Fieldwork and Housework
April 29, 2014, 8-9pm
McAulay Studio, Hong Kong Arts Centre
Messiah 2.0 (2014) from Alex Yiu on Vimeo.
Single channel video, 720p, colour, stereo sound
2014
Standing at the yet developed West Kowloon Cultural District, facing to the busy Victoria Harbour, I realise that the soundscape will soon be disappeared by the future construction of the infrastructure, therefore I decided to make a soundscape video there. The atmosphere of the Victoria are marked by its surrounding skyscrapers and hills that creates a paradox of openness v.s. exclusiveness. The harbour, surprisingly, is a very rich sonic environment with the rumbling of the ship’s engine, flapping of the helicopter’s thrusts, and the waves hitting the shore. I appropriate the libretto of Handel’s Messiah written in 1742, which I treat it as the narrative of this never happened “resurrection” of this innocent, virgins’ land.
