Yet another dream after reading this BBC news:
City gears up for culture finale
When are we going to have a collaborative effort to celebrate the cultural diversity in Asia with Asian Capital of Culture taking turns in major Asian cities?
I moan to much ><
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Why do you study what you study?
I was sitting in the London Tube (train system in London) the other day and saw a black African with a guitar case beside his feet and a CD in his hand. Then I thought about this scene and compared it to the Hong Kong MTR (Mass Transit Railways system in Hong Kong).
How often do we see an adult of race other than the majority Chinese sitting in the mass transit railway system that fits similar profile?
With all the opportunity a city has to offer, why is Hong Kong not a magnet for people of all artistic abilities to come together in a city that has so much freedom in expression?
Are there other ways of expressing one's opinion on society and government beside demonstrations and slogan chanting that disharmonies the society?
Too much creativity is used in the process of criticising the government rather than creating an enduring artwork that is timeless.
You might say Hong Kong adopts the "Quick Eat" culture [熟食文化] (easy come, easy go culture since Hong Kong was a stop over for many in the turn of the last century). Then what do you make of century old brands [老字號].
What is so special about Hang Heung [恆香], Lok Yu [陸羽], Below the Lion Rock Mountain [獅子山下], Beyond music, Gangster movie [古惑仔電影], Martial Arts movie [功夫電影], why have they become timeless? And why was I using Pinyin, a Chinese mainland invention to type Chinese to input Chinese rather than an input system that is developed by Canton speakers that promote the Canton dialect.
Why is Hong Kong not a hub of artistic expression, of cultural expresion. A place where artists deprived of the freedom they would otherwise not have in media suppressed China, in tongue-tied embarrassing Taiwan (or Chinese Taipei in Olympics), in gender biased Japan, obedient Singapore, corrpution filled Phillipines, Thailand and many south asian countries.
The world looks to China for its opening market, the finanical centre will move to Shanghai as China's legal system becomes more transparent and reliable.
Tourists will want thousand year old treasures from Xi'an (if our government continues tearing down colonial buildings which make us so different form other Chinese cities).
New buildings are sprining up in Beijing at alarming rates, making it a cultural hub.
It's time for Hong Kong to treasure its freedom, democracy and historical heritage so that it can proudly adopt the title of Ny-Lon-Kong and be a true international city on the world map.
I hope next time, music being transmitted to my ears from train stations will be real singers performing in MTR rather than some random compliation of notes being played on the piano through speakers.
We have great potentials, because we are all made in Hong Kong.
That is why I study art history and architectural history.
Why do you study what you study?
How often do we see an adult of race other than the majority Chinese sitting in the mass transit railway system that fits similar profile?
With all the opportunity a city has to offer, why is Hong Kong not a magnet for people of all artistic abilities to come together in a city that has so much freedom in expression?
Are there other ways of expressing one's opinion on society and government beside demonstrations and slogan chanting that disharmonies the society?
Too much creativity is used in the process of criticising the government rather than creating an enduring artwork that is timeless.
You might say Hong Kong adopts the "Quick Eat" culture [熟食文化] (easy come, easy go culture since Hong Kong was a stop over for many in the turn of the last century). Then what do you make of century old brands [老字號].
What is so special about Hang Heung [恆香], Lok Yu [陸羽], Below the Lion Rock Mountain [獅子山下], Beyond music, Gangster movie [古惑仔電影], Martial Arts movie [功夫電影], why have they become timeless? And why was I using Pinyin, a Chinese mainland invention to type Chinese to input Chinese rather than an input system that is developed by Canton speakers that promote the Canton dialect.
Why is Hong Kong not a hub of artistic expression, of cultural expresion. A place where artists deprived of the freedom they would otherwise not have in media suppressed China, in tongue-tied embarrassing Taiwan (or Chinese Taipei in Olympics), in gender biased Japan, obedient Singapore, corrpution filled Phillipines, Thailand and many south asian countries.
The world looks to China for its opening market, the finanical centre will move to Shanghai as China's legal system becomes more transparent and reliable.
Tourists will want thousand year old treasures from Xi'an (if our government continues tearing down colonial buildings which make us so different form other Chinese cities).
New buildings are sprining up in Beijing at alarming rates, making it a cultural hub.
It's time for Hong Kong to treasure its freedom, democracy and historical heritage so that it can proudly adopt the title of Ny-Lon-Kong and be a true international city on the world map.
I hope next time, music being transmitted to my ears from train stations will be real singers performing in MTR rather than some random compliation of notes being played on the piano through speakers.
We have great potentials, because we are all made in Hong Kong.
That is why I study art history and architectural history.
Why do you study what you study?
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Yeller Zine December Issue
A Frighteningly Wet Dream of Edinburgh
It was perhaps the lack of intonation in Al Gore’s voice, or perhaps the way Heroes and The Day After Tomorrow always tries to paint a different world for our future, or maybe it was the recent scarring of Princes Street recently for the anticipation of a greener and cleaner future.
