All That is Solid
White cement
55 × 55 × 28 cm
2024--2025
凝固在空氣之中
白水泥
55 × 55 × 28 cm
2024--2025
All That is Solid represents the negative space of a shrine dedicated to Tudi Gong, the god of earth, cast in white cement.
Tudi Gong is an important figure in Chinese folk religion and is widely worshipped as the guardian of villages and residences. Small, house-shaped shrines dedicated to Tudi Gong are traditionally placed at the entrances of villages and residences, serving as a symbol of protection and blessings.
This series of artwork was exhibited in Memory Smuggler: A First Quartet at To Art House, Hong Kong. In this exhibition, Chu adopts quasi-archaeological methods to explore the settlements and abandoned ruins in the hills of Fo Tan. The absence of the guardian of residences—symbolized by the negative space of the shrine—reflects the fading presence of the once vibrant culture of the Fo Tan neighborhood, now forgotten in the wilderness.
Related exhibition 相關展覽
2025 "Memory Smuggler", To Art House, Hong Kong 《九仞》，嚮渡藝術，香港
Press coverage 相關報導
2025 盧真瑜、韓祺疇，〈【九仞展覽詩輯】每一座倖存的山，如何僥倖地認知自身〉，虛詞，2025年7月26日。 (Lo Chun Yu, Hon Ki Chau, "【Memory Smuggler Poetry Seriesre】How can each surviving mountain, by some chance, come to recognize itself", p-articles, 26 July 2025.) (Chinese only)
Image 1--3: Photos by Wong Pak Hang and commissioned by To Art House. Image 4: Photo by Steam Fan. Courtesy of Panda Chow Studio.