Tai Kwun Contemporary’s latest public art commission, Waiting Pavilions, investigates the passage of time in the setting of a former prison, the Victoria Gaol. Created by the acclaimed Polish artist Alicja Kwade—known for using everyday materials to ask questions about existing realities and social structures—Waiting Pavilions are the artist’s first site-specific installation in Hong Kong, bridging the past and present on Tai Kwun’s Prison Yard.

With glass, metal, and stone, Kwade reimagines the waiting experience in a contemporary context. Six prison-like structures, built with glass bricks, dot the Prison Yard. The transparency of the bricks alludes to the unseen confines of modern life. The numerous white chairs nearby, each holding up a sizable stone, may also allow viewers to think of how the external environment is connected to our inner worlds. In a way, Waiting Pavilions points to how reality often transcends initial appearances.

This latest edition of Tai Kwun Contemporary’s public art commissions will on view from 20 December 2024 through to the second half of 2026.