MAP Office is a multidisciplinary platform devised by Laurent Gutierrez (born 1966, Casablanca, Morocco) and Valérie Portefaix (born 1969, Saint-Étienne, France). This duo of artists/architects has been based in Hong Kong since 1996, working on physical and imaginary territories using varied means of expression including drawing, photography, video, installations, performance, and literary and theoretical texts. Starting with Mapping Hong Kong (2000), their entire project forms a critique of spatio-temporal anomalies and documents how human beings subvert and appropriate space. Humor, games, and fiction are also part of their approach, in the form of various publications and films providing a further format for disseminating their work. Their cross-disciplinary practice has been exhibited in major international art, design, and architecture events and is the subject of a monograph, MAP OFFICE—Where the Map is the Territory (2011). In 2013 MAP Office was the recipient of the 2013 edition of the Sovereign Asian Art Prize. Laurent Gutierrez is an associate professor and Valérie Portefaix a visiting assistant professor at the School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
What country is Hong Kong? Hong Kong was an island. Hong Kong will become part of China. MAP Office has decided to present Hong Kong is, with the intention of clearly addressing the specific characteristics of this unique city/territory, which is in a state of perpetual transition. Offering a platform to reveal a hidden urbanity, breaking…
