Installation view of Relatum—The Mirror Road (2021/2024) at Shanshui: Echoes and Signals, 2024. © Lee Ufan / ADAGP, Paris – SACK, Seoul, 2024. Photo: Lok Cheng. Image courtesy of M+, Hong Kong
Narrator：
This work, titled Relatum—The Mirror Road, is a sculptural installation created by Lee Ufan in 2021. The version currently on display at M+ is specifically redesigned by the artist in 2024 to fit the gallery space. The installation consists of two stones measuring ninety centimetres at their highest point, and a rectangular stainless steel plate measuring ten metres long and one metre wide.
The installation features two adjoining silver stainless steel panels forming a long plate on the ground. Two dark brown stones are placed opposite to each other at the centre of the longer edges of the steel plate, and the steel plate is surrounded by fingertip-sized pebbles. The surface of the steel plate reflects like a mirror, capturing the stones and the surrounding environment.
The two stones are approximately the same size, reaching the height of an adult’s thigh. They have rough surfaces and irregular edges. Displayed facing each other, there is a gap between the two stones large enough for a person to pass through, while the mirror-like steel plate appears to be firmly clamped by two pairs of stones through the reflection it shows. The ground is covered with white granite pebbles with black spots, enclosing the stones and the steel plate completely to create a strong contrast with the smooth surface of the steel plate.
In the exhibition Shanshui: Echoes and Signals that opened in 2024, the installation is exhibited on one side of a rectangular gallery space, occupying about half of the space. Within this half, the floor is fully covered with pebbles except for the reflective surface of the steel plate. In the other half of the gallery space, visitors can enter and leave through the entrance and exit. They can also see the landscapes of Hong Kong through the glass curtain wall of the gallery, a special trick to illuminate the interior with natural light and cast shifting light patterns on the artwork as the sun moves throughout the day.
If you walk and observe the installation from afar, it gives the impression of viewing an ever-changing landscape in a distance. If you walk across the pebbles and step on the mirror-like steel plate, the experience will resemble the sensation of walking on your own reflection.