Three different dimensions to quest for imagined playground
Led by three groups of artists over the past year, participants in "Playground as Metaphor" have been searching for their personal ‘playgrounds’ in the city through rendering memories and stories, soundscapes and installations, bodies and images.
Digging in memories, stories, tales, streets, downtown, bodies, props, rhythms, soundscapes and more, unique pulses and accents are unearthed.
"Re-visiting a Scene in Life" X "Re-imagined Childhood Tales"
From tracing personal memories, employing tale-like imagination and composition, to recounting real life events through private chatroom, Cheuk Cheung and Elysa Wendi took participants to remap narratives juxtaposing individual and collective fragments. Grounded by the artists’ indefinite perspective between documentation and tales, the process evolves into a cinematic-triptych video work that reveals the ramble of telling and listening they experienced with the participants. As the narrative point of view interchanges from first to third person and furthermore, the textual and personal distance with the stories subtly differ upon how one chooses to tell and listen. The programme also includes a specially designed intimate space that facilitates the audience to fully focus, and scheduled performances that feature one-on-one storytelling.
"Field is Where We Play" X "Speakerland"
AK Kan and Jasper Fung guided participants to observe the city’s soundscape by ears: traffic lights, birds, ball games, bells, public announcement, conversations, cups and dishes. Morning streets, afternoon ballcourt, night park, all connect to unveil city scenes at different times and places. Using DIY amplifiers, the students create sound installations that are placed back to different places in the city playing in a whisper-like volume, which the audience may randomly encounter or deliberately seek out. At the end, they will be exhibited in the gallery of Goethe-Institut, where the artists process and interpret the soundscapes collected by the participants, for a sound performance in response to this shared experience and creative journey.
Sound installation works of the participants will be preluded at various locations in Wanchai during 10-24/7
- Art and Culture Outreach｜Foo Tak Building, 365-367 Hennessy Road, Wanchai｜1pm - 7pm (Close on Mon)
- Twenty Alpha｜13/F, Foo Tak Building, 365-367 Hennessy Road, Wanchai｜10am - 7pm
- Kong Temporary Archive｜12/F, Foo Tak Building, 365-367 Hennessy Road, Wanchai｜1pm - 7pm (Close on Mon to Wed)
- Hong Kong House of Stories｜G/F, 74 Stone Nullah Lane, Wanchai｜10am - 6pm (Close on Wed & special public holidays)
- Since Concept Store｜Shop UG7, CC Wu Building, 302-308 Hennessy Road, Wanchai｜11am - 7pm (Close on Mon & Sun)
"Surrealistic Juggling"
Using juggling as a medium, Grace Hoop, Charles Huang and Ho Ho-yeung led participants to examine their physical nature, and to explore city space by interacting their bodies with hula hoops, juggling balls and contact juggling balls. Juggling is not necessarily a performance, but rather an exploration of one's own body. Through POV cameras, participants observe their own relationship with the city from a first-person perspective while playing with the props. As geometry, repetition, balance and variation emerge and coordination of body parts progresses, the body playground is now completely focused on itself. The exhibition features video clips by video artist Dino Ng, as well as scenes he captured while accompanying participants to explore the city. In the performance sessions, artists and participants will deliver ‘pop-up’ happenings that express each unique body playground, for the very present moment.
| Finale Exhibition | |
| Date: | 2-26/8/2023 (Wed - Sat) |
| Opening Hours: | Monday 3pm - 8pm Tuesday to Friday 10am - 8pm Saturday 9:30am - 6pm Sunday Close |
| Venue: | Goethe-Gallery, Goethe-Institut Hongkong (14/F Hong Kong Arts Centre, 2 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong) |
| Finale Performance | |
| Date: | 12/8 & 19/8/2023 (Sat) |
| Time: | 11:30am - 5:20pm |
| Venue: | Goethe-Gallery, Goethe-Institut Hongkong (14/F Hong Kong Arts Centre, 2 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong) |
Registration required
Detailed schedule of Performance Sessions
| 11:30am - 1:30pm | "Re-visiting a Scene in Life" / "Re-imagined Childhood Tales" | |
| 2:00pm - 2:20pm | "Surrealistic Juggling" | |
| 2:30pm - 2:50pm | "Surrealistic Juggling" | |
| 3:30pm - 4:30pm | "Re-visiting a Scene in Life" / "Re-imagined Childhood Tales" | |
| 5:00pm - 5:20pm | "Field is Where We Play" / "Speakerland" | |
Conducted in Cantonese
Free admission