two cars collided, a sewing machine and a telephone came out is an exploration of the visual, cultural, and symbolic meanings of the words spark and sparkle, examining how these concepts intersect with ideas of transformation, power, and perception in contemporary society. 

The title of the exhibition, two cars collided, a sewing machine and a telephone came out, comes from an allegory used to describe the collision of two protons.

The objects are changed, as each proton collision produces entirely different particles—much like how a car crash can result in many unpredictable outcomes. In times shaped by digital aesthetics, commercial imagery, and scientific advancement, Magdalen Wong was drawn to interrogate how spark(le) operates as both a visual phenomenon and a social construct. 

At the heart of the exhibition are two large-scale video projections of flickering star constellations. Each constellation mirrors the sparkles found on the packaging of cleaning products, playing with the cultural association between sparkles and cleanliness. This juxtaposition invites reflection on how cleanliness operates as a social construct, shaping habits, norms, and racial and cultural ideologies. 

Combining video installation, archival footage, and animation, two cars collided, a sewing machine and a telephone came out examines the convergence of energy, transformation, and symbolism.

Magdalen Wong is an artist born in Hong Kong and currently based in Lisbon. She works mainly with found materials drawn from social media, advertisements, and films, as well as with objects and sounds collected from her daily meanderings. Her recent works wander into various fictitious characters, who often take on roles as mediators between peoples and places, and their histories and futures. Her work enquires how we alter, influence, adapt to and traverse between our built social environments and our solitary dream spaces.

Wong had received grants and attended residencies at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Yaddo, Vermont Studio Center, Goyang Art Studio in Seoul, and Triangle Arts, New York. She had exhibited at Kunstinstituut Melly, The Netherlands; Tai Kwun, Hong Kong; Spring Workshop + Current Plans, Hong Kong; Asia Society, Hong Kong; Para/Site, Hong Kong; Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids; Makeroom, Los Angeles; Laurence Miller Gallery, New York; and Galeria Avenida da Índia in Lisbon, Portugal.