Highlights From Samson Young’s “Songs for Disaster Relief World Tour” At M+ Pavilion

Following his presentation as Hong Kong’s representative at the 57th Venice Biennale last year, Samson Young’s “Songs for Disaster Relief World Tour,” has traveled to the M+ Pavilion in Hong Kong, with a few additional artworks. The show is an immersive investigation into the mechanisms of the pop songs that are released to raise money for humanitarian relief. It all started when Young came across the story about a group of unemployed musicians from Cape Town who released a charity single, Yes We Do, produced by the singer-songwriter Boomtown Gundane, in response to musical supergroup Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? (1984). After finding out that the story was fabricated, Young decided to "give shape and pay tribute to the fictional musician, and imagine the world he inhabits.” This homage came in the form of Boomtown Gundane’s first “world tour.” Aside from the exhibition itself, we can see Gundane’s dressing room—a pop-up store where visitors can purchase items created for the exhibition. Here are some of the highlights from the show.

• Hong Kong