Secret City, 2022
Music and video
3’17”

Secret City (2022) is a collaborative moving-image work developed with Winston Yeung that investigates the spatial politics of queer desire within Hong Kong's marginal urban enclaves. Set against the post-industrial backdrop of Tai Kok Tsui's back alleys, the video functions as a site-specific performance where the physical decay of the metropolis mirrors its fading spiritual landscape. Echoing the track's lyric regarding the "vanishing faith across this land," the work frames these hidden, nocturnal corners as spaces where temptation and clandestine narratives become tools for navigating urban alienation.

Through the methodology of drag, Yiu’s on-screen persona subverts traditional navigations of public space to embody a gender-fluid stream of desire. This visual exploration is anchored by a rigid, retro-industrial sonic framework. Employing an 80s-inspired vocal performativity that continuously oscillates between chest register and falsetto, the work uses vocality itself as a metaphor for the fluidity of queer identity. Ultimately, Secret City channels visceral, unrecorded urban secrets into an audiovisual dialogue on identity, sexuality, and spatial dynamics. 

《秘密都市》（2022）
3 分 17 秒

《秘密都市》（2022）是一部由姚氏與 Winston Yeung 共同創作的流動影像作品（moving-image work），旨在探討酷兒情慾在香港都市邊緣空間中的政治性。作品以大角咀後街巷弄的後工業地景為背景，將錄像轉化為一場場域特定展演（site-specific performance），城市實體的衰敗正正映射了其逐漸消散的精神面貌——一如歌詞所述：「信念消失於這邦」。在這些隱蔽的角落裡，誘惑與地下敘事成為了個體應對都市疏離感的一種方式。

透過變裝（drag）實踐，姚氏的螢幕形象顛覆了對公共空間的傳統認知，化身為模糊性別界線的情慾載體。這種視覺探索被錨定於復古工業音樂的聲響框架之中。透過借鑑80年代的流行唱腔，其聲線在真音與假音之間不斷游移，作品將「發聲性」（vocality）本身視為酷兒身份流動性的隱喻，將我城的地下秘密轉化為一場關於身份認同與空間動態的視聽對話。

"Secret City" Lyrics

Pitch-black sky, the route unseen,
Ignite the bike, ride the machine,
Hands grip tight, caught in between,
(Tell me where’s your sensitive spot)

Breath speeds up, the force fields rise,
Short, sharp gasps like a falcon's cries,
One attacks, one defends, no compromise,
(I’d like to do it without barriers)

It's the lingering echo of a blissful ache,
It's the fragrant recipe the night winds make,
It's the secret intel we never share (how could we share?)
A midnight rendezvous in the coastal air.
It's you on the street, roaming through the night,
Refracting my gaze, returning the sight,
(It's you looking back in the fading light)

Indulge me tonight, hit the basement space,
Who cares if tomorrow leaves an empty trace?
The vocals drop, setting a brand new pace,
(Do you wanna dance with me)

A twist, a bend, tracing marks you expose,
With every breath, the temptation grows,
Bodies colliding as the dead-end glows,
(Let me know you further tonight)

It's the echoing ache of flesh and bone,
A rainy night blurring the world we've known,
In the secret city, left completely unsaid (how could it be said?)
All these visceral forms, unrecorded and shed.
It's the vanishing faith across this land,
It's temptation taking the upper hand,
(Let us go explore it tonight)

True or False, You and Me (2022)

True or False, You and Me (2022) is an audiovisual collaboration with producer Kelvin T that navigates the affective toll of ideological fracture. Emerging from a landscape of social and political polarization, the work processes the dissolution of interpersonal relationships torn apart by opposing worldviews. Thematically, the piece grapples with cognitive dissonance, alienation, and epistemic uncertainty—echoed in the lyrical motif "Who can verify my beliefs?"—ultimately arriving at a resolute, solitary affirmation of personal truth amidst widespread disillusionment.

Sonically, the piece constructs a deliberate tension between brutalism and vulnerability. Kelvin T’s signature abrasive, hard-industrial percussion and synth lines provide a rigid, mechanical framework. This sonic harshness is heavily contrasted by Yiu’s classically informed harmonic sensibilities and the emotive lyricism of Cantopop. This dialectic extends into the accompanying visualizer, which features a 3D-scanned, virtual avatar of Kelvin T. Modulated directly by the track's stems, the avatar degenerates and distorts, visually manifesting the breakdown of communication, the distortion of reality, and the fragmented nature of identity in a polarized era. 

