Publication for Visions 2050 / Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture (Hong Kong)

Visions 2050: Lifestyle and the City

The history of the Hong Kong Biennale dates back to 2007 and introduced a spotlight onto the city together with Shenzhen its urban partner. However the two exhibitions were quite distinct in that Shenzhen was and still is in the process of dramatic expansion whilst Hong Kong is able to reflect on its complex cultural history. Hong Kong, by contrast to its northern neighbour is geographically limited, which brings unique pressures not only on its physicality but also how this influences the very lifestyle of its community. It is these unique characteristics that the exhibition considers and how these will be challenged and opportunistically or strategically changed. In the last fifty years the city has undergone an unparalleled transformation embracing both the technology of the future whilst still retaining unique values and traditions. As one of the most densely populated cities in the world, Hong Kong’s economic and urban lifestyle could become one of the models for future living. It is a microcosm of a fast-paced emerging multicultural community, which has already begun to demonstrate how unlikely patterns of function can co-exist.

Visions 2050 presented an opportunity to speculate about Hong Kong’s future, the format of the exhibition deliberately represents a range of medium and genres that characterizes an experiential snapshot of the city rather than a study of conventional formality. The city it features is shown in paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, films…three -dimensional models and digital prints. This year’s biennale challenges us to think strategically about change whether through political legislation, financial intervention, architectural design and other forms of creative act. It is the younger generation of Hong Kong that will be responsible for the city of the future and it is to them that the invitation is extended, it is their vision that we seek to capture in this exhibition.

Hong Kong owes much of its rich and varied culture to the development of its built fabric, the exhibition places emphasis on the architectural legacy providing the context in which the younger generation will have to work. The exhibition therefore sets the vision and imagination of young designers in dialogue with that of established practices whose work creates the touchstone between past and future.

The future requires vision and to develop this it needs creativity, freedom of thought and vivid presentation. From the design community we have chosen practices across several fields including architects, filmmakers, photographers, fashion and product designers who all contribute, sometimes imperceptibly to the way we experience the everyday. This year’s biennale is not intended as an exhaustive survey but a snapshot of collective imagination, reflecting the complexity and richness of the city’s culture and the problems, both global and local it faces in the future. The invitations was left open for the exhibitors to be both propositional and analytical, of those who participated some were invited but most were the result of an open call system; it is therefore more democratic than most, reflecting an authentic array of concerns across the design spectrum.

This exhibition is inherently anti-institutional as no part of it fits well within any academy the audience must therefore use their own imagination to understand the almost ‘cubist’ connection between the parts. The city of the everyday is (un) composed of countless fragments, many visual, some auditory others olfactory. However our experience of the city is not simply an exposure to the immediate it is also built on half forgotten memories, latent cultural mores and subliminal influence. Urbanists have a professional habit of describing the city through hard line, text and statistics but the city can be viewed through a myriad of different lenses. Hong Kong can be understood in pictographic and ideographic forms that are entirely independent from speech and are an explicitly visual mode of communication; but, as a visitor I have always been overwhelmed by the noise of the city not just the background drone of everyday traffic but the roar of voices, creating an auditory cacophony that is just as complex as any of the visual fragments that make up the patchwork of the city. It is little wonder that energy and expression is as wide ranging as it is, for some, the concerns have a serious immediacy, issues around climate change, demographic ageing, immigration, land shortage, food production and political resilience. For others it is a chance to dream of a future city where technological advance or alternatively forgotten skills temper the world of tomorrow.

Hong Kong is at a fascinating yet critical point in both its history and region’s development, it is now time to consider the challenges that face the city and the community. All of the exhibits are an explicit commentary on Hong Kong or its relationship with the mainland; most of the exhibitors are either from Hong Kong or live in the city. However the commentary offered is not parochial, both the younger generation and members of the more established practices have been part of a cyclical diasporas bringing perspectives that are colored by international experience. The future dynamic of Hong Kong’s relationship within the mainland is critical and considerations of the value of its post-colonial heritage emerge presenting fascinating questions about the blend and tension of these cultural forces. The exhibition imagines how the city can change and re-imagines our places of the everyday. How the city is seen is nuanced through the different relationships authors have with ‘place’. The exhibition starts with some of the most iconic images of Hong Kong by the acclaimed photographer Ho Fan. His interpretation of Hong Kong fifty years ago is balanced by those images that propel our imagination fifty years into the future. These spare yet hugely atmospheric images have a haunting almost romantic quality even when describing poverty. These masterly studies are countered by the vivid pictures of Sarah Choi whose work brings a sense of the dynamism to the city from a photographer separated by six decades.

The established designers show the city’s heritage from urban space, iconic buildings to urban infrastructure. Although Hong Kong is traditionally associated with high-rise commercial buildings a new sensibility is emerging in the value of public space exemplified by, Rocco Yim’s Government Building and Square heralding a new social sensibility, providing space not only for public function but also for social activity. The work of ASD is seemingly ubiquitous but nevertheless discreet, this government- funded agency has both independently and in partnership created some of the most sophisticated and subtle designs in the city and beyond. If you look carefully the agency supports the conservation of endangered buildings and in co-supporting acclaimed developments such as Mallory Street allowed Aedas to show an alternative to its commercial portfolio with a house derived specifically from its narrative context. Oval Partnership offered a refreshing balance in an exhibit that illustrated a commentary of the everyday together with an understated set of images of the MTR which remind us that infrastructure, though implicitly appreciated, is amongst the best in the world. Equally compelling are the images of the Kowloon Walled City a stark reminder of the extreme housing conditions of thousands yet within which was a natural social order for its households. Images of the fast disappearing newspaper stands serve as a reminder that these informal objects not only had a commercial function but also acted as gathering points for the community. This small facility is as much a part of the dynamic social structure of the city as anything more formalised and will be gone in the next two decades.

