23/5/26

Conceived between Italy and Hong Kong — where languages, histories, and governing systems diverge — our exhibition proposes the concept of play as a shared, subversive alphabet. When speech is mistranslated, restricted, or simply fails, the artists here turn to games, glitches, and improvised rules to articulate what cannot be said.

The title ‘Imagine a Dead Blue Whale Inside the Pocket of a Giant’ is drawn from a poetic installation by Roberto Fassone, which consists of ninety pages of texts describing imaginary scenarios ranging from absurd to poignant, frozen in flight throughout the space. The phrase conjures an impossible scale and absurdist humour, creating, much like the exhibition itself, a space for mixed feelings: a pocket of time where the frightening, the funny, and the uncertain can coexist with curiosity and wonder. Approaching play from diverse perspectives, the artworks on view trace convergences between artistic, poetic, and ludic practices in their shared capacity to imagine alternative worlds. Within these worlds, prevailing rules are temporarily suspended, roles dissolve, and hierarchies are reconfigured according to different logics.

Play, in this context, is neither innocent nor trivial. It becomes a strategic act: a way of hacking systems, subverting rules, and reimagining power. The artists repurpose the logic of games, algorithms, and social structures, transforming tools of control into spaces of resistance. Situated between childlike curiosity and conformity, between docility and insubordination, play emerges as a magical gesture—one through which the tamed body can become an agent of both disorder and reorder.



The event is part of Giulia Pollicita’s research project “Italy–Hong Kong Express” granted by the Italian Council program (14th edition, 2025) and promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture. The exhibition received the support of the Italian Cultural Institute in Hong Kong, the Canadian Embassy in Hong Kong, and Stroom Den Haag.