A combination of the above meant that I would have a frightening dream for the future of Edinburgh.
And it was pretty wet.
And so I was making the familiar transition from Old Town to New Town via the North Bridge. The sudden opening after a cluster of tightly packed medieval streets to an immense opening with a wide panoramic view that stretched to the seas to my right left me awe stricken. I felt that this is one of the those rare moments that the camera is rendered useless because it is like walking out of a tightly packed metallic elevator and breathing in air that is not undergoing a battle of the smells of Armani perfume, wet paint and body odour from all shapes and sizes.
I however, like many others ignored what lies beneath, and regrettably I peered down from North Bridge and saw my reflection. The lost Nor Loch was looking back at me. Whether Waverley station has entirely disappeared or whether there is now a river on top of Prince’s Street Gardens was beyond me.
City Nightclub was no longer a clubbing venue, but a place where baits and fishing rods were sold so that people could fish on either side of the banks. Swans, seagulls, ducks and people flocked to the scene as the University of Edinburgh Rowing team received our cheers from top of the bridge. It was as I descended towards my new found hobby of sailing boats out to Portobello did I wake from this dream and realized that it was after all, another rainy day in Edinburgh.
It was perhaps the lack of intonation in Al Gore’s voice, or perhaps the way Heroes and The Day After Tomorrow always tries to paint a different world for our future, or maybe it was the recent scarring of Princes Street recently for the anticipation of a greener and cleaner future.
A combination of the above meant that I would have a frightening dream for the future of Edinburgh.
And it was pretty wet.
And so I was making the familiar transition from Old Town to New Town via the North Bridge. The sudden opening after a cluster of tightly packed medieval streets to an immense opening with a wide panoramic view that stretched to the seas to my right left me awe stricken. I felt that this is one of the those rare moments that the camera is rendered useless because it is like walking out of a tightly packed metallic elevator and breathing in air that is not undergoing a battle of the smells of Armani perfume, wet paint and body odour from all shapes and sizes.
I however, like many others ignored what lies beneath, and regrettably I peered down from North Bridge and saw my reflection. The lost Nor Loch was looking back at me. Whether Waverley station has entirely disappeared or whether there is now a river on top of Prince’s Street Gardens was beyond me.
City Nightclub was no longer a clubbing venue, but a place where baits and fishing rods were sold so that people could fish on either side of the banks. Swans, seagulls, ducks and people flocked to the scene as the University of Edinburgh Rowing team received our cheers from top of the bridge. It was as I descended towards my new found hobby of sailing boats out to Portobello did I wake from this dream and realized that it was after all, another rainy day in Edinburgh.
Monday, 15 December 2008
Understanding TIanmen Square protests (documentary in mandarin)
If you want to understand historical facts holistically, this is a great documentary.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=r7ou2-Kv4UA
(纪录片天安門 六四事件 Tiananmen Square protests)
The power struggles between students
The power struggles between politicians
The definition of democracy in China
The underlying factors that culmiated into the night of June 4th, 1989.
And more importantly, for our generation of people who care about our countries politics and wish, rather than to blindly shout out slogans like
DEMOCRACY!
or
JUSTICE!
Do look at what one is saying before clothing yourself with such problematic terms.
http://youtube.com/watch?v
(纪录片天安門 六四事件 Tiananmen Square protests)
The power struggles between students
The power struggles between politicians
The definition of democracy in China
The underlying factors that culmiated into the night of June 4th, 1989.
And more importantly, for our generation of people who care about our countries politics and wish, rather than to blindly shout out slogans like
DEMOCRACY!
or
JUSTICE!
Do look at what one is saying before clothing yourself with such problematic terms.
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Yeller Zine November Issue
My new found hobby is writing articles for the art magazine of University of Edinburgh Art Society. So here's the one from November. And some amazing pictures from edinburghlook.wordpress.com
Art for the oldHow many times have you walked down South Clerk Street and saw old pensioners wandering around with walking sticks and wheelchairs. This may sound a bit of a cliché, but without them, there would be no peace and prosperity as we know it today. Yet what we are seeing in our society today is that after they retire, they become an unproductive unit in the economy and their value in society becomes obsolete.
There are many services by the government and charitable services which provide the elderly with the essentials needed for a comfortable life after retirement. I am not suggesting that these efforts are not of importance. These are noble acts by charitable people. But perhaps we could extend our hands further by engaging them with what we think should be the furthest from them – Art.
What immediately comes into mind when I think about accessible art spaces around Edinburgh is the graffiti wall which connects Potterow to South College Street. Being educated in the East. I was taught to behave properly in public places and never to draw anything on walls, not to mention spray cans of paint on a big scale. Graffiti art seemed to me a form of vandalism, as a space for young rebels to voice their anguish against the rules and guidelines of society. It was a wall for the forgotten, for the marginalized and for the minority. A graffiti wall seemed to create chaos and disorder and reflect the government’s inability to keep things in order.