The style shifts with the Bartlett students envisaging alternative living conditions for the next decades that incorporates green space within high rise housing, limited cars alternative cycle routes, fitness apparatus as part of the structure of the building and the need for the printed word as a reminder of past culture. From these images of the future, the exhibition shows us a dystopia where Fred Hoyle’s prediction of the ‘black cloud’ engulfs Hong Kong to a more optimistic reading where technologies provide a more controlled environment; water is seeded in the troposphere and an autumnal micro climate engages with a carbon neutral biomass system creating a counterbalance to the escalating problems of climate change.

The exhibition deliberately crosses creative boundaries as future interdependency becomes a normal form of design production, indeed the professionally understood meaning of design, with advancing skills blurring the boundaries of the future. A small bracelet entitled ‘Am I holding the chopsticks right’ laments the loss of heritage as the growth of the global village erases context. There is a more philosophical look into the future in ‘ Rice as Pearl’ as the author considers the artificial value of gemstones and posits that this value will be replaced by the value of food. A delicate necklace crafted from rice seed demonstrates the statement of underlying value and its implicit cultural and practical message. The moment of Hong Kong’s history cannot go unmentioned and indeed the exhibition provides a platform for a cynicism about the political future to be both pure statement and a filmic dystopian view of the city. Films, models and drawings are both a design act and carry an implicit political narrative. ’Xi’ is, by contrast an ephemeral red dress with an equally ephemeral message where the world is exemplified by ‘ criss crossing strings in space to simulate ‘chaosity’ (sic) a commentary on the nature of the city or the quality of city life, perhaps neither, we are left to make our own judgement. Interestingly the dress demonstrates the potential technology of 3D weaving, a technique that could easily cross into the world of building design offering a technical delicacy which is currently impossible.

The finale of the internal exhibits is the experience of a digital future as a LED immersive environment reminds us of both the formal beauty and the political relevance of the exhibition, the space is dreamlike and suggests that there will be little division between the material and the virtual in the city of the future. As one moves out from the Heritage Building past a drawing automata, a hologram and ideas for future housing on to a mobile, green, mojito serving music centre, smart nodes and dissolving cities. The family of ‘teletubbies’ belies the seriousness of their message about Hong Kong of the future; here there is both humour and a compelling message that attracts both young and old alike. The beauty of Kowloon park as part of the exhibition space is that it is a place for everyone it is a public, democratic showcase for ideas and events. Ingenious design propels itself along the path under the ‘Peoples Canopy’ an alternative to the temporary and the transportable, cycle hoops offer a practical solution and an. explicit suggestion about the transport of the future, there are so many exhibits both inside the Heritage Centre and Kowloon Park that it is impossible to mention everything. Although the history of the exhibition suggests that the professional disciplines of architecture and urban planning will dominate, in fact it creates a dialogue with a wealth of creativity that spreads far beyond the profession’s formality. The relationship of these genres is not hierarchical, sometimes the images are mute and the text dominates and at other times a musical score transports a filmic study. There is no orthodox coupling as the creativity and imagination of the fashion designer sits next to a reflective portrayal of China’s global influence. This is a multi medial relationship, which exists not only by sharing the same space but also the same concerns… the future of Hong Kong. As the visitor leaves the exhibition there are some haunting reminders that our experience of the city is complex, layered and evocative.

At the aviary in Kowloon Park is the music of Anna Meredith available through a smart phone and digital technology. Acoustic performance is all around us as we walk through the streets and here it exists, as it will in the future, in the ether. Press a button and you can escape from the maelstrom of one of the most pressured cities in the world, a small oasis of peace where you can listen to scores written for each bird. This is a tiny pocket of music that you have to discover and exists in space that of course is shared with the concepts of physical designers. The conclusion of the exhibition is not one of certainty it is more interesting than that, it suggest a future that may be marked by political change and of greater communal visibility. The views of the emerging generation will bring a multitude of skills and attitudes. The need to address the complex challenges of the future will not be undertaken by just one profession it will need the expertise of many creative minds working together, to harmonise these efforts will be the ultimate challenge. The exhibition illustrates the many layers of the city, whether it is at the urban grain or the street corner but it also reflects a complex and sophisticated culture.

Hong Kong presents a kaleidoscopic lifestyle, which has been captured through the eyes of different generations in Christopher Doyle’s ‘Hong Kong Trilogy’ an evocative visual essay charting the experience of three characters at different stages of their life. The little girl, the adolescent and the old man, each portrayed through a different lenses where the city is both a harsh and a haunting backdrop. The future is therefore less obvious where each generation must consider both the legacy and the opportunities for the future where the interdependence is both material and human and the impression from the exhibition is one of creativity, social concern and optimism.

2015.12

Prof. Christine HAWLEY

A.A. Dip 1975; A.R.C.U.K. 1979, R.I.B.A. 1979; F.R.S.A. 1984; CBE. 2008