Artistic activism as essential threshold from the ‘peaceful, rational, non-violent’ demonstrations towards revolution—social actions in Hong Kong in the pre-Umbrella Movement era

This chapter analyses how artistic activism since 2007 has been a necessitated threshold guiding the aloof Hong Kong populace to start expressing their political quests, by subconsciously disguising them in artistic actions and performances. For the long-colonised Hong Kong populace, the 'peaceful, rational and non-violent' motto continuously becomes the 'ideal' and the normative boundary for many. The chapter describes vignette relating to the work of a Hong Kong-based artist being staged in Weimar, Germany. It shows how artists/activists used the innocent disguise of art to attract attention and invite participants by provoking emotions of audiences, and how the implicit artistic actions were more preferable for the politically inactive audiences. As the artist Isaac Chong accredits, such 'devaluation' of art and its political utility in fact create space for art and its performativity. Proceeding to the Anti-Express Railway campaign in 2010, it was a thorough taking off of artistic activism marked by the ascetic parade.