What about old pensioners and graffiti? What would an elderly who have lived through the perils of famine and war think of the society we are living in today? How would he represent his views through graffiti? How would he perceive graffiti as an art form? Can graffiti create a dialogue between the rebellious youth and the respectful old?
Just when I was thinking that I was probably stretching a bit too far to have old pensioners work on the graffiti walls at the corner of Potterow, I came across this news of an elder man doing, you guessed it right, graffiti art!
Juanjaime Lam
P.S. Enjoy old pensioners enjoy fencing!!
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Music in the streets, Obama wanted to be an architect and addiction
1) Since around the age of 19, I started to abandon any portable music devices. The reason being: I find the sounds in the streets create a mood that fits the streets more so than any other music that I possess. And as a foreigner studying abroad, it is easier for me to understand and sync in with the rest of the crowd by observing and eavesdropping.
And so I was in line queueing up in Baguette express (a more authentic healthy alternative choice to Subway) and overhead two students talking.
The girl asked, "So what do you study?"
The guy replied, "Architecture, and you?"
The girl replied, "Anthropology."
And that made me into thinking how similar the two disciplines actually are. At least for me, Architecture is the study of urban rituals and create a building to accommodate such rituals. Anthropology is the study of rural and urban rituals and understand social trends through such rituals.
To me urban rituals are performances with us being either the audience or performer (which are non-exclusive), they are also performances which gives us joy and a sense of togetherness with those around us.
This then lead me to think of what urban rituals are to us city dwellers.
- friday night clubbing (it always puzzles me when people think that staying at home on a friday night means you don't have friends)
- drinking
- movies
- shopping
- public holidays
- work from 9-5, given you like the work
Perhaps I'm not such a bad kid after all, when I go out drinking and clubbing, because I am merely performing an urban ritual to fit in with the norm.
2) I came across this article that mentions Obama's 50 facts you might not know article. Sorry I'm a big fan of him, the last time I turned a big fan of any politican was when Clinton patted the shoulders of then Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat. Here's a nice picture of the love between the three great men.
Anyways, I found out that Obama's alternative choice of occupation to being a politican was being an architect! So I told a friend of mine and she asked me this question.
"What's the difference between an architect and a politican?"
I responded, "They both lie."
And she said "they both have projections for a future."
It would be interesting to see what Obama would've created if he was an architect.
3) If you had to choose one thing that was the most addictive thing on earth, what would it be? I gave an answer that probably has to do with the current mood I am in. But still it was close enough. The 'official' answer is here.
Oh yeah, my answer is the word above and beyond Arafat's head, slightly to the right. Still don't get it?
Love.
And so I was in line queueing up in Baguette express (a more authentic healthy alternative choice to Subway) and overhead two students talking.
The girl asked, "So what do you study?"
The guy replied, "Architecture, and you?"
The girl replied, "Anthropology."
And that made me into thinking how similar the two disciplines actually are. At least for me, Architecture is the study of urban rituals and create a building to accommodate such rituals. Anthropology is the study of rural and urban rituals and understand social trends through such rituals.
To me urban rituals are performances with us being either the audience or performer (which are non-exclusive), they are also performances which gives us joy and a sense of togetherness with those around us.
This then lead me to think of what urban rituals are to us city dwellers.
- friday night clubbing (it always puzzles me when people think that staying at home on a friday night means you don't have friends)
- drinking
- movies
- shopping
- public holidays
- work from 9-5, given you like the work
Perhaps I'm not such a bad kid after all, when I go out drinking and clubbing, because I am merely performing an urban ritual to fit in with the norm.
2) I came across this article that mentions Obama's 50 facts you might not know article. Sorry I'm a big fan of him, the last time I turned a big fan of any politican was when Clinton patted the shoulders of then Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat. Here's a nice picture of the love between the three great men.
Anyways, I found out that Obama's alternative choice of occupation to being a politican was being an architect! So I told a friend of mine and she asked me this question."What's the difference between an architect and a politican?"
I responded, "They both lie."
And she said "they both have projections for a future."
It would be interesting to see what Obama would've created if he was an architect.
3) If you had to choose one thing that was the most addictive thing on earth, what would it be? I gave an answer that probably has to do with the current mood I am in. But still it was close enough. The 'official' answer is here.
Oh yeah, my answer is the word above and beyond Arafat's head, slightly to the right. Still don't get it?
Love.
Sunday, 2 November 2008
Enough said...
Got this interesting cartoon from the Economist.
... very fortunate for me my parents are still able to support my lavish life style, so I have not yet gone mad and can still wonder how Africa is doing.
... very fortunate for me my parents are still able to support my lavish life style, so I have not yet gone mad and can still wonder how Africa is doing.
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