Floating Sea Palace

by Lap-See Lam

Artist Lap-See Lam (Sverige, född 1990)

Date2024

MediumDigital video, color, sound

Dimensions26:00

ClassificationMoving Images

Credit LinePurchase 2024 with contribution from The Österlind Foundation

Countries

Sweden

On view

Stockholm

RoomGallery 10

Object NumberMOM/2024/140

CollectionsRecent Acquisitions

About the artworkThe dragon ship in the video work is based on the real-life Floating Restaurant Sea Palace, a ship commissioned in 1992 by entrepreneur Johan Wang. It travelled from Shanghai to Gothenburg, and after serving as both a restaurant and later a haunted house at Gröna Lund, the ship now lies moored in the Stockholm archipelago. The dragon ship has become a symbol of transformation and exile in several of Lam’s works, and the motif recurs in The Altersea Opera (2024), Tales of the Altersea (2023), and Dreamers’ Quay (2022). One of the recurring threads in Lam’s artistic practice is the exploration of both the artisanal and the digital. This is expressed here through the ancient technique of shadow play interwoven with video, and through the presentation of the film against traditional Chinese bamboo scaffolding. The structures are built following a centuries-old tradition from Hong Kong, where they are used as temporary theatre and opera stages.
Selected exhibition history Begin Again, Begin Again - Lap See Lam & Kholod Hawash (den 10 maj 2025 - den 17 augusti 2025) Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Works by the artist