The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto is currently showing Floating Sea Palace, a film by the Chinese-Swedish artist Lap-See Lam. This is the first exhibition of the artist's work to be held in Canada. Her work is characterized by a magical realist approach to the concepts of Chinoiserie, dislocation and notions of belonging. Lap-See Lam weaves these concepts into her video installations, interpreting them through the lens of Cantonese mythology.

In Floating Sea Palace, Lap-See Lam takes her inspiration from the story of Lo Ting, a mythical human-fish hybrid, believed to be the progenitor of the Hong Kong people. In the artist's hands, Lo Ting transcends the realm of myth, entering into the temporal sphere, where he is incarnated in a past and future self played in the film by the pop singer Bruno Hibombo and artist Ivan Cheng, respectively. Through his yearning for a return to Fragrant Harbor (the English translation of the Cantonese toponym Hong Kong), the past Lo Ting unwittingly summons a dragon ship, modelled on the Floating Restaurant Sea Palace that used to be docked in Hong Kong. Filmed aboard the real ship, Lap-See Lam weaves its story of transformation and search for a harbor to call its own into the overall narrative of immigration and repossessing family heritage.

Installation view, Tales of the Altersea, Portikus, Frankfurt am Main, 2023. Photo: Alwin Lay.

Lap-See Lam collaborated with bamboo sifu Ho Yeung Chan to construct a bamboo scaffolding which ties the film's subject both to the usage of bamboo in Chinese architecture but also to its usage in temporary stages that are set up for travelling Cantonese operas. In recounting her story of Lo Ting, she relies on the language of shadow puppetry, simultaneously integrating original shadow animation and 3D scans of the real dragon ship to evoke an aesthetic of eeriness that beckons viewers to converse with her story and characters. Floating Sea Palace developed from the artist's Altersea Opera, which is on view at the 60th Venice Biennale as part of the Nordic Countries Pavilion.

Lap-See Lam is Chinese-Swedish artist and filmmaker who lives and works in Stockholm, where she obtained a MFA from the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. In her artistic practice she utilizes contemporary technology and traditional references and techniques to address feelings of “generational loss,” but also to reflect on the realities of migration and family history. Her works are in institutional collections such as the Kadist Foundation, Moderna Museet and Malmö Konstmuseum. She received the Maria Bonnier Dahlin Foundation Grant and the Dagens Nyheter Cultural Prize in 2021 for her contributions to art.

Floating Sea Palace represents a joint commission by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and The Vega Foundation, and is concurrently on view at Studio Voltaire in London. The Toronto presentation of the film is on view through March 2, 2025. More information about this exhibition and other events at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery can be accessed on their site. For more about Lap-See Lam's art, check out her Instagram page.

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