WAI IP


about me




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year

2025
2025
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2022
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2020
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2018
2016
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2015

selected artworks

quiet containment 
thisspaceintentionallyblank
timeless time
documented awareness with the lost one
Identity of an artwork
to ashes from ashes
Domestic Singularity
KARMA CYCLE
meditation/ walk/ lottery centre
FOREVER X CHANGE 永續找換店
Qingdao Lotus Pond
Daily Routine : Gymnastic Exercise
Pepper
3rd September, 2015
The Coming Society
                                                                                                                                                                                  

Wai Ip  (they/them) is a Hong Kong conceptual/performance artist currently based in London, whose work examines the impermanent nature of human experience.   As a migrant, they navigates the intricate ontological terrain that is sculpted by the relentless forces of vicinity performing upon us, including geographic dislocation, fluctuating political scenarios, and the swift pace of technological progress. Their artwork not only provokes deep introspection but also acts as a mirror reflecting the myriad challenges and necessary adaptations faced by the identity of artist in our rapidly transforming society. 

Wai’s artwork has been exhibited at galleries and art shows in New York, Hong Kong, Canada, France and across South East Asia. They is currently enrolled in the first year of MFA fine art at Goldsmiths, University of London.


identityofartist@gmail.com

full portfolio & cv upon request

all rights reserved
01.2025

quiet containment

stainless steel medical cabinet,  incense sticks

02.2025 - ongoing

thisspaceintentionallyblank

instagram account, social media posts, blankness
I started the project by opening an Instagram account, "thisspaceintentionallyblank," where blank posts are uploaded daily. Then, I log out of the account and try to engage as little as possible with my social media account.   Collaborator are invited to create the performative emptiness within their instagram account.  




03.2024 - ongoing

timeless time

collected thermal paper receipts, archival sleeves, washi tapes
Receipts are arranged in a chronological order, with each month of one receipt. Contents are forced to fade out, leaving only the date and time. Some heat mark of previous events remains but can hardly be traced. Archival sleeves are used to contain and preserve with washi tapes.
04.2024 - ongoingdocumented awareness with the lost one

thermal paper, heat transferred mark, archival sleeve  

This project begins with documenting moments in which I have any associated thoughts with the lost one before emotions emerge. Screenshots with displayed time are collected and listed out precisely in a second with Greenwich time. The performative numbers imply the arbitrariness of pre-emotion events. This will be an ongoing, close-to-life performance throughout my lifetime.

05.2022
idenity of an artwork

white conqueror paper/ scanned jpg copy/ non-fungible token minted on the ethereum chain


Artwork is the essence of the artist. In this piece, I am exploring the meaning of this essence through the self-definition and declaration of the identity of an artwork, by creating an artwork that is a Certificate of Authenticity in both its traditional physical form and a non-fungible digital form created with Non-fungible token (NFT) and Blockchain technologies.

There are 2 components to this artwork. First, the physical Certificate of Authenticity. This is inspired by the format of the birth certificate issued in Hong Kong, paying tribute to the location of the birth of this artwork. Its digital counterpart is the tokenized version of the physical Certificate of Authenticity in the form of an NFT that has no monetary value attached to it. I believe NFT technologies can be solely deployed for the declaration of one’s identity independent of any monetary consideration.

This artwork is signed by me, and my signature is witnessed by a legal professional in Hong Kong.

06.2021
to ashes from ashes

a mov file with 0 second looped
This video work is about the evolution of my chosen medium, from incense ashes in Cambodia to cigarette ashes in Hong Kong, which represents the continuum of my artistic expression—past, presence, and future. The versatility of ashes perfectly visualizes the ambiguity of my work and my belief in impermanence. The burning of incense and cigarette both capture the tracing of time, hope, and desire. One is a subjective and unconscious reflection of the Cambodian people, and the latter one is an objective and conscious projection of my own desire.


07.2020Domestic Singularity

archival inkjet print


The photo series presents a voyeuristic perspective of the home. The shooting is set in my home under quarantine of the COVID-19 epidemic. Through repositioning of furniture and objects in the home, and manipulating the lighting, I materialised the sense of conflict between the privacy of one’s home and the coldness of metallic objects captured in these photos, resulting in a desperate sense of isolation. My anxiety drives me to assume the role of the only and irrelevant voyeur in my home.
08.2019KARMA CYCLE

Single-channel video 3’58, performance documented by camera


Lifting, pushing, shoving, & running for the perfect BMI and body shapes—these rituals of modern-day masculinity building—while performed by a Qian Dan, portrayed by me for the first time in costume, a man who plays the female lead in Cantonese Opera, become struggles on a multitude of levels. Beach ball spinning is beach ball stuck, trapped in this aimless browsing of ambiguity of the virtual space; unknowingly stuck in this mistful post-catastrophic utopia. Resembling protests against all dichotomies of gender, geographies, and contradictions among different eras. Karma is a Sanskrit term for “action” that leads to inevitable results, both good and bad, that I experience in either this life or in reincarnation.
09.2019meditation/ walk/ lottery centre

site specific 4-channel videos installation/ performance documented by camera
The Thailand Lottery Centre is the largest secondary market for lottery tickets in the country. The semi-open structure, located in Bangkok’s periphery, is a place for intermediaries—those involved in the trade of fortune—as well as an intermediate space—halfway between speculation and superstition, materialist aspirations and spiritual beliefs.

