Sunday, January 27, 2008

G-Imagineering Along Desire Lines




G-IMAGINEERING ALONG DESIRE LINES
Modern Media x Hong Kong & Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture
Presented by Modern Media

Partners: Videotage, Chenmiji, Lona Records, ANLIGHTEN Design Studio

Special thanks to Johnnie To/Milyway Image, China Star Entertainment and STAR for permission to show clips from Running Out of Time 2, Videotage for its generous loan of projection and sound equipment, and Yatzar for spatial design support

Central Police Station Compound, 10 Hollywood Road Hong Kong
10 Jan - 15 Mar 2008 (closed on 6-8 Feb)
10am-6pm (daily)

G-Imagineering along Desire Lines presents the work of urbanites who have documented/initiated changes in (what was formerly known as) Victoria City: a video collage of Hong Kong filmmakers/video makers’ cinematic reinterpretation of urban spaces, to be juxtaposed with a recreation of the Central soundscape by sound artists Alok and Lona Records in a room decorated by furniture salvaged from demolished public buildings over the years by cultural publisher and collector of urban artifacts Chenmiji, in a study of the desires, dramas and organic spatial relationships embodied in the architecture and its surroundings. Copies of Modern Media’s City Magazine and the Outlook Magazine, chroniclers of the collective cultural/consumerist experience in Hong Kong and the South China region, provide a frame of reference for the exploration of possibilities in sustainability.

Concept & coordination by Lo Yin Shan & Vince Lung

《放逐慾望縱橫線》

現代傳播集團x 香港‧深圳建築雙年展
主辦:現代傳播
創作夥伴:錄映太奇、陳米記、LONA RECORDS、ANLIGHTEN DESIGN STUDIO

特別鳴謝:杜琪峰/銀河影像、《暗戰II》版權持有人中國星及STAR提供電影片段、錄映太奇借出投影器材及音響系統、YATZAR

《放逐慾望縱橫線》邀請香港都市生活的詮釋/創造者,在將發未發的變動中,尋索既有路徑以外的質感、音聲、幻像,為中區特有的空間象徵和城市記憶重新定義。本地電影人將中、上環的熟悉場景幻化成天馬行空的詩意舞台,文化刊物出版人/舊物收藏家陳米記多年來自面臨拆卸的舊屋舊廈、公共建築搶救家具、舊物保存歷史,音聲藝術家Alok與Lona Records創作夥伴以環境實驗音樂記錄城市集體潛意識;《放逐慾望縱橫線》以投影裝置將電影中虛構的警察面貌、權力糾纏置放於人去樓空的監獄實景,用囚犯手製的政府座椅、背後自有來歷的舊書櫥建構予參觀者思古神遊的場所,配合Alok and Lona Records現場即興演譯的環境/人聲數碼微模音樂,促成影像/音聲與建築/空間的對話。現場供隨意翻閱的《號外》與《新視線》雜誌,以一貫的文化視野與消費生活觸覺,為空間與慾望的後續討論提供素材。

概念策劃:盧燕珊、龍文浩


DESIRE FURNITURE
慾望家私
Chenmiji
陳米記

Today, the Central Police Station compound stands deserted, devoid of its former occupants—and its colonial-style government furniture.

For more than two decades, Chenmiji have been preserving history by salvaging overlooked treasure from public buildings and government offices facing demolition. These chairs, tables, book cases, door handles, light switches have been selected by Chenmiji from his vast collection of urban artifacts to be displayed in this former exhibition space for “Correctional Services Industries” products. Each item has its own story to tell—and a similar origin to the government stationery and furniture that had been used or produced here until not so long ago.

中區警署建築群,人去樓空,連殖民年代的傢俬舊物也一併消失。

舊物收藏家陳米記多年來自面臨拆卸的舊屋舊廈、公共建築搶救家具、舊物保存歷史。今次,他從私己舊物倉庫挑選一系列大小組件──檯椅、書架、門鎖、電燈掣等等放回這個「懲教工業製品」展示室內陳列。每件物品,附掛名牌一個,述說它的身世故事。


CENTRAL SUBCONSCIOUSNESS
音景中環
Lona Records
Alok, Edwin Lo, João Vasco Paiva, KWC, Nerve, No One Pulse, Sin:Ned, Vavabond & yy.zz

Central is a playground of sounds loud and soft, a forum of conflicting views as much as it is an arena of power and desire. The ambient sound artists at Lona Records capture the emotions of the heart of our city and present us with a digital simulation of the urban soundscape, a soundtrack for the subconsciousness of the urbanite.

