Disturb The Water And Catch The Fish
渾水摸魚
THE UNLIMITED QUALITY OF LIMITED SPACE
無限的有限空間
NGAI CHUNG HON, ANGUS
魏忠漢
Extreme conditions of high density living have been imposing great pressure on daily life and created non-stop argument between government policies and citizens’ expectation. It leads to social laceration which may possibly originate in the living distortion created by extreme capitalist visions. The distortion manipulates our concept of time and space which keep urging for achieving new extreme in both physical and mental, especially for whose has lower income.

For instance, an usual “bedroom” for partitioned space (板間房) of low income people is about 1900mm x 1500mm, which had become a basic unit for the physical purpose of sleeping, and also had become a measurement of social status and stages of life for the middle class. In high-rise residential tower, habitant concerns how smart they could extend 500mm of the bed from bay window and re-level it with a storage platform at 500mm(H). Those living adaption for sleeping on “bay window” is a commonplace of family scenes and has become a “bedroom norm” of a blessed family. Since Hong Kong people are too adaptive for confined space and used to create flexible solutions, they keep overcoming problems and adjusting solutions in different period of time for tackling difficult circumstances imposed to them, in the meanwhile, we seems have forgotten the inherent quality of living which we should deserved.

The art installation extracts the concept of partitioned space of low income people and turns it into a new partitioned spatial concept which can separate and integrate spaces to create an unlimited quality. Partition can shuts down and open up space for interaction in which local wisdom always present it with freedom of will within limited space for great possibilities, look at the vibrant streetscape in Hong Kong. Sometimes, the interactive scenes present certain spatial beauty as same as a poem, which creates great imagination with limited words and spatial setting. Could you experience the wisdom of poetic space within the limited space of 2.75 sqm? It may be a new dimension facing the problem of limitation, expanding our imagination and giving unlimited quality for such limitation facing by high density living.

高密度生活和極端的資本主義環境下,市民生活壓力大, 政府政策和市民的生活期望有很大落差。它導致社會撕 裂,社會意識形態各走極端。特別對那些低收入的市民 而言,這些都是極端生活價值的後遺症。

低收入人士的板間房(臥室空間)約1900毫米x1500毫米,這空間已成為睡眠的基本物理單位,也作為判斷社會地位和人生階段的測量指標。

屏風有限制空間概念,但分隔的同時是否亦應有整合空間的概念(無限制的想像空間)?它在分隔空間時亦誘發互動,令自由意志在有限的空間裡展示它的可能性。如詩一般,用有限的文字誘出巨大的想像空間美感。你能體驗到板間房2.75平方米的有限空間帶來的詩意嗎?它可能為限制(Limitation)提供一個新的層面,擴大我們的想像力,在高密度的生活及壓力中給人釋放無限的質量。