The exhibition “Hand in Hand into Havoc” draws together elements and works related to “Lykke Til,” the artist’s recently completed narrative short film, which examines life’s unforeseen challenges through the eyes of a Hong Kongese migrant living in Norway.
At the center of the exhibition, a music video excerpted from a key moment in the film, loops on a monitor (Live Show of “Our Story with Hemorrhoid,” 2024). In it a singer—a standin for Ann, the protagonist—sings of personal suffering and trauma turned into a collective, shared experience through her family’s treatment and removal of hemorrhoids. Disconnected from the film, the dreamlike and psychedelic visual and
auditory styling of this scene is amplified, inviting audiences to engage intimately with the complexities of identity and belonging in a foreign land.
Nearby, a wall-based work made of pulverised crystal resembling a screen depicts an empty set from the film’s script. (Hand in Hand into Havoc, 2024). Together with the fact that the film itself is not shown beyond a short excerpt this offers deeper insights into the protagonist’s experiences and the thematic currents of the exhibition.
At the other end of the gallery a series of digital prints on porcelain tiles inspired by Hong Kongese memorial placards (瓷像) — ceramic tiles with portraits of the departed left at graves by loved ones of the deceased, showcases key visual elements from the production of “Lykke Til” underscoring the artist’s interest in the potential for filmmaking to build intimate relationships and collective practices and the importance of the cast and crew behind the scenes. These artworks, which capture moments of intense personal and cultural reflection, present a unique blend of cinematic aesthetics with visual art practices. The materials selected to hold this photography—porcelain tiles and porcelain crystal—are deeply rooted in familial traditions from the artist’s hometown. These materials are traditionally used to preserve images from life’s most cherished family occasions, echoing the personal and cultural narratives explored in the exhibition.
The final element in the exhibition, an untitled prop from the music video that resembles a hemorrhoid appears in lonely isolation on a wall opposite the monitor.
Not presented in the exhibition, the film “Lykke Til,” centers on 26-year-old Ann who confronts a cascade of personal crisis while living in Oslo, Norway. Living with her partner Dag in a crumbling apartment, their relationship teeters on the brink as winter brings an unexpected pregnancy and familial tensions to the fore. This story, rich in cultural contrasts and existential dilemmas, underscores the exhibition’s exploration of human emotion and the quest for a place to call home. While presented with the stark loneliness and reality of being a foreigner Ann wrestles simultanteously with complex decision making related to unhealthy relationships reproduction, family planning and medical intervention.
Bobby Yu Shuk Pui’s “Hand in Hand into Havoc” not only narrates a story of personal struggle and cultural intersection but also celebrates the collaborative spirit of artists and filmmakers from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Norway, amongst other places. This cross-disciplinary effort highlights the potential for empathy and solidarity across diverse cultural backgrounds, offering a poignant commentary on the human condition.
“Hand in Hand into Havoc” is on view at VI, VII from April 19 through June 29, 2024.
On Bjørvika Art Night, Friday April 26th, the film “Lykke Til” will be screened in its entirety starting at 6:30pm. At 7:30pm we will host an Art Talk with Bobby Yu Shuk Pui in conversation with curator Steffen Håndlykken, followed by a live performance by composer Wei Ting Zeng at 8pm. Zeng wrote the score for “Lykke Til” and will perform the film’s soundtrack live. This live performance is pivotal in creating an immersive narrative environment, setting a profoundly emotional tone that harmonizes with the film’s themes.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Bobby Yu Shuk Pui is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Hong Kong and Oslo.
Bobby’s practice is focused on building intimate relationships and collaborations, where physical, tangible and affective phenomena associated with body politics and the future are created by the media of video, text, installation, sculpture, and performance.
Previous projects by the artist have focused on building intimate relationships and collaborations, where physical, tangible and affective phenomena associated with body politics and the future are created—others have explored speculative fiction within the themes of human genetic engineering to refigure perceptions towards gender, body and historical discourses of identity. In recent years, she has started to explore video making with different communities as a means of exploring identity construction in various cultural contexts and collective aspects. Through intertwining semi-fictional narratives, she explores memory and experiences of identification.
Bobby received a BA from Hong Kong Baptist University and an MFA from Oslo National Academy of Fine Art in 2021.
Previously her work has been included in exhibitions at Kunstnernes Hus, K4, and Podium—all three spaces in Oslo. Her work has also been presented at Parasite, Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences and numerous film festivals.
In 2023 she won Best Director at the 17th Freshwave Film Festival in Hong Kong.
This summer she will be included in a group exhibition with Situations, New York. In 2025 she is scheduled to have solo exhibitions at UKS, Oslo and Open Source gallery, New York.