以聲音作為一種觸覺及想像方式,在空間與地理之間,劃一直線;以符碼學的姿勢,橫切歷史、權力、文化及瀕臨存在邊緣的回憶與現實。

Lona Records的聲音實驗家,以中區警署建築群為中心,向外以聽覺伸延,採集聲音,透過電腦軟件及各種電子器材,將中區警署建築群變成一個熔爐,一併消化自身的歷史及週邊的聲態環境。過程是一系列的現場演奏及背景音像。

名店與童年回憶與舊區生態與醉生夢死與建築與空間與消費物質資本主義連成一線聲音。

然而,根據相對論的說法,兩點之間的最短距離,不一定是直線。

想像,一個即將融化在聲音之中的中環。

Live Performance:

2 Feb 2008 (Sat) 2pm-5pm
Vavabond, No One Pulse, Nerve, Alok

23 Feb 2008 (Sat) 2pm-5pm
Vasco, KWC, Edwin, Sin:Ned

15 Mar 2008(Sat) 2pm-5pm
Alok, No One Pulse, Nerve, João Vasco Paiva, Vavabond, Edwin, yy.zz


RUNNING IN & OUT OF TIME & SPACE
A TRIBUTE TO JOHNNIE TO’S SPATIAL EXILE
放逐杜琪峰暗戰時空

Dan Ip+lo
葉曉丹+lo

In Johnnie To’s Running Out of Time 2, the plot and reality intertwine in a Hong Kong that is strange yet familiar. Video artists Dan Ip+Lo have borrowed scenes from the film—with the director’s kind permission, of course—and argue visually that Lau Ching Wan, playing Inspector Lau in a “Central Police Station” that is in reality the former Marine Police Headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui, is actually pointing his gun towards the days when our city was still a colony; that the fictional birdwatchers at the Central Piers are taking our imagination far beyond the hills surrounding Victoria Harbour; and that To’s cinematic tribute to the now demolished Queen’s Pier is a reminder of the arrogance and haste with which we have been destroying our past. Across the harbour, in the Cattle Depot Artists Village in Tokwawan, media artist Gd St j joins Dan Ip+lo in a video dialogue between real and imaginary space.

難得獲杜琪峰導演首肯,錄像人葉曉丹+lo以《暗戰II》場景片段,展開一連串電影與現實移形換影的時空對話:仿中區警署的尖沙咀前水警總部煙幕一場,何督察劉青雲手鎗指向的原是香港殖民年代的記憶。中環碼頭觀鳥一幕,延伸詩意想像,帶我們神遊摩天蒼穹。少不了還有向皇后碼頭致敬的一幕,時空隨波倒流,惜大家沒有將撿到的眼前物當作寶。屏幕裡外對照,葉曉丹+lo與錄映太奇媒體人白雲飛,同時在牛柵開展另一場土瓜灣時空對話。






Tuesday, January 22, 2008

What? Sounds?

We are here
Shouting
Making noises
Listening deeply
To one another
Thru sound, we unite
With sound, we are going to fly
Not far out there
But deep inside, we go
We are the forgotten sons
Yes I know
But all sounds equal
This, we shall not forget
My dear
All sounds equal
This
is the beauty
Of our voices
All sounds equal

My big shout out and deepest respect...

Alok: My pure minimalist, without you, we will have no new music in HK now

KWC: I will never stop being amazed by your ideas & imagination

Nerve: You are true master of sound!!

VSOP: Let's get up and dance again guys, you are the greatest avant-garde unit in HK.

Fathmount: My respect to the only free-form improv guitarist...let's not stop here...the fun had just begun.

LWTV: My dear anarchist, all sounds equal and no sound shall tear us apart. Thru sound, we shall unite.

Wilson Tsang: You teach me the true beauty of the black & white keys.

Cedric: Hey, let's not keep the art secert. Shall we dance?

Edwin: Yes, let's surrender to the sounds around us!

Ahshun: The world is gloomy, but what the heck?

Sherman: I see a freedom that cannot be destroyed easily...

Anson: We shall never give up our trust and love in sound.

Dickson: Big big shout out...from home (you know, where the heart is)

Sound Installations @ HK & SZ

60 Seconds @ Eniminiminimos, HK




Sin:Ned & No One Pulse @ Sonic Architeture, SZ




Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Honey, I Shrunk Myself!

Press Release
For immediate release
Hong Kong, 2 Jan 2008


Eniminiminimos: Artists who make things small

Studio Bibliothèque

12, 13, 19 & 20 Jan 2008


Think Big? Size Matters?

Artists from Eniminiminimos: Artists Who Make Things Small, beg to differ. This group exhibition explores the notion of ‘small size’ in contemporary art, and features a dozen ways that small is big. 12 international artists from Singapore, Hong Kong and various cities in the United Kingdom come together to exhibit their contemporary miniature artworks in Studio Bibliothèque, Hong Kong, on 12, 13, 19 and 20 Jan 2008.

There seems to be a global “size fetish” that regards everything big as necessarily good and right. This exhibition will show that making, using and being small have important implications in art and life. It will get us to reconsider issues of craftmanship, relationship, memory, technology, the individual in the social world, the missions of artists and the mass media, insanity and disasters.