Drawing on my research and site visits, as Tentacles artist-in-residence, I activate such intersections and the tensions they contain in my solo exhibition “(No) Ulterior Motives.” Built on differing rhythms, my site-specific video installation establishes a connection between the two locations: the Lottery Centre and the exhibition space. As lottery buyers paced around the marketplace with clear intent, searching for their lucky number combinations, I performed meditative walks that are seemingly detached from any particular goal. What ensues is a never-ending cycle—that of searching and finding, winning and losing. The question of finality preoccupies both me and the lottery buyers. What comes across as nonsensical may end up being more pragmatic than foreseen, and vice versa.

This residency and exhibition are supported by Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

10.2019FOREVER X CHANGE 永續找換店

LED signage/ double-channel video/ RMB coin/ performance documented by go pro


Sheung Shui, Hong Kong (SAR) ⇄ Lo Wu, Shenzhen (CN)
上水，香港特別行政區 ⇄ 羅湖，中國深圳市


07/01/2019 15:25:01 鴻運人民幣找換店
07/01/2019 16:12:35 深圳市星旺货币兑换有限公司
07/01/2019 16:41:09 第一國際資源有限公司
07/01/2019 17:39:04 深圳市星旺货币兑换有限公司
07/01/2019 18:20:11 泰昌人民幣找換行

The mutualistic relationship between China and Hong Kong is impermanent in nature. Our co-existence has proven our difference is much less significant than you would imagine, and even that is vanishing rapidly. In a small alley in the Yaumatei district of Hong Kong, under the neon signs of a Currency Exchange shop, I installed 2 vertical video displays showcasing 2 such shops where Chinese Yuan and Hong Kong Dollar exchange hands by those who cross the borders daily from both sides of the Lo Wu River. Hundreds of thousands of travellers cross the Hong Kong (HK) / Shenzhen (SZ) border every day. This daily ritual is so repetitive, it’s almost meditative. The interdependency of the two is rapidly grinding away their differences, as they merge into a unified identity of an unknown nature.



11.2018Qingdao Lotus Pond

Single-channel video 5’03, performance documented by camera


The lotus is the symbol of immortality in humanity, and divine perfection. The lotus is the attribute of sun and fire gods. The lotus's unfolding petals suggest the expansion of the soul. The growth of its pure beauty from the mud of its origin holds a benign spiritual promise. Yet it can be sold for a few dollars. In this ritual performance piece, I dress in a golden spandex suit, as a non-human figure enters the scene. This androgynous figure carries cans of Qingdao beer in a utility belt, while wondering in this pond of immorality and perfection, dousing cans after cans of Qingdao onto the lotuses, and the pond meant to irrigate and nourish everything in sight. Leaves of the lotus plant are ultra-hydrophobic by nature. No matter how hard I pour, it just won’t absorb even a drop of my offering of Qingdao. Yet, the Qingdao will eventually be absorbed by the roots as fertiliser.

The artwork is supported by Sa Sa Art Projects

12.2016Daily Routine : Gymnastic Execrise

single-channel video 9’35/ live performance documented by camera


This is a piece about the exploration of limitation. Limitation can be the frame of the canvas. Limitation can also be a mindset. Essentially, limitation can only exist in your own mind. This is a response to the performance of Bruce Nauman in Dance and Exercise on Perimeter of a Square. In this piece, I intend to experience limitation in an intimate way. In this experimental piece conducted live at Para Site in Hong Kong, I wear a skin-tight body suit while doing my daily gym routine. I stretch, I lift, I pull wearing this second skin. I struggle to complete, yet you can’t really see how much I sweat underneath the body suit. The body suit is the physical manifestation of detachment. This layer of second skin provides me with a full-body experience of isolation from the outside.

The artwork is supported by Parasite Art Space


13.2016Pepper

single-channel video 0’27/ performance documented by camera


Pepper spray derived from essence of pepper is the most common form of restrain used by the police for crowd control. When grounded pepper, a key component of pepper spray, is sprinkled from the window of my apartment, it blows with the wind onto the sidewalk. In such occasions, pepper in the air fails to raise any eyebrow from the pedestrians. When confronted by the oppressors, I can’t help but feel the right and privilege I am born with being stripped away.


14.20153rd September, 2015

single-channel video 26’07,  live performance documented by video, artist’s facebook page, digital photographs


It’s been over 20 years since the handover of Hong Kong from British colonial rule to China. Yet, colonial impact on name of road in Hong Kong is still very much intact. In this piece, I chose 4 streets in Hong Kong because they are named after four provinces in China. On 3rd of September, the 70th anniversary day of the victory of the Chinese people’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression, I photoshopped the names of those streets from traditional Chinese to simplified Chinese. The audience is then invited to share this on social networks, to help spread this piece of “fake news.” As images of these changes were shared online, conflicting emotions were provoked, and stability of the system was challenged. This showcases how powerless I feel in this new reality, especially when sharing of info is accelerated.



15.2015The Coming Society

site-specific pop up store, sex joss paper products, live performance


The Chinese believe to honour those who pass away, you need to regularly offer paper-crafted carnal goods to the deceased by burning these duplicates of worldly objects made with paper, as these are supposed to be able to fulfil all their needs. As filial needs can be carnal in nature, to keep the deceased satisfied, I need to figure out a way to fulfil the needs of all these horny ghosts. To do that, I recreated dildos, sex toys, porn sites, and even WiFi service passes with the help of a traditionally trained filial paper craft master. In the performance, only half of the offerings are actually burned. At best, that would only satisfy half of their lust. The status quo is to not challenge anything, no matter how absurd the practice is. I would expect to be liberated from all these taboos created as a means of control, even after I pass away. To unshackle from this never-ending control, I need to exterminate this chain around my neck—virtual or filial.