Michael Lin, Untitled, 2010. Deutsche Bank Collection. © Michael Lin/Eslite Gallery, Taipei 2010
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MeeNa Park, From 8 Austin Road to 1 Austin Road West, 2010. Deutsche Bank Collection. © MeeNa Park, Seoul 2010
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Chow Chun Fai, Rides on a Solitary Journey, 2008. Deutsche Bank Collection. © Chow Chun Fai, Hong Kong 2010
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Yuan Shun, A Hundred Million Years Landscape No. 2, 2007/2008. Deutsche Bank Collection. © Yuan Shun, Beijing
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In fall 2010, Deutsche Bank moved into the the International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong’s tallest building. The bank’s new offices in will be inaugurated on the February 18. Situated at the tip of the Jiulong Peninsula, the ICC Tower is an elegant 484-meter-high skyscraper with a spectacular view of the city. The great variety in the environment around the ICC has influenced the art installation in the new headquarters: the skyline of a booming metropolis amid a landscape of mountains, sea, and sky—a dramatic interplay of city and nature—inspired the curators to choose the theme Urban Utopia. The presentation brings together works by 40 artists from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, established as well as young and aspiring - like Cao Fei, Zhao Liang or MAP Office. Using a mixture of contemporary and traditional media ranging from computer animation to drawings reminiscent of calligraphy, they express their views on the many different realities of life in the new millennium. More than 70 new acquisitions are augmented by works of European artists such as Franz Ackermann, Katharina Grosse, and Jörg Herold, engaging a dialogue across continents.
Site-specific commissioned works emphasize important themes in the ICC Tower. Michael Lin’s monumental painting in the stairwell, for instance, invokes the natural world through floral patterns. These "petal landscapes", a meld of traditional décor and Pop art have become Lin’s trademark; they give public spaces the intimacy and comfort of home and allude to traditional décor. The sculptural vessels of Anothermountainman and Jakie Leung are linked to a historic technique, porcelain manufacture. Just as Lin reacted to the architecture of the Hong Kong branch, Chow Chun Fai, Kum Chi Keung, MeeNa Park, and Tsang Kin-Wah have conceived site-specific works that now render the spaces at Deutsche Bank unmistakable.
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