Author: Nok Ming Valerie

Cat Links 2024 Blog, Final Video Essay

[Field-Homework 3] The Demolition Casualty in the City: Alleyway, Yau Ma Tei

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Video Essay Link: https://youtu.be/vPZPaXcfnyU Introduction Set in the alleyways in Yau Ma Tei, the video essay named “The Demolition Casualty in the City: Alleyways, Yau Ma Tei” argues that alleyways are greatly harmed by redevelopment. The theme demolition casualty implies their irresistibility and vulnerability yet possessing an optimistic view on the preservation of passageway by the help from community members. Secondary sources will mainly be used to support the hypothesis, coupling with on-site video clips and photographs featuring buildings, alleyways that provide an understanding of the current situation in the area. In the following sections, I will probe into specific

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Cat Links 2024 Blog

[READING RESPONSE] In Search of the Ghostly in Context: Esther M. K. Cheung

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Representational Space, politics, class and urban Hong Kong are featured in various movies, and a brief history of domestic public housing is probed into. Using Ghost as a movie agent not only express defamiliarization and uncanniness but introduce supernatural power that seems to be infinitely powerful in a space that belongs to powerless people (i.e. lower income groups). We witness an outburst of movies on metaphysical genre in the 70s to 90s, but its influences couldn’t be overseen. The political fear shared among community, revolving around the uncertainty and disjointed emotions raised from the future returning of sovereignty of Hong

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Cat Links 2024 Blog, Workshop 3: Designing the Video Essay

[Mood Board]: “The Disappearing Casualty in the City” by Kan Nok Ming Valerie

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Serves as a collection of elements associated with alleyway, the alleyways serve as the connection of spaces within a place. The redevelopment caused a gradual disappearance of the space which serves as the architectural aesthetics of the city. The descriptions suggest an alternative view towards alleyways as an economic stimulator.  

Cat Links 2024 Blog, Lecture 6: Housing Stories

[Moving House Reflection]- Kan Nok Ming Valerie

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The local citizens’ societal demands and the idea of materiality (e.g. land for building house) triumph over the inherent cultural morality and piety (e.g people dig their ancestor’s cemetery). There is a conflict of interest and land use among stakeholders, in which there is excessive amount of recreational land uses for rich people (e.g. golf course) yet mark the absence of a permanent cemetery for ancestors to be buried and at rest.

Cat Links 2024 Blog, Fieldwork

[Fieldwork Report] Kan Nok Ming Valerie and Ye Tsz Yu Candy

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YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/u5eONwWthoo Transcript: C= Candy V=Valerie C: “I’ve known from an early age; money is a dream. It’s a fantasy. It’s also a future” (film quote) V: Oh, it seems that you are having a hard time trying to make ends meet! C: I’m not talking from my own perspective; it is a quote from the film Little Cheung released in 1999. V: Oh yes indeed! Do you remember that we watched that movie together during the semester break? C: Yes, perhaps we should also introduce this wonderful film to our listeners. C: I am Candy. V: I am

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Cat Links 2024 Blog, Lecture 4: Everyday Spaces as Narrative

[READING RESPONSE] Spatial Stories by Michael De Certeau

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Kan Nok Ming Valerie (3036233483) The author has addressed concepts like ‘everyday tactics’, ‘place and space’, ‘boundaries and frontier’ through explaining their meaning and making differentiation between elements being superficially similar. The fact that “space is a practiced place” as stated in page 117 extends to the meanings that a place becomes a space when there is operations and mobility. This provokes my thoughts that it also applies to one’s memory. While the territory with memories is bounded with barriers and frontiers, the memory tied in the place functions as a catalyst rather than solely a backdrop to transform itself

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