Sights and sounds

Jan 9th, 2014

I've been here for a couple of days now. I should mention that this is not my first visit to Hong Kong, but it will certainly be the longest. Despite my previous visits, I am always visually overloaded by this place. Everyday is a oddly comfortable battle, stuck in crowds while surrounded by bright lights and the smell of food, or someones cigarette smoke. I've been having mixed interactions with the locals - some are so willing to go out of there way to help you, and others are stone cold. I guess that's the same as anywhere. So far the residency has been prep work, gallery hopping (the galleries all seem to be packed into certain areas) and as well a visit to the local Artist library. In short, every day has been a learning experience. I'm still getting set up in the studio and gathering supply to get started. Tomorrow is a supply run day, then we (the residents of the studio/Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC)) start the usual Friday group critiques. It should be interesting to see how different Artists from different places in the world analyze things.

Some visuals for you all: Coming into the city from the airport. Which one of these is the Kam Ling building?

After a good twenty minutes since getting off the bus, I finally found the place. I wasn't sure if it was the right place at first, but the man at the front of the building spoke something in Chinese and pointed upstairs. I was very reluctant at first, but then I saw this on a door and all was well. Sort of.

The room as expected was small, but much smaller than I was expecting for a 'double suite'. I can't even open the door full swing without hitting my luggage. Even if the luggage wasn't there, I'd hit the bed instead. The ad also said it had a hot tub, which I suspected was actually just a bath tub with hot water access. It turned out to be neither, and just a shower. I should mention that the shower is in the same room as the toilet to save space, so there is no wall separating them. This means that when you shower, the toilet and everything else in the room gets drenched. They even gave me sandals so I don't have to tread through the pool of water each time after a shower. I guess it's all part of the experience, right?

I went to the studio the next day for a tear down of this large scale installation:

The result:

Some exploration outside revealed that yarn bombing is a worldwide trend

Wishing I could read Chinese while at the Artist library (Olafur Eliasson's work)

Calorie burning staircase

Sounds about right!

Thanks for tuning in!