Tower of colony

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Location
Linsen North Road, 27, URS27 The Huashan Prairie, China
Year
2012
Architect

Groundwork
Team: Manfred Yuen阮文韜, Stephen Suen孫天佑, Patrick Wong黄澤培

Curator
Polytechnic University of Hong Kong Jockey Club Design Institute of Social Innovations (JCDISI)
Director/Curator: Alvin Yip葉長安
Graphic and creative: Hinz Park自宇軒
Publicity and local coordinator: Kinki Ng吳依敏

Curator of the event (Taiwan)
Chief Curator: David Tseng曾成德
Curator: Wei Tseng曾瑋
Construction: John-son Liao廖炯昇
Coordination: Aria Yang楊千慧

Organizer|Client
The Urban Regeneration Office, Taipei City, Taiwan
Rainbow Fish Cultural Enterprise, Taiwan

Fabric Contractor (Hong Kong)
Sun Hing Curtain and Cavnas Co.Ltd

Phototgrapher
Joseph Jiau焦正德

Exhibit at the NEXT PLAY : Shifting Ground Exhibition: Taipei 臺北未來生活居概念展

THE EVENT – The Colony Project is the Hong Kong installation at Taipei NEXT PLAY : Shifting Ground Exhibition.  Invited by the Taipei City Urban Regeneration Office, three teams of architects from Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong were asked to respond to a theme, ‘Displacement’, to transform a 1 acre site at Huashan, a cultural district at the heart of Taipei City. The architects further develop the concept based on views to his city’s identity; the works are exhibited to public for two months. The subject our team (Hong Kong) wished to explore was The Colony. We are interested in how migrant reacts on a foreign land. By building on the site, we 'colonized’ 1 acre of grassland from site, therefore colonizing a fragment of Taipei. Hong Kong, a colony by nature, has now its own colony. Our abstraction of the act of colonization can be observed at two scales: The Tower and The Performance.

THE PERFORMANCE – Directions are from a commentator from The Tower, visitors may use the chalk dispensers that are scattered over the site to demarcate territories with symbols. Participants are given a ‘task’ to ‘work’, their actions and marks will be recorded by a camera mounted on The Tower. Not only acting as headquarter to The Colony, also, the building symbolizes a totem of power and governances. The play, or performance, is the embodiment of four sets of paradoxes: 1/right (Taiwan ownership VS Hong Kong use), 2/space (transparency VS boundary), 3/man (spectator VS performer), 4/media (tangible VS translated). Hong Kong immigrants will be drawing concessions of land, Taiwanese audiences shall witness alienation of their home ground.

THE TOWER – Construction of the tower further facilitates our abstraction of colonialism. Skin of The Tower is prefabricated in Hong Kong and shipped to Taiwan. Towards the end of our ruling, the skin can be shipped back to Hong Kong or other parts of the world for other colonization conquests. The Tower may be replicated thus reinforcing Hong Kong's "sovereignty". Ambience of The Tower was engineered so that it may possess two characters: the skin is introverted during daytime; its neutral color mimic and blend-in with the cloudy sky of Taipei; at night, the skin is illuminating and flamboyant. A projection screen will broadcast The Performance recorded during the day at a fixed time during the evening. The conglomeration of the people around The Tower will therefore be ritualistic and routined.

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