Victoria East/ 維多利亞之東

《維多利亞之東 | Victoria East 》
玻璃投影 video projection on glass  | 190 X 120 CM
彩色 color| 高清錄像 HD video|雙聲道 stereo |15’50″|2017

重塑消失的海。

我在不同的時間,不同的地點,將防水照相機放置於五至十米深的水底, 收集(sampling )水的影像。影片的粗剪(rough cut)以竇唯的音樂專輯《山河水》作為一種節奏的參考。聽說竇唯喜歡畫風景畫,《山河水》是將風景聽覺化的一次嘗試。我隨著《山河水》的音樂節奏,以水的流動、光線、穿透度和顏色等元素去編輯影像 。這個錄像沒有故事,是對於海之經驗的重塑。

 Recreate the vanished sea

A waterproof camera had been descended 5 to 10 meters under the sea at various spots and at different times to sample images of water. Dou Wei’s (a Beijing-based songwriter in 1990s) single “Mountain and river” offers a reference to the tempo of my rough cut. It was said that Dou Wei likes landscape paintings so this song was an audio representation of a landscape. The moving images of water, level of light penetration and colour were arranged and edited based on the rhythm of the song. This video embodies no narration but an experience of recreating the sea.

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  • (installation view)

 

《海岸 / The Last Coast 》
彩色 color| 高清錄像 HD video|無聲 mute| 4’24” | 2017
焊接 welding|金屬板|LED 光管 LED  tube|120X20CM | 2017

如何畫一條線?
這是將軍澳海灣最後一條天然的海岸線,我請燒焊師傅把這條線刻畫在金屬板上。
「海岸」指海陸之間的交界, 長年累月的波浪、海流、潮汐等海水的作用下會形成不同的海岸地形。 石頭的紋理可以反映出陸與海的關係,而海岸線於我是「時間」,是時間累積下的輪廓。 我想將這個輪廓與將軍澳的城市發展的某個時間點接上,於是我選擇了六十年代。 在四十年代末將軍澳曾經是世界的拆船中心,六十年代造船、修船及軋鋼等工業盛極一時。直至一九八二年,政府批准把將軍澳發展為新市鎮之後,這些工業便日漸式微或遷往其他地方。

How to draw a line?

This is Tseung Kwan O’s last coastline by nature. A weldman helps carve this line on a metal plate.
Coastline, defining the sea and the land, is shaped by relentless waves and tidal currents. The crack and pattern on rocks reflect the relationship of the sea and the land. Coastline to me represents time, or the outline of time. I intend to associate this coastline with a particular moment in the progress of urban development; I chose 1960s. Tseung Kwan O, then the world’s renowned shipbreaking hub in 1940s, peaked its golden time in 1960s for heavy industries like vessel making, repairing and steel rolling. The glory halted when the government announced the new town planning in 1982 leading to relocation or decline of the industries.

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《山 / The mountain》
黑白圖片 BW print|1906 |地圖,粉筆性顏料繪於玻璃 map drawn by chalk ink marker on glass |2017
黑白及彩色幻燈片 BW &color  slide photography|LED 光管 LED  tube |90X 8 CM|2017

「若你呼喚那山,而山不來,你便應走向那山 。」-可蘭經

這是將軍澳最早期的照片之一,攝於1906年。右邊是倫尼麵粉廠,後面的山脈是百多年前的將軍澳地貌 。倫尼麵粉廠由加拿大商人Alfred Herbert Rennie 經營,是一家擁有世界最先進技術的麵粉廠。傳說倫尼因為麵粉廠生意失敗而自殺,死時頸上繫著繩子,因此調景嶺以前叫吊頸嶺, 調景嶺英文舊名叫Rennie’s Mill。

倫尼麵粉廠的今址在彩明苑一帶。好幾次,我以彩明苑作為座標,出海去尋找當年照相的位置 , 但由於有太多高樓遮擋著後面的山脈,我始終無沒確定當年的拍攝位置。於是我跑到山的另一邊,大概是銀線灣的位置去找山;可是因為距離太近,我看不到山。某天,一位朋友告訴我西灣山可以鳥瞰整個將軍澳,於是我跑到西灣山山頂,可是高樓仍然遮擋著山。最後,我跑到山背後的另一座山-橋咀島的山頂;我反轉這張一百年前的照片,在紙的背面,對照百年前後,山的輪廓。

“If the mountain will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed will go to the mountain.” – Qur’an

This (probably?) is one of the oldest photo of Tseung Kwan O taken in 1906. On the right is The Hong Kong Milling Company, or Rennies Flour Mills, while the backdrop is a terrain. Rennies Flour Mills, owned and operated by a Canadian merchant, Alfred Herbert Rennie, was then a world-leading flour mill. Rumour has it that Rennie committed suicide owing to business loss. As he was found with a rope tied around his neck, the Chinese name of the place was associated with the incident, while the English name became Rennie’s Mill.

Rennies Flour Mills was located around today’s Choi Ming Court (a housing estate). Taking the estate as coordinate, I sailed out to the sea several times and attempted to locate the exact spot where this photo was taken. However, I failed to do so as the walled buildings obstructed my views. I tried to climb to the other side of the mountain, approximately today’s Silverstrand, but the mountain might be too far away. Then I was told Sai Wan Shan was the perfect spot overlooking the whole Tseung Kwan O. To my disappointment, what I found was again walled buildings. Finally I climbed to another mountain top in Sharp Island, flipped over the 100-year-old’s picture to compare the present landscape and terrain.

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《風  /  Wind》
布投影 video projection on fabric | 逐格動畫 stop-motion animation |彩色 color|循環播放 loop play | 2017
描圖紙鉛筆謄繪 Pencil copy on tracing paper |彩色圖片 color print |90X 48  CM|2017

1996年7月26日上午9時,調景嶺最后一面中華民國國旗在調景嶺中學的操場降下。

因為收地和遷拆問題,調景嶺是將軍澳最後期發展的區域。調景嶺具有濃厚的政治色彩- 紅色、白色和藍色。我在互聯網搜尋大量調景嶺的昔日照片,用鉛筆以謄繪的方式,勾畫旗幟被風吹揚起時的各種輪廓,串連成逐格動畫。

9am, 26 July, 1997. The very last Kuomintang flag descending at the playground of Hong Kong Rennie’s Mill Middle School.

Owing to land resumption and clearance, Tiu Keng Leng (current name of Rennie’s Mill) was the last district in Tseung Kwan O urban development plan. Tiu Keng Leng was full of visual essence because of the political party – red, white and blue. Having googled many old photos of the area, I delineated the outline of the hoisted flags and made the drawings a stop-motion animation

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