Void
A collaboration between Blank Canvas and Hin Bus Depot
@ Exhibition Space, Hin Bus Depot (31A, Jalan Gurdwara)
Opening Hours:
Monday-Friday, 12pm-7pm
Saturday-Sunday, 11am-7pm
Exhibition Guide: Download Here
Cover Photo Credit: Thum Chia Chieh
Leong Kwong Yee, in conversation with Ivan Gabriel
15 March 2025 | Sat
8pm – 9.30pm
Join us for a sharing session with Leong Kwong Yee, collector and co-founder of Blank Canvas, and Ivan Gabriel, curator of Hin Bus Depot.
This session will offer an insight into Kwong Yee’s collecting journey, where he’ll share anecdotes into the artworks and their significance within his collection. The conversation will explore the context that VOID represents, whilst diving into the experiences that have shaped Kwong Yee’s vision as a collector.
While admission is free, please note that seats are limited. Register now to secure your spot via the link here.
Void x Ban Ban Kia: Sia Boey shop sign walk
15 March 2025 | Sat
8am – 9.30am
Gathering Point: Hin Bus Depot (31A, Jalan Gurdwara)
In conjunction with Void, the exhibition at Hin Bus Depot in collaboration with Blank Canvas, Ban Ban Kia will lead two special walking tours to tell the stories of the old shop signs of Penang before they disappear completely.
On March 15, participants will have the opportunity to explore Prangin Road and Sia Boey, uncovering the signs and stories of this busy market and trading area which once stood at the very edge of George Town and has continually evolved along with the city.
Join us as we slow down and rediscover these works of art hidden in plain view, the skilled artists who made them, and their memories of a disappearing Penang.
Registration Fee: RM30/pax
Registration Link: Click Here
Void is the first collaboration between Hin Bus Depot, a community creative hub, and Blank Canvas, an independent contemporary art platform, both based in Penang. The artworks in Void are drawn from the personal collection of Leong Kwong Yee, the founder of Blank Canvas.
It is said that nature abhors a vacuum; but is it always be possible to fill a gap? Some artworks in Void strain powerfully to claim victory over a void; other contemplate poignantly ways to acknowledge, even honour, absences which cannot be overcome.
These artworks span a spectrum of media and invoke different moods and responses. He An pays tribute to his father and his favourite Japanese actress through stealthily acquired neon signs. Trevor Yeung reminisces about an unrequited opportunity through still image and a plant installation. Joshua Serafin’s video work captures the emergence of a new deity to protect and champion a marginalized community. Jessica Kairé meditates on how a public monument can be remembered and maintained through interactive soft sculpture. Vunkwan Tam questions purpose and form through his readymades in the form of two stacked Ikea baby chairs. And Sidsel Meineche Hansen’s charming yet rather macabre tiny human-shaped bell performs its function only through its missing head.
Yet, while disparate in media, tone and scale, the artworks in Void do cohere in their contemplations of the different manifestations of a void, in turn physical, emotional, spiritual as well as metaphysical – a hole in our heart, a missed connection, a lapse in memory, a lacuna in knowledge, a dearth of being.
In exploring the concept(s) of void, the show serves also as a metaphor for the roles which Hin Bus Depot and Blank Canvas play within Penang. They are committed, in their own ways, to addressing the gaps each perceives in the art scene in Penang.