《真假你我》（2022）

《真假你我》（2022）是姚氏與音樂製作人 Kelvin T 共同創作的視聽作品，旨在探討意識形態斷裂下所帶來的情感代價。作品回應著社會與政治兩極化下的現實語境，梳理昔日友誼因價值觀分歧而分崩離析的無力感。在主題上，本作直面認知失調（cognitive dissonance）、疏離感與對真理的不可知性——一如歌詞中「誰又可驗證我信仰」的無力詰問——並在廣泛的幻滅感中，最終走向對個人信念那孤獨而堅定的自我肯定。

在聲響建構上，作品刻意營造出粗野主義（brutalism）與脆弱性之間的張力。Kelvin T 標誌性、極具侵略性的重型工業節拍與合成器音景勾勒出冰冷機械的框架；而姚氏深受古典音樂影響的細膩和聲與充滿詩意的粵語流行演繹，則為其注入了強烈的反差。這種冰冷與親密的辯證關係亦延伸至作品的視覺呈現中：影片運用了 Kelvin T 的 3D 掃描立體模型，該虛擬化身隨著音樂的音頻數據產生即時的扭曲與崩解（audio-reactive distortion），在視覺上具象化了兩極化時代下溝通的失效、現實的扭曲以及身份認同的碎片化。

Lyrics (Chinese w/ English translation)

假的你是誰

Who are you, fake?

真的我是負累

I'm really tired

通通都是胡亂說的犯罪

It's all bullshit crime

真的你又是誰

Who are you really?

假的你在入睡

The fake you are sleeping

只得我斷言立約再趕追

I have to make a promise to make a covenant and then chase after

誰又可驗證我信仰

Who can verify my beliefs?

原來你已早知這幻象

It turns out that you already knew this illusion

是非 從來無理

Right or wrong is never reasonable

不說話怎可以想

Without speaking, how can you think?

窺看那臉容 (臉容）

Peek at that face (face)

倒影裡是朦朧 （矇朧）

In the reflection is hazy (hazy)

怎可以自行驗證這幻夢 （誰在發夢）

How can you verify this dream by yourself? (Who is dreaming?)

身分證實無人 （是誰）

No one has been identified (who?)

消失殆盡人群 （是妄念）

Disappearing the crowd (it's a delusion)

星空裡月兒沒法計光分 （是甚麼距離）

In the starry sky, the moon cannot measure the light points (at what distance?)

誰又可 (是你和我)

Who can (you and me)

驗證我信仰 (去驗證你信仰)

Verify my belief? (Go to verify your belief)

原來 你 (我不說話)

So you (I don't speak)

已早知這幻象 (你終知道)

Already knew this vision (you know it)

是非 (無論對錯)

Right or wrong (True or false)

從來無理 (是你和我）

never unreasonable (it's you and me)

不說話 (沉默）

Without speaking (silence)

怎可以想（怎可以想？）

How can you think? (How can you think?)

誰又可驗證我信仰

Who can verify my beliefs?

原來你已早知這幻象

It turns out that you already knew this illusion

是非 從來無理

Right or wrong is never reasonable

不說話怎可以想

Without speaking, how can you think?

Virtual Delusion (2022)

Virtual Delusion (2022) investigates the intersections of digital intimacy, algorithmic determinism, and social isolation. Conceived during the pandemic, the work examines how user-generated data and predictive algorithms have come to govern everyday perception and romantic attachments. Sonically, the piece acts as a speculative hybridization of Cantopop and avant-pop, filtering the emotive lyricism of Hong Kong pop music through the synthetic textures of deconstructed club and underground rave culture.

This exploration of digital mediation extends into the work’s visual identity. The accompanying artwork features a 3D-scanned model of the artist captured via a smartphone’s TrueDepth camera. By adopting the perspective of the device, the work reverses the traditional gaze, illustrating how the machine perceives, flattens, and reconstructs the human subject to grant access to the virtual realm. Echoing the lyric's realization that "intelligent algorithms determine fate," Virtual Delusion questions the authenticity of memory and emotional connection in an era where human consciousness is continuously translated into data.

《虛擬妄想》（2022）

《虛擬妄想》（2022）探討了數碼親密關係、演算法決定論與社會孤立之間的交集。作品構思於疫情期間，審視了用戶數據與預測性演算法如何主宰我們的日常感知與情感依附。在聲響美學上，本作是粵語流行樂與前衛流行樂（avant-pop）的一場推想式混合（speculative hybridization），將香港流行音樂的感性詩意，過濾至解構俱樂部（deconstructed club）與地下銳舞文化那極具侵略性的合成器質感之中。

這種對數碼中介（digital mediation）的探索亦延伸至作品的視覺呈現。單曲封面採用了以智能手機前置 TrueDepth 鏡頭捕捉的藝術家 3D 掃描立體頭像。透過採取設備的視角，作品顛覆了傳統的「凝視」（gaze），呈現出機器是如何感知、扁平化並重塑人類主體，從而為其解鎖進入虛擬世界的權限。呼應著歌詞中「智慧算法定數天注定」的無奈頓悟，《虛擬妄想》詰問了在人類意識不斷被轉化為數據的時代下，記憶與情感連結的真實性。