LINE FRIENDS

For a few months in 2022, the atrium of Metro City Plaza in Tseung Kwan O was home to an unusually large bear. From 30 July to 2 October, "LINE FRIENDS MEETS TENNESSEE LOVELESS: minini Dreamy Colour World" marked the first appearance of the minini characters in Hong Kong.

 

The centrepiece was a MINI BROWN standing seven metres tall and billed as the largest in the world, with a smaller crowd of minini friends gathered at its feet. Nearby stood a five-metre MINI CONY, a character holding a coffee-flavoured cookie, and a pair of giant DJ headphones that visitors could pose beneath. Scale did most of the work. The characters are meant to be pocket-sized, and enlarging them to this degree turns that joke into the whole experience.

 

The "colour world" in the title was more than a slogan. Loveless's work is known for bold colour and pattern, and the installation built an environment around that idea rather than just displaying characters in front of a backdrop. It is saturated, playful and designed to be photographed, which suits a mall atrium.

 

The programming kept visitors moving through it. Interactive games included an artist's-eye doodle experience, a "DJ Drop the Ball" game and a cookie-tin tic-tac-toe, with small prizes for winners. Two limited-run shops sold minini and LINE FRIENDS merchandise, from big-head plush and mouse pads to 30-day challenge stickers, Aloha-themed blind-box pins and desk calendars.

 

Whether this is art or retail is a fair question, and the answer is probably both. The installation worked because it never pretended otherwise: the giant bear draws people in, the games keep them there, and the shops offer something to take home. For a family on a weekend outing, that is a complete day. For anyone interested in how illustration and character design meet public space, it is a tidy example of the form.

 

It should be noted that while the title of the show mentioned that Tennessee Loveless met Line Friends… it was his designs and not him that was a part of the event.