Performance art at WestK puts cultural relationships to the test

The new performance architecture exhibition Pollinator comes to Hong Kong for the first time at WestK harbourfront as part of the WestK FunFest 2025, creating a unique space for collaboration between local artists from different fields.

The Pollinator is co-created by American artists Alex Schweder and Ward Shelley. They have invited 18 local performance and visual artists to take turns living in the five tents that are connected by a giant wheel. The idea is to attract artists from different cultural backgrounds and to explore how architecture affects social connections, according to the poster at the exhibition.

During the artists’ residency, the only way to communicate or to move between the buildings is to use the giant wheel, which is entirely human-powered.

“The wheel is like a mixer that mixes us up together as a community,” said Ward Shelley, 75, one of the co-creators of Pollinator.

Each artist occupies one of the tents as a studio to display their creative process and final work. The first group of cohabitating artists comes from four fields: performance architecture, paper art, dance, and performance art.

“One of the rules in the community is that artists cannot come down from the buildings for the whole period, and artists are not allowed to rest in the building where they have their studios,” said Shelley. “The rules make us interact.” 

“We do not know each other and we all come from different countries, so we think differently, ” said Florence Lam, 33, a performance artist. 

“But because we are going to be sharing the space and interacting with each other, my ‘neighbours’ will be involved in what I am creating,” Lam added.

Ho Tung is a 27-year-old dancer. It is her first time participating in an outdoor performance art exhibition. “I often go to the ‘neighbours’ to talk to them,” she said. “Learning about their unique cultural backgrounds and experiences is very inspiring to me creatively.” 

Ho said her final dance show is inspired by Soilworm Lai, a papercraft designer involved with Pollinator, whose work is to use models to visualise the oppressive feeling of Hong Kong’s limited space.

Alex Schweder, 55, another co-creator of Pollinator, said that many international artists think similarly, but local artists possess a different perspective. 

Schweder said that local artists usually have a strong local flavour to their work, and the audience may find it easier to empathise with their work.

“The inclusion of local artists will make the local audience more willing to interact with the presenters,” said Schweder.

“The audience is an element of this performance that cannot be ignored,” said Schweder. “Communication between artist and audience is also a part of culture combination.”

Lisa Wan, 58, is a fashion designer. “I have known Alex and Ward's work before, and this is a good opportunity to talk with them face-to-face,” said Wan. “They have visualized the impact of architecture on people through this exhibition, and I think it's a unique way of doing it.”

At the exhibition, there is no introduction of each artist and their fields.

Anthony Fung, 28, a lawyer, noticed the exhibit while camping with friends on Harbourside East Lawn. “I was curious to know more about the deeper meaning of the exhibition,” he said.

“I was always afraid of disturbing their creation when I wanted to ask the artists, and I Was not sure if my understanding of the exhibition was accurate,” added Fung. 

The exhibition will be held from Mar.21 to Apr.21, and is free to the public from this Friday, on the east side of the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade.