wamono art will present SIDE CORE’s “under city” in Hong Kong for the first time.

SIDE CORE is a Tokyo-based art collective active since 2012. Members Sakie Takasu, Tohru Matsushita, and Taishi Nishihiro work with video director Kazunori Harimoto. Grounded in the ideas and histories of street culture, SIDE CORE’s practice asks how individuals can communicate—and leave traces—in urban and public space. Their projects often involve collaborators from other fields, resulting in works that emerge from the city’s blind spots, gaps, and overlooked infrastructures.

The exhibition’s central theme is “urban underground spaces.” For “under city,” SIDE CORE filmed rarely accessible sites such as massive underground reservoirs, disused water treatment facilities, and abandoned subway stations. While recent technological advances have made cities increasingly digitized and “visible,” many subterranean environments remain unknown or difficult to grasp. The work follows skaters moving through these underground spaces, then edits the footage into a continuous sequence—stitching separate locations into a single “virtual underground city.” The project brings together multiple lenses: skateboarding as a way of reading Tokyo’s underground, alongside geology and disaster preparedness, technology and urban theory, as well as urban legends and fiction. Japanese street skater Takahiro Morita participates through skate video production company “FESN”, performing in the work and directing skate sequences.

wamono art is located in an industrial building in Wong Chuk Hang, a redeveloped industrial area in Hong Kong that remains in active use. During the exhibition period, the artist will stay in Hong Kong to create a new work that expands “under city” into the city’s own urban context.