Artist finally finds use for old mooncake boxes, builds huge pagoda

Artist finally finds use for old mooncake boxes, builds huge pagoda

Artist William Lim showcases his best installation work from the past 10 years at new exhibition in Hong Kong

By Zoe Li, Hong Kong Editor

When asked whether he had to consume all the mooncakes for all 600 tins to make the pagoda, Lim did not answer directly. There's a Chinese pagoda made out of 600 mooncake boxes currently on display in Hong Kong as part of William Lim's solo exhibition.

Mooncakes are the traditional food eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival when Chinese people celebrate the full moon, the harvest and family.

Lim's 4.5-meter tower is made from layers of plywood and empty tin boxes for mooncakes collected from a recycling program. It is held together by nothing but the tension of four steel cables

The pagoda is born out of Lim's triumvirate of passions: art, architecture and Hong Kong culture.

It's fun, simple and so Chinese.

"I don't feel that art is something that has to be very heavy or deep in meaning," said Lim. "The children's interpretation of my art is very natural, they feel it's very enjoyable and it's fun. That's how I like people to react."

That's what has made Lim one of Hong Kong's favorite artists.

The man behind design firm CL3 Architects and the co-chairman of Para/Site Art Space, Lim also represented Hong Kong at the Venice Biennale in 2010 and created a Guinness World Record for largest sculpture made of lanterns in 2011.

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The current exhibition "Space Journey: William Lim, A Decade of Installations" showcases Lim's best works and is on until September 2 at ArtisTree.

Although not all of Lim's gigantic works could be recreated for this show -- "Lantern Wonderland 2011" is a 37-meter-long fish sculpture made of lanterns -- there are some great documentaries on the construction process for large scale works.

The actual mooncake pagoda is on display though, as well as Lim's signature installations "Illegal Entry," "Drifting Pavilion" and "Elastic Streetscape."

"Space Journey: William Lim, A Decade of Installations" until September 2. Free admission. ArtisTree, 1/F Cornwall House, TaiKoo Place, Island East, Hong Kong; +852 2844 5095; www.islandeast.com

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"Elastic Streetscape" was created for the 2010 Venice Biennale. The installation involves a video of the North Point tram running through Chun Yeung Street wet market.

House of mirrors: "Illegal Entry" is a long enclosed corridor lined with mirrors and construction lights. Visitors can walk through it at the exhibition now at ArtisTree."Lantern Wonderland 2011" set the Guinness World Record for largest sculpture made of lanterns. The fish-shaped sculpture used more than one thousand traditional Chinese lanterns and measured 37 meters long, 9.6 meters wide and 13 meters tall."Route D" was created for design festival Detour 2009. The stunning red bamboo bridge can hold six people at a time, but authorities did not allow festival-goers to use it.

After traveling around the world on a fistful of dollars, Zoe returns to Hong Kong, where she grew up, to discover and write about all the inspiring stuff that happens here on a daily basis.

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