One of London’s most famous plants has been replicated in the Para Site contemporary art center by Hong Kong artist Trevor Yeung. His new solo show, Soft breath, recreates an episode of the so-called “fuck tree” that lives in a secluded part of Hampstead Heath. The oak’s roots grow at an angle that places its trunk close to the ground, allowing one, two or more people to lean over it. Human intervention has also shaped the tree: the heather lovers rub it so often that parts of the bark are smoothed.
“This tree is the physical embodiment of desire, the most enigmatic feeling. It’s a monument to human interaction,” says Yeung. He compares the surface of the tree to the stone steps of ancient temples, worn and polished by the feet of worshipers over the centuries. Indeed, the tree has achieved totemic status among London’s queer community as a destination for gay cruises.
Yeung’s installation not only attempts to recreate the tree, but also the bodily experience of its environment. The soap used to shape the tree has an “earthy” scent: a combination of musk, earth and wood. “Smell is very important when sailing at night,” says the artist. “You can’t see, so your other senses are heightened.”
by Trevor Yeung Night mushroom colon (2024), on display at the Venice Biennale until November 24 © Trevor Yeung Photography © South Ho commissioned by M+, 2024
It relates Soft breath to the wider interest of decoding systems. “I’m fascinated by the unspoken rules of gay cruising culture: what you can say and do; how people move in space.’ Yeung doesn’t shy away from the carnal associations of the tree, but his show is about more than crossing. Or rather, it’s a show about cruising in its entirety—from motivations to execution and consequences—that takes into account the charged web of social and sexual relations through which these actions take place.
The Para Site exhibition reconfigures Yeung’s project soft ground, presented last year at London’s Gasworks space, to a Hong Kong audience. Here he includes references to Lam Tsuen Wishing Trees, a shrine in the city’s New Territories, where people throw oranges with wishes written on red incense paper and try to land them on the branches. “They are both trees that physically affect the desires of the users,” says Yeung.
Onward to Venice
Themes of social codes and relationships appear in a different guise in Yeung’s next exhibition depicting Hong Kong, opening on April 20 at the Venice Biennale. Commissioned by the M+ Museum and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, in 2025 it will make a journey adapted to M+. Courtyard of annexes It draws its inspiration from Venice and Hong Kong’s shared proximity to the ocean. But while encounters with water are inevitable in Venice—with its 150-odd canals and the threat of rising sea levels—Hong Kong’s urban planning has, over the decades, shifted its focus inland. Perhaps this is what compels many Hong Kongers to embrace the ocean in miniature by owning a pet fish: the Special Administrative Region is a major center for the trade in aquatic ornaments.
“Aquariums are everywhere in Hong Kong, many of them very elaborate,” says Yeung. “However, there are hardly any fish boats in Venice. Except in Chinese restaurants.’ During the biennial, Yeung’s show will include about ten aquariums and water features. Some will be site specific, including a fountain in the outdoor courtyard filled with water from the Venetian lagoon. Many tanks will be fully functional with filters and pumps, and a few will have special features. These include a water vortex that looks like a mini tornado and a black light that helps fish owners control bacteria.
Crucially, however, there will be no fish in those waters. “If the exhibit had fish, visitors would focus on that,” says Yeung. The tanks are a vehicle for promoting conversation around the issues he has explored throughout his career: control, the systems we live in and the ambiguity of human relationships. “I want to take into account the control and
Cares in our relationships with pets and, by extension, with each other,” he says. “These seemingly conflicting dynamics stem from similar impulses. In relationships, we often confuse one with the other.”
• Trevor Yeung: Gentle Breath, until May 26, Para Site, 22/F, Wing Wah Industrial Building, 677 King’s Road, Hong Kong
• Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Annexes, Venice Hong Kong20 April-November 24, Campo della Tana, Castello 2126, 30122, Venice
