CENTENARY/CENTENARIES

2022/26-

  • Art work by susan pui san lok at Whitechapel Gallery
  • Art work by susan pui san lok at Whitechapel Gallery
  • Art work by susan pui san lok at Whitechapel Gallery
  • Art work by susan pui san lok at Whitechapel Gallery
  • Art work by susan pui san lok at Whitechapel Gallery
  • Art work by susan pui san lok at Whitechapel Gallery
  • Art work by susan pui san lok at Whitechapel Gallery
susan pui san lok < > 駱 佩 珊 < > susan lok pui san, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress), 2022/26-,
installation with video, sound, shimmer curtains, plastic strip blinds, wallpapers at Whitechapel Gallery,
London (details). Featured images sourced from the London Picture Archive and reproduced courtesy of The
London Archives and Guildhall Art Gallery, City of London Corporation. Wallpapers kindly provided by
Anaglypta/Retford Coverings Ltd. Photographs by Ana Blumenkron.

Whitechapel Gallery, London

susan pui san lok < > 駱 佩 珊 < > susan lok pui san, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress), 2022/26-,
installation with video, sound, shimmer curtains, plastic strip blinds, wallpapers at Whitechapel Gallery,
London. Featured images sourced from the London Picture Archive and reproduced courtesy of The
London Archives and Guildhall Art Gallery, City of London Corporation. Wallpapers kindly provided by
Anaglypta/Retford Coverings Ltd. Photographs by Damian Griffiths. Note: selected installation views also feature works by Nour Jaouda, Reetu Sattar and Marwan Bassiouni.

Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) (2022/26-) is a long poem/script, soundwork, experimental live assemblage, and immersive installation with video, sound, texts and textiles

Centenary was originally commissioned by Create London for the Becontree Centenary programme, commemorating the opening of the Becontree Estate in the London borough of Dagenham and Barking. An ambitious post-war project designed to provide ‘homes fit for heroes’, Becontree was once the largest public housing project in Europe, and remains the largest council estate in the UK. With around 29,000 houses built between 1921 and 1934, Becontree came to house c.100,000 people, including those displaced by the East End slum clearances – the Chinese in Limehouse (the site of London’s ‘first Chinatown’) among them. 

Taking Becontree as a point of entry and departure, Centenary alludes to histories of Chinese migration behind or beyond prevailing narratives. Spanning three centuries of movement triggered by colonial expansion, imperialism and systems of indenture, the work touches on Hong Kong Chinese in post-war Britain, the 1997 handover, as well as the artist’s experience growing up in a council house on the Essex–London border.

Centenary was first recorded and premiered on ResonanceFM as a broadcast and live stream (2022), coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the Hong Kong handover. It was subsequently presented as s sound installation at esea contemporary (2023), and performed as an experimental live assemblage for Asymmetry Foundation (2025). For Whitechapel Gallery’s 125th anniversary programme, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) has been significantly expanded with original music, Chinese translation, and images from The London Archives (2026).

Iterations

Backyard Biennial: East
East of the Aldgate Pump
Installation with video, sound, text, shimmer curtain, plastic strips, wallpapers
Whitechapel Gallery, London
15 July – 6 September 2026

Centenary/Centenaries (in progress)
Screening and conversation
GPS* x Saratoga Performing Arts Center, New York
8 June 2026

Asymmetry International Symposium
Live assemblage with video, sound, spoken word (keynote performance)
The Courtauld Institute of Art, London
25 April 2025

Speaking Nearby
4-channel sound installation (project space)
esea contemporary, Manchester
21 July – 29 October 2023

ResonanceFM
Radio broadcast (Clear Spot)
1 July 2022

Production Stills

susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) (2022/26-), production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.
susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) (2022/26-), production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.
susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) (2022/26-), production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.
susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress), 2022/26-, production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.
susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) (2022/26-), production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.
susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) (2022/26-), production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.
susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) (2022/26-), production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.
susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) (2022/26-), production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.
susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) (2022/26-), production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.
susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) (2022/26-), production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.
susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) (2022/26-), production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.
susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) (2022/26-), production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.
susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress), 2022/26-, production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.
susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) (2022/26-), production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.
susan pui san lok, Centenary/Centenaries (in progress) (2022/26-), production still. All images copyright of the City of London Corporation, reproduced by kind permission of The London Archives, courtesy of the London Picture Archive and Guildhall Art Gallery.

Credits

Centenary/Centenaries (2022/26-) original long poem and spoken word recording, 34 mins; multimedia installation with video, sound, 36 mins 50 secs, looped

Written, directed, edited and produced by susan pui san lok / susan lok pui san
Read by David KS Tse and Crystal LK Yu
Translated by Koel CHU Ka Kiu
Original music by Alex Chang and Adam Forman
Voices recorded and mixed by Cameron Griffin
Additional sound mixing by Oliver Payne
Production assistance by Kirsty White
Commissioned by Create London, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund
Expanded for Whitechapel Gallery, and supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England

All images sourced from the London Picture Archive and reproduced courtesy of The London Archives and Guildhall Art Gallery, City of London Corporation. Wallpapers kindly provided by Anaglypta/Retford Coverings Ltd