This is a story, a story about the city. The main character in this tale is a not so significant, and soon to be forgotten skyscraper. It does not remember when it was constructed and it does not remember the faces of those people who once lived there. In its lost memory there seems to be a mission, yet it cannot remember exactly what it is. It drifts in space, between reality and utopia, endlessly searching for an ideal city. 這是一個故事，一個有關都市的故事。這故事的主角是一間不甚起眼而且快將被遺忘的大廈，它記不起自己是何時被建造，更記不起曾經與誰人一起生活過。在模糊的記憶中它好像有一個使命，但它始終想不起來。它遊離於現實世界與烏托邦之間，不斷尋找它的理想都。
Constructed before 1893, the home of Cheah Tat (Tek) Soon was the first four-storey private residence in Penang. In 1917, the property was converted into a hotel known as Bellevue Hotel and Raffles-by-the Sea. In 1920, the building housed the Shih Chung Primary School. Today, this building on Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah (formerly Northam Road), is expected to be restored as a heritage hotel. (Source: Penang Museum).
There were captured American tanks and helicopters on display at the ArmyMuseum; the center piece is a large pyramid like installation made by wreckages of American war planes that were shot down during the Vietnam War. This place reminds me of the post 9/11 world we are currently living in, architecture shifts role from symbolizing progress into becoming part of the weapon system. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
Drift City (Hamburg, Germany), 2009
Chile House (Chilehaus) in Hamburg was designed by the architect Fritz Hoger between 1922 and 1924 during the height of Modernism. It has a reinforced concrete structure covered by a lot of bricks (4.8 million). When viewed from the east side this massive building suddenly becomes very light at the top which resembles the prow of a ship. The slight shift of viewpoint alters the way one look at reality. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
Drift City (Lijiang, China), 2009
The old city of Lijiang transformed itself into a giant tourist town once elevated into a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town is crowded all the time and I finally found my peace at the LuguLake during sunset hours when most tourists left for dinner. The water was shallow; a dog was chasing me and barking at the left hand side of my boat, making the experience rather surreal. I was thinking this would be as close as I get to Shangri-la, if it really exists. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
Drift City (Ginza Osen, Japan), 2008
The hot spring hotels were organized along a river and connected by small bridges. The architecture style is mostly from the Showa period (1926-89) and I felt like going back in time. I heard the great Japanese manga master, Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎駿), came here to research for his animation, Spirited Away (千與千尋). In that story, ghosts and various spirits crossed a bridge to enjoy hot spring every night. One dark snowy night, I slipped outside with my costume, the staffs from the hot spring hotel peeped out curiously, probably wondering if the spirits have returned for real from the movie.
Schroder House designed by Gerrit Rietveld is often considered as the iconic building of Modernism and a masterpiece of De Stijl movement. Imagine the world is restricted into only 3 directions X, Y, & Z axis, that is what this building is about; restrictive and might not be comfortable after a while. I borrowed the dog from a lady who was walking it leisurely when I was busy composing the photo. In my mind I was thinking, people controls architecture and architecture come around controlling people. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
Drift City (Kaiping, China), 2007
Kaiping is another UNESCO World Heritage Site declared in 2007. The Diaolou cluster (fortified multi-story tower) was mostly built from 1920s to 1930s by Chinese laborer who earned their livings in North America. When these workers returned to their home town villages, they often stopped by Hong Kong and bought books and postcards. Local builders who constructed these towers would copy from these architectural images. The result is a wonderful hybrid of western and eastern architectural style. This place is actually about separation, longing and reunion.
Burano is a little island located northeast of the main island Venice, it is famous for lacework and its many colourful houses. The scale of the buildings is smaller than usual, giving the town a very cozy and toy house like feeling. This area is popular amongst artist. Like in Venice, many of these houses were unoccupied most time of the year, they were empty shells wishing for the return of their owners.
Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大) is located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto. Hundreds of Torii lined the mountain of this Shinto shrine, forming a spectacular tunnel. Moving forward in space and time, passing Torii after Torii with the shimmering sunlight bouncing off the orangey red beams, I did feel a moment of enlightenment. That was before I started walking back down the mountain and saw the names of the many individual companies carved on the back of the Torii. All wishing for good wealth and fortune; like the sun beam, the utopian feeling suddenly vanished without a trace.
One might forget about the power of nature after living in the city for too long. But once in a while nature will always remind us its true might such as in the forms of typhoon, hurricane, and earthquake, etc. Capturing the power of the wind and turning it into a tool for human is an ingenious idea. This piece of architecture is a good example of how the marvel of nature and building peacefully blend into one.
Finse is located 1,222m above sea level. When I passed through it in June, there was still plenty of snow on the mountain which seems so strange to me. The area is only reachable by train. Once I got off I immediate felt the silence of this amazing place. There was not a sound in the middle of noon except the crackling noise of snow being crushed underneath my boots. My wife Margaret and I climbed over knee deep snow and finally found this spot next to the FinsevatnetLake, the perfect place for a cup of hot coffee.
Stockholm City Hall (Stockholms Stadshus) was constructed from 1911 to 1923 using eight million red bricks. I was carrying a walkie-talkie on my neck so I can communicate with the photographer who stationed at the top of the tower, I would know exactly when and where to turn when told. Life is like walking into a labyrinth sometime except there will be no voices from above telling you which way to go.
Countries in northern Europe are puzzling. Finish people have high educational level and monthly salary, yet the suicidal rate of the country is ranked among the world top 10. This photo was taken in the evening but the sky was so blue it made me lost the sense of time. No wonder I was so tired in Helsinki, everyday was an extra long day completely forgetting the time to go to bed.
Long time ago there was a prince who appreciated art very much. He built this fairy tale castle named Neuschwanstein (NewSwanStoneCastle) based on an opera he loved and left state matters ignored. The prince was eventually ousted by the cabinet and died mysteriously. A tour guide said the castle in Disneyland was modeled after this one. I hiked an hour to the top of the mountain, wondering if all fairy tales should have a happy ending.
Prague is famous for being a romantic city but it was packed with tourist during my visit, I was one of them. To enjoy a moment of romanticism and solitude, I had to wake up at 4am to have this photograph taken. Sometimes it is not that good to be famous.
There were so many people running away from the Soviet controlled East Berlin back in 1961, the authority eventually built the Berlin wall to prevent people from getting into West Berlin, many died during the quest for freedom. It is amazing how a simple architectural construct such as a wall could become the separator of confinement and freedom.
The average life span of a skyscraper is supposed to be longer than that of a person. Every time I saw a building being demolished, it made me feel sad, buildings are supposed to be standing up not coming down. There seems to be two timelines running parallel of each other for people and architecture. Occasionally the two timelines intertwined into each other, forming interesting stories.
The intensive Mediterranean sun beaten down from the sky, cooking the white pavement on the street. Tourists fleeted like exposed roaches took refuge in the restaurants leaving the streets abandoned. The guidebook said this spot offers the most beautiful sunset of the world. I went back that evening, all hopes were lost; everybody seemingly was given the same advice.
Taipei 101 is the tallest building of the world! the headline in 2004 said. It held on to its World Tallest title until beaten by Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. But all is not lost; there are plans to build five additional stories.A growing tower, the race is on. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
Drift City (Okinawa), 2004
The volcanic rocks brutally chewing up the bottom of my shoes as I stood looking at the Pacific Ocean. The island was sandwiched by two tropic cyclones and sudden gust of wind kept blowing into my chest causing me to sway back and forth. Looking out from the window of my headpiece, I saw the power of nature and worried what would happen if I fell into the ocean.