Curated by artist Michael Lee Hong Hwee, the exhibition showcases a wide range of approaches in exploring miniatures in contemporary art: drawing (Cornelia Erdmann’s prints of furniture on slides); painting (Debbie Hill’s portraits of stars painted on chewing gum, Chow Chun Fai’s animated replica of a segment from the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs); printmaking (Tang Kwok Hin’s found prints of lone figures on beer cans); photography (cutouts of Michael Lee lazing around); book (Chihoi’s mini sketchbook made from a piece of printing paper); architectural model (e.g., Li Loi-Yau’s miniature sports shop; Chun Kai Feng’s model which features a three-dimensional version of van Gogh’s bedroom, and Suki Chan’s floor installation of tiny houses); toy figurines (Esther’s miniature masterpieces from art history); sound art (Sin:Ned’s compilation of one-minute “schizophrenic” sounds); and animation (Justin Wong’s clips depicting giants and little people).

This exhibition is the second installment of the Things Artists Do exhibition series. It is also part of Fotanian: Fotan Artists Open Studios 2008, which runs during the same period.

Artists
Chihoi (Hong Kong), Chow Chun Fai (Hong Kong), Chun Kai Feng (Singapore), Cornelia Erdmann (Hong Kong / Berlin), Debbie Hill (Huddersfield), Esther Yip Lai Man (Hong Kong), Justin Wong (Hong Kong), Li Loi-Yau (Hong Kong), Michael Lee Hong Hwee (Hong Kong / Singapore), Sin:Ned (Hong Kong), Suki Chan (London / Manchester), and Tang Kwok Hin (Hong Kong)

Curator
Michael Lee Hong Hwee

Dates
12, 13, 19 & 20 Jan 2008
Time
2:00 pm - 8:00 pm daily

Venue
Studio Bibliothèque
Room 1812, Block B, Wah Luen Industrial Centre
15-21 Wong Chuk Yeung Steet, FoTan
New Territories, Hong Kong

Contact
Amethyst CHAU at (+852) 60717428 or tabby_miumiu@yahoo.com.hk

Admission
Free

About Studio BibliothèqueStudio
Bibliothèque facilitates experiments in making, writing, curating and learning. It is the Hong Kong-based working and living space of Singapore-born artist Michael Lee Hong Hwee. The studio has been featured in the media including in the regional lifestyle and design magazine iSh.


About Things Artists Do series
Things Artists Do is an exhibition-cum-publication series of Studio Bibliothèque. It aims to address the gap amidst the onslaught of survey, thematic art shows and books by focusing on the being, consumption and activities of artists. The inaugural installment in the series, Autobiobliophiles: Artists who make or use books, in May/June 2007, explored the notion of identity in the production and consumption of the book form in the context of contemporary art. It featured 28 international artists including Tom Phillips, Jenny Holzer, Heman Chong, Map Office and Tozer Pak.

About Fotanian: Fotan Artists Open Studios 2008
Fotanian is an annual open studio in Fo Tan industrial estate in the New Territories, Hong Kong SAR. Initially an off-campus artistic enclave of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Department of Fine Arts, the industrial estate today plays host to over 100 international artists across more than 30 studios. Since 2003, Fotanian has been an annual platform to showcase the creative processes and working environments of artists with the largest showing and attendance in Fotanian 2007, playing host to thousands of visitors over two weekends. The 2008 event will be held on 12, 13, 19 & 20 Jan 2008, 2:00pm – 8:00pm daily.

About the curator
Michael Lee Hong Hwee is a Singapore-born artist currently based in Hong Kong and Singapore. Concerned with the relation between desire and space, he explores different forms and media, especially photographic installation, model-making, book-making, video, writing and curating. He wasthe recipient of Young Artist Award (Visual Arts) 2005, conferred by National Arts Council, Singapore.



Chihoi

I will write a book for you

One A4 paper & one thread, 2.6 x 3.75 x 2.2 cm, 256 pages, 2007



Chow Chun Fai

Repainting Infernal Affairs (video still #37)

Digital video, 3 min, 2007


Chun Kai Feng

Blanket and Crib

Mixed media, 65 x 55 x 50 cm, 2006


Cornelia Erdmann

Seatings

Drawings on slides, Variable dimensions, 2005-2007



Debbie Hill

Juicy Fruit

Acrylic on chewing gum, 3 x 3 cm, 2007


Esther Yip Lai Man

Make You Happy
Mixed media, 80 x 80 x 70 cm, 2007



Justin Wong

Ji Ji Ge Ge

Comic illustration in Ming Pao News 27 Nov 2007, 2007



Tang Kwok Hin

The girl who is blue

A Blue Girl beer can, 12 x 6 x 6 cm, 2007



Li Loi-Yau

For My Son: The Sports Shop

Mixed media, 22.7 x 40 x 29.5 cm, 2001



Michael Lee Hong Hwee

Skive: A Worker’s Guide

Photographic installation, Variable dimensions,2005-2007



Suki Chan

In Silence (installation view)

Vinyl & balsa wood, Variable dimensions, 2005



Sin:Ned

60 seconds: A Schizophrenic Manual for Eternity (CD album cover)

18 x 60-sec audio clips, 2006