Here we are, China, Hong Kong, and you're still trying to save the world.

Vintage magazine, steel wire, laser-engraved acrylic sheet, aluminium tube, 34 x 28 x 6 cm, 2018

The cover story of this “Hong Kong Under the Gun” issue (Jul 31, 1967) of Newsweek magazine opens with a remark that “…many of the rich and the middle class have had their airline tickets bought and paid for months, or even years.” With a simple contraption that invites the viewer’s pulling, the magazine cover moves by flapping its wings against the air, as if able to fly away from its surroundings.

The work title comes from Charlie Chaplin’s film A Countess From Hong Kong (1967), it is a line addressed to US diplomat Ogden Mears (Marlon Brando) by his friend upon their arrival in Hong Kong.