The outdoor temperature was 4 degree Celsius and I only had my paper building to keep me warm in the Forbidden City. A security guard with long overcoat discovered the skyscraper and shouted angrily at me What the hell are you doing? I immediately replied with an equally angry voice I am taking architecture photographs for a magazine! I dare not tell him I am an artist fearing that I might get arrested. The guard left me alone since I was only doing a commercial project. This gave me a new insight into what is allowed and what is forbade in the highly commercialized Forbidden City. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
Drift City (Macau, China), 2003
Imagine a person with no body but only a face; that is what happened to the Ruins of St. Pauls built in 1602. The main hall of this church was burnt down in 1835 and only its façade remains. This frontage of this building is now listed as a World Heritage site, but it is not exactly a building anymore. The space beyond the facade shall remind forever a fantasy in the imaginative mind of its visitors.
The policemen armed with AK-47 machine guns yelled at me as I was putting on my Building Man suit at the Pyramid. They said to take picture I needed to buy a license which would cost several thousand US dollars. They took me and my wife to their office when I told them it was doing an art project; they did not know what to do with me. After two hours they finally realized they cannot extort any money out of me and let me go. I then rented two camels at US$60 and rode to the back of the Pyramid and quickly got this photograph taken.
I came across interesting comments and questions while wandering around Yu Garden in Shanghai. A local resident saw me and shouted Look! Performance Art! The gardener asked me secretly if I came through the front gate with the suit on. She promised not to tell the authority. A foreign lady questioned me if I was protesting against the Chinese government. Finally, a Japanese tourist asked me politely if she could take pictures with me, free of charge?
A security guard rushed towards me as I was posing for the fourth photographs at The Merlion site. He told me I was not permitted to take photograph since I might scare the tourists... I asked a local man who happened to be sitting at the outdoor cafe if he was frightened by my presence, he said No. Some country will take extra steps to ensure the comfort of their citizens.
School's Art Ambassador Program 校園藝術大使計劃, 2009 _______________________________________________________________________________________________
Personal Skyscraper Workshop 我的摩天大樓工作坊
Architecture is a powerful tool; it is also a kind of wisdom. Architecture and human life are intermingled; buildings not only protect our bodies, but are also a symbol of human civilization. The children who participated in this project transformed skyscrapers from the city into wearable architectural clothing by using foam boards and paper. This workshop encouraged the children to observe and admire the architecture inside their city, stimulating their sense of awareness towards the urban environment. 建築是一種非常厲害的工具，也是一種智慧。它與人類生活式式相關，不單止保護着我們的身體，也是人類文明的標記。參與此工作坊的小朋友把大厦轉化為可穿在身上的大廈形衣服。透過身體力行的方式讓小孩子從小就建立起懂得欣賞城市建築，愛護環境的精神。
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Shanghai Zendai MOMA Personal Skyscraper Workshop 上海証大現代藝術館身體與建築工作坊 Jan, 2008
I was invited by the Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art to have a workshop to the young children of Shanghai. I spent 3 days there to teach the children how to appreciate architecture and designing their own architectural form. At the end of the workshop we all went out to the Bun and had a fantastic parade alongside real skyscrapers, I was playing the flute and it was a wonderful experience. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
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Body & Architecture Workshop 身體與建築工作坊 Diocesan Boys School 拔萃男書院, 2005
I just completed a paper architecture workshop with the students from DiocesanBoysSchool. The students over there are full of energy and the art teachers Eva and Millie were wonderful. The resulting works are pretty interesting as well.
I just leaded a group of elementary students to do a three days Body and Architecture Workshop at the Po Leung Kuk Tin Kai Ping Millennium Primary School. The students are first divided into small groups then they were asked to sketch their ideas out on paper. After that they are to construct their designs by using cardboard papers. The students are full of great ideas creating lots of interesting works as a result. We all had a great time playing together. In here, I would like to give a special thanks to their art teacher Miss Ng [Nat] for inviting me to come over to perform the workshop.
