Sound Topography around Shing Mun River

AC: Sound Topography is a travelogue of different locations around Shing Mun River. I explored Tai Wai, Tai Po, Pai Tau Village, Siu Lek Yuen Village, Fo Tan and Sam Mun Tsai village with the practice of soundwalks that involve listening and recording while going through a place at a walking pace. While recording, I wrote a diary concerning my perception of the surrounding sonic environment. The installation, composed by six audio players with headphone and six chairs, was located in an open area near Pai Tau Village. Locals, visitors and passers-by, in response, became listeners of the space that incorporates my perception and experiences around Shing Mun River.

As part of the installation, I presented a series of aerial photographs from 1963 collected from the Lands Department of the Hong Kong government. For each of them, I created a drawing to explore my perception in relation to objective mapping as photography and subjective mapping as drawing.

LWM: Pai Tau square is where you must pass by when you walk from the Shatin Station to IKEA. I always feel the square is a hotpot containing different ingredients: preserved fruit stalls, drying rack full of bed linen and clothes covered with drying rack, pot plants, old men making fun of birds, cars and chatting old folks.

I brought Alessandro to the square. He liked it there very much and thought that it was highly related to his work. We decided to put the installation at the square.

We revisited the square after a week to research on how to set up of the installation, but the scene perplexed us. The empty square is surrounded with bollards. Instead of the hot pot, there is nothing inside except a kiosk, two guards and a big sign warning people not to occupy the public area. Every living thing is gone. It seems that there is some tacit understanding among the passers-by that no ‘damage’ should be done to the square, so no one would even step in. I wondered what the guards are guarding over because the square is empty.

Alessandro focuses the research on the irreversible transformation of the landscape due to the Shing Mun River. Even a small square has turned into a strange place in a short period of time.

城門河聲音地誌

AC: 聲音地誌是城門河流域的遊誌。我以聲音步行的形式,邊行﹑邊聆聽﹑邊錄音,探索大圍、大埔、排頭村、小瀝源村、火炭以及三門仔村。錄音同時, 我以日記記下自己對周圍的聲音環境的感知。這個裝置作品由六個隨身聽和六把椅子組成,放置在排頭村對外空地。當地人、參觀者和路人都成為了我在城門河周邊的感知和經驗的聆聽者。

裝置作品另一部分是我從地政總署收集得來,一系列攝於1963年的航空照片。就著每張照片,我創作了相應的繪本。照片的紀實,繪圖的主觀映照,交錯地延伸我的感知。

LWM: 排頭村的露天廣場,就是沙田火車站到宜家傢俬,必然路過的那片空地。我總覺得那兒好像火鍋裡百味紛陳的材料:涼果檔、掛滿衣物床單的晾衣架、盆栽、弄雀的伯伯、違法泊車、閒聊著的老街坊,共冶一爐。我帶Alessandro到這裡, 他很喜歡,覺得這片小地方挺能呼應他的創作, 於是我們便決定在此展出裝置作品。

一星期後,我和Alessandro為了研究作品擺放的位置,再到空地勘察。到達排頭村,我們都傻了眼。一個由灰黑矮柱圍著的廣場,空幌幌的什麼也沒有。那個火鍋消失了,一切鮮活的都通通消失了,取而代之的是一個更亭、兩個守衛和幾塊大大的告示牌,標示著這是不容佔用的公家土地。行人也有著默契,只走廣場的外圍,彷彿怕踏壞了裡面的土地。其實,這兒什麼也沒有,我著實有點懷疑守衛的作用。

Alessandro專注研究城門河對沿岸地區所造成的不可逆轉的影響,想不到,連這一片小小的土地,會在一夜之間變成一片陌地。

I territori sommersi di Sam Mun Tsai/ The underwater territories of Sam Mun Tsai/ 三門仔水底領域

  

I figli delle metropoli franate, Tai Po/ The children of collapsed city, Tai Po/ 倒塌城市的孩子,大埔

  

Negli strati verticali di Tai Wai

  

I paesaggi in miniatura di Pai Tau

  

l gradiente sonoro di Fo Tan

  

Ai confini della CityOne, Siu Lek Yuen

  

In the vertical layer of Tai wai/ 大圍的縱面

  

The miniature landscape of Pai Tau/ 排頭微景

  

The sound gradient in Fo Tan/ 火炭聲音坡度

  

Along the border of CityOne, Siu Lek Yuen/ 接壤第一城,小瀝源