Beneath the marble it isolates

No other fire fulminates

Than the console glittering there.

— Stéphane Mallarmé, “Tout Orgueil fume-t-il du soir”

Kiang Malingue presents at its Hong Kong location Wayfarer of Fire, a group exhibition bringing together Brook Hsu, Kwan Sheung Chi, Lai Chih-Sheng, Phillip Lai, Ellen Pau, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and Samson Young. With a focus on the transformative power of cinema, sound and labour, the artists turn to Promethean figures and revolutionary visions, tracing the ways in which individuals and communities act as keepers of the flame, collectors of cinders, and fire-watchers—tending the life-giving potential of fire, reflecting on its mobility, monumentality, and memory, setting amnesia ablaze.

At the heart of the exhibition lies Ellen Pau’s single-channel video Blue (1989–90), a pivotal work that commemorates tragic historical events through a montage of war imagery. Set to American vocalist Meredith Monk’s hauntingly evocative soundtrack, Pau’s…