Taking inspiration from susan pui san lok’s newly commissioned body of work RoCH: Fans & Legends, this exhibition explores ideas of adaptation and appropriation. Since its emergence in the late 1950s, the Condor Heroes series has been adapted over 40 times in various forms, from novels, television, films and video games. These adaptations could be considered as fan fiction, in the way they are inspired by the original series but introduce new, sometimes radical, additions to The Condor Trilogy ‘universe’. Yet this figure does not include the vast number of fan fiction works published on forums and websites by fans of the series from across the globe.
Crouching Fan, Hidden Legend examines how far reaching a story can be, and how it can evolve or change through adaption and appropriation. The exhibition positions fan produced material centre stage, and the inspiration point for new artwork to be created by artists, flipping the usual processes and relationships on the head.