The Inside is Outside, and Vice Versa… 外眺、仰望
Quarantine offers a new perspective in how we may view our surroundings in this newfound age of isolation and stagnation. For the first time for some of us, we live in an age of relative peace and technological innovation. And even in face of the plenty that has happened in our current situation, we may still consider our life to be ideal. But for many others, it could be considered a living hell.
Reach is meant to capture the feeling of distance and out-of-body-ness, which not only leaves us cut off from one another, but also detached from ourselves. Visual “point-of-view” thus becomes my choice of anchor in conceiving this work in – successive shifts in point-of-view result in the sequence’s narrative flow, which convey human experiences. Through the different ways human arms appear in each shot, I suggest how we interact with the world within an arm’s reach. In Reach, therefore, sightlines are also part of my narrative vehicle. I want the sequence to be a playful derangement of the audience's expectation; I want to see how far they can be empathetic to the subject who is present only as an arm. With the minimum resources I had, I played with time and emotions to transpire isolation, boredom and the destruction of perceptual coherence…
This work was made during my hotel quarantine.
BIOGRAPHY
創作者簡介
Kyle Calvin Villagorda Salen is a Hong Kong-born Filipino, currently doing his Bachelor of Arts in Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong. An avid developer in generative art, coding, writing and roleplaying, he has diverse interests in videography, sound design and 3D modeling. Born and raised in one of the greatest international mixing pots of the world, he is constantly inspired by the enormity of multitudes of cultures and ideas that continue to inspire and awe him. He is currently delving into projects of game development, community management and game mastering as a member of the Glowing Fool project.
This sequence was an attempt to visualize something...
a feeling...
a state of mind...
I’ve been experiencing for a while now.
How long has it lasted ... and how much longer will it last?
This is still very much uncertain.
A relationship with time,
spurs of inspiration
and the eventual loss of it all.
It felt like I was blocked off from the momentary bliss of passion and the initiative to make plans to achieve.
I welcome change and self-improvement. I want to do more with myself and plan better for the
a path I have desired.
One note a day.
But that streak of motivation was short-lived. Now it is only a blur of the past. I do not know the reason for the sudden halt. It just came about, which I only came to realize when it was already too late --
Overwritten
There is a supposed "beginning," an ongoing "end"
And an in-between that is lost to time.
Having spent the majority of my waking hours in my own room, especially in the past year or so, it has become my self-made prison. Escapism. A recurrent cycle of constancy. I feel blocked and I block myself off from the outside world. My perception of time is further distorted... The momentary and the indefinitely lasting are part of each other.
Thoughts. Fragmented. Forming no bigger picture. Can I depict it? Can I image it? Can I turn all this into sounds? What about words? … All simply iterations of my thought process, each in its own way.
Perhaps something can be derived from each photo… My predetermined explanation is not necessarily the sole answer, since I primarily just went along with the flow of my thoughts. May this sequence be a snippet of a layer of my mental state and a face-to-face encounter with myself.
BIOGRAPHY
創作者簡介
Mandy Yau is a Creative Media student at the City University of Hong Kong. Although born in Hong Kong, her upbringing was primarily based in the United States. She has had a passion for drawing since young, mainly sourcing from Japanese animation and culture. After returning to Hong Kong, she began to seek her artistic aspirations. Not limiting herself to just art as a hobby, she is slowly broadening her interest and skills to study animation, photography, film, editing, and even sound production. Now, much of her creative endeavors stem from her personal experiences and thoughts, be it the mundane or on her mental struggles.
Conversations
L: Second by second, I tiptoe to follow your stare through your barricades at what is out there. The movement of your lines profiles the minute, random, silenced hisses from within your body. You magnify your hisses against the clamor out there as your lines multiply into a series… until all is pushed to the background. And only you remain, fading into the calm silent gloom with your scissors and paper.
I like the way you use black screens. They breathe as you do.
秒接秒，感受著你在藩籬後的往外凝望。你用你的小畫作勾出身體微變數的隨機性；你的勾畫越多，內在內裡的空間越放大，「外」和它的煩囂漸成背景，留下的就只有剪刀和紙。你呢？漸漸溶進微噪音的暗裏？
很喜歡你用的黑畫面，很湊用，默默的。（黎)
This photomontage narrates a boy who has claustrophobia taking the elevator. This work
evolves from narrating a space to narrating a feeling. Maybe it is narrating a trip as well as questioning without wanting an answer. I don’t have any meaningful message to bring out in this work: “narrating” itself is the meaning, presenting what I feel and what I think when I am taking the elevators. Every elevator trip is a “BAD TRIP”. Please feel what I feel in my 3-act elevator narrative.
Reference
Albert Lamorisse (1956). Red Balloon [Film]
Chris Marker (1962): La Jetee / The Pier [Film]
David Fincher (1999): Fight Club [Film]
Frederick W. Mayer (2016): Narrative politics stories and collective action. Oxford University Press.
BIOGRAPHY
創作者簡介
Bentat Chan (CHAN Hoi-tat) is interested in photography and has been taking photographs for more than 8 years. His work received Honorable Mention in the National Geographic International Photo Contest 2018 and was shortlisted in 2020. He was also awarded in the 2016 CBRE International urban photography of the year. He is now doing his undergraduate degree in Creative Media, the City University of Hong Kong.
Conversations
M: I particularly liked the sound editing, the mechanical clunks, that brought me into the scene. Although a photomontage, the sound adds movement to what we are seeing, tricking the minds perhaps. The highlights/contrast of oily fingerprints tells us that many people flow through this confined and cold space, and how much needs to be disinfected in this pandemic era. Leading to the question, who cleans this space and have they stayed safe?
This photomontage sequence narrates someone breaking into a roof-top that is supposed to be “out of reach.”
“I construct my language of emotions through the collage of warning signs and images of the surrounding, leaving the question open: what is the present yet unseen character facing?
This piece is inspired by a regular walk I make wandering on the student residence’s rooftop where I sight many warning signs. Looking around the two-story-tall rooftop with many hurdles surrounding me, I feel trapped in a place of danger.
BIOGRAPHY
創作者簡介
Kelly Wu (WU Tsz-ki) is a 2nd Year student at the School of Creative Media, who is exploring the world of art with enormous curiosity. She is passionate about a large variety of art forms, ranging from conceptual art to traditional art, from animation to video production. Being born in Hong Kong has been an important source of inspiration for Kelly to think out of the box. She has found the city to be a unique environment where the treasures and the beauty of different cultures meet and she could respond via art creation.