Open Space: Magic is Around Us 天大地大: 魔法就在身邊,,,
I wanted to explore the endless possibilities of narrative that popped up in my mind like chance encounters. One moment, I look into the mirror at myself. Suddenly, I notice my mouth becoming extremely big and getting stuck in my eyes, my mind. … What is the actual use of my mouth? Just for the intake of food because that’s what we humans do? And is that the only place that food gets through? What else does my mouth do?
In Possibilities, I mainly want to mark out an open space for the audience, like inviting them to a game. How long would they stay with me? Or how deep might they get into my game? I suppose that is not the most important thing as long as they come..
Possibilities loops, yet it does not loop. Possibilities is about space. I was inspired by Yoko Ono’s Eye Blink, Zbigniew Rybczynski’s Tango, Duane Michals’ photo sequences and more. Ono's Eye Blink to me indicates eye blinking as a loop series: there is also something possible upcoming, the next possibilities, the play of time and space.
BIOGRAPHY
創作者簡介
CHAI Jing Hoong (nickname Shine) is from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She is currently based in Hong Kong to pursue her BA in Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong. Her passion is on fashion, photography, abstract and experimental videography, and animation. Her pocket-size camera is her best partner, which is always around with her so that she can capture moments that flicker her interests. She believes everything happens for a reason and so she wouldn’t want to miss out on any slight possibilities that could inspire her. Her art is her path.
Rain has its own colors. Transparent rain washes away dust and impurities in the world, while black rain fills the earth with another layer of turbidity. A man stands on the empty land of the earth, eager to receive a baptism from the rain, without any obstruction, nor any protection. Black rain comes down from the sky with a fierce and growing intensity, soaking him. There is no way back, no return. The black rain flows through his hair, wraps his face, invades the torso and the whole body, until it penetrates the soul.
BIOGRAPHY
創作者簡介
WANG Siyu, in her junior year of undergraduate studies, is based in mainland China and Hong Kong. As a creator, she realized her passion for arts at the School of Creative Media and Media & Communication and her interests focus on speculative design and narratives. She is now actively exploring the fields of filmmaking, photography, acting, screenwriting and visual design.
Conversations
Zimu: Although “black” in the clip does not necessarily carry the connotation of pollution, danger and death, I cannot help but see the sensorial embodiment of a person dwelling in a catastrophic world, enduring it, embracing it. It also reminds me of a poetic documentary I recently saw on the long lasting traumatic effect of war in Syria and east Ukraine, titled This Rain will Never Stop. Black rain, just like the transparent rain, falls on us all earthlings. It takes sensitivity and courage to watch it closely, like the author did in this piece.
A photographic image is timeless. It freezes all things in it at the moment of photo-taking. But the stories viewers can tell by observing the elements in a phone are limitless; and this is when a still image starts to move in the viewer's mind through imaginative interpretation, and from one to many.
A still image also moves as it is succeeded by more other images in a sequence. How the first image results in the second image is the idea of montage. To the viewers, this one-to-the-next exercise is also the very game and process of interpretation.
My montage sequence Dream is inspired by Claude Cahun’s photo collage works, which is my starting point. Another inspiration is a new platform Dreamcore, which adopts a surrealist aesthetic using dream-related motifs, highlighting weird, unrealistic elements as opposed to familiar objects.
In addition to applying a surrealist principle in combining familiar images, I also identify one constant, connective, element that creates a sense of continuity through the whole work, which is an eyeball. Surrealistically, I have left open the possible meanings of each image episode. The idea of moving through a sequence of images as a process of realization is inspired by Duane Michals’ Real Dream. For example, the 3rd photo is just a part of the 4th photo, while the 5th photo is just a part of the 6th photo, so on and so forth, and I have turned this into a “guessing game” for my viewers, so they become more and more engrossed in the question, “What’s going to be in the next image?”
As for the soundscape, I recorded the radio tuning sound effect and used it in the middle part of the photo sequence. I want to create the effect that the images are being manipulated by someone, like someone tuning the radio channels, and the dream I show is constructed by me. It is my wish that my sequence would invite viewers to the unknown, something beyond rationality.
BIOGRAPHY
創作者簡介
Yuna Tang (TANG Wing-ka) is a year-2 creative media student from the City University of Hong Kong. She has acquired various skills including drawing, video editing, and coding on the path of her study. As an artist, she has a strong interest in surrealistic artwork and myth from different countries. She is also passionate in creating work using the human body parts to encourage viewers to reflect on themselves, as well as questioning society.
Conversations
Yan: It took me a long while, and still, to think whether something is timeless, or clockless. Lately I revisited Chris Marker’s works again, it was then I recalled some loose fragments and thoughts viewing La Jetée for the first time back then in my sophomore year, about the eyes, and flights, and journeys interweaving one another.
“We don’t see light, we see the reflection of light.” It reminds me that light tells a lot – clock-time, space, mood … .
Hence I ask myself …
Can I tell a story with the reflection of light as the main element? Where does light come from? What is the direction and angle of light? How does it create interaction?
Lights in different environments have a different shape and texture, which I wish to turn into the vertical thickness of my image narrative, hopefully to sustain viewers' attentiveness.
As for the horizontal trajectory, I want my montage work to flow with greater change and contrast as it moves forward, from indoor to outdoor. “Light” is the only character. But “behind” the camera and the images, who is there? Is that me? Other people? Or a cat? What are they/she/he/it thinking? What is going to happen next?
To me, “light” is also the opposite of heaviness – a young woman walking around finding peace as light guides her. Would the lights in my work connect with the audience's personal experience? Would their imagination move with my images?
BIOGRAPHY
創作者簡介
NG Ka-kei is in the second year of her Bachelor’s studies at the School of Creative Media. She finds it hard to define or describe herself accurately, and she is not sure if it is a good or bad thing.
Conversations
Yan: They said light points us to a direction, yet what if we never need one? I remember there were days I would wander around the streets in late afternoons just to look at street lights. There is always a moment when the sky turns purplish orange, and those bulbs begin to spark, like stars.