of March 24th and 25th.
Unit Seven (1.5m²) Kobe Ko will document the space’s use through chalk drawings, serving as a side note for the project. Drawing begins on March 21st at 3:30pm, with additional recordings at irregular intervals. Kobe will share the unit with artist Jeremy Ip. Regardless of physical resources, Jeremy will jointly consume time as an artistic resource, skimming works and processing them in reverse with participants, to create a simultaneous viewing connection that activates both parties right now right here.
Unit Eight (1m²)
Shared by four artists:
Wong Chin Man will use paintings to explore the voluntariness of "sharing" and reflect on its essence.
Kevin Ling will establish the "Sharp Triangle Social Club" within the Halfbread Club, recruiting collaborators via IG. This experiment invites people to imagine the possibilities of this 1m² sharp triangular space. Events include: "Can we fold a paper more than 7 times?" led by Kevin Ling on March 21st at 3:30pm, and Knit&Bread - Wearable exchange experiment with Tina Yeung on March 22nd, 2:30pm–4:00pm. For details or collaboration, DM @Kevin0ing on IG.
Tsang Wing Fai will conduct Movement Research, welcoming public participation in free writing or body movement in following time slots:
- March 24th, 4:00pm–6:00pm
- March 25th, 12:00pm–2:00pm
- March 26th, 2:00pm–4:00pm
- March 27th, 3:00pm–5:00pm
- March 28th, 2:00pm–4:00pm
SPY views the Halfbread Club’s "diminishing geometric distribution" as a reflection of "Fractal" in mathematics, exploring the deep connection between math and art. SPY will express this concept vividly through works, blending mathematical structure with artistic aesthetics for a cross-disciplinary dialogue.
More updates will be released soon—follow @somehow.hongkong on Instagram for the latest news and occasional on-site IG Lives!
21/3/2025 (Fri) 2:00 PM
Halfbread Club Kick-off
Welcome to visit us after the Kick-off during the opening hours:
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM (Mon - Fri), 9:30 AM - 6:30 PM (Sat), Closed on Sundays
27/3/2025 (Thu) 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Halfbread Club Sharing
Accompany by Jeff Leung
*The Halfbread-technique was originated by Swiss artist Martin Schick who performed "Low Budget Performance Series: Halfbreadtechnique" at the Hong Kong Arts Centre during Art Basel in 2016.
Halfbread Club Initiator:
SOMEHOW - a meeting point between art, culture and community.
To make people's connections with themselves, their communities and the world more gentle yet resilient somehow.
