In Search of Miss Ruthless

The show presents the work of 23 artists inspired by the media infrastructure that frames a pageant queen, taking inspiration from Miss Hong Kong and Miss Chinese International.

“Miss Ruthless” is a public persona from the future: a queer pageant queen, a figure of popular support representing “our beautiful Hong Kong up on the world stage,” as per the lyric from “Hong Kong Our Home”.

Commissioned and here exhibited for the first time, the works interpret pageantry as a promise of mobility that both regulates class and engenders ethnicity. Inspired by the media infrastructure that frames a pageant queen, “In Search of Miss Ruthless” also includes archival documents, an experimental audio guide, two web projects focussed on the visual identity of Miss Ruthless, and the tenure of an experimental Director of Communications.