The Revolution Will Not Be Air-conditioned

The Revolution Will Not Be Air-conditioned integrates images and sounds taken from various sources such as historical archives, popular culture, news reports, and social media in an examination of spaces of resistance and confinement, with a particular emphasis on Hong Kong. This two­channel video juxtaposes images of London’s Great Exhibition of 1851, nineteenth­century terrariums designed for importing and exporting exotic animals and plants from Asia to Britain, training videos for employees in twentieth­century global enterprises, anonymous smartphone footage documenting a protest in Hong Kong, and a first­person shooter game that unfolds within a realistic three­dimensional space. The work’s title is partly borrowed from the song The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1971) by Black American activist and singer­songwriter Gil Scott­Heron. Here, the word “televised” is replaced by “air­conditioned,” reflecting a self­deprecating yet cautiously hopeful sentiment—even if there is no room for protest in the private­public space of a shopping mall, it may be one of the only places left for insurrection when the streets are under siege. The last segment of the video invokes Hong Kong’s 2014 Umbrella Movement and 2019 extradition bill protests. Although the efforts of those who occupied, and set ablaze retail and public spaces may have failed in the short­term, this work initiates a rupture in familiar revolutionary histories.