In 1997, where a sense of the imminence of Hong Kong’s disappearance pervaded, there was an intense desire for an identity. Yet “Hong Kong is a space traversed by different times and speed, where changes has no clear direction.” As a “para-site”, it had always had a tendency towards timelessness and placelessness. Therefore, the harder people attempted to define it, the quicker the complex space disappear into a facile, ersatz one-dimensional image. Hong Kong architecture, which intimately related to the city’s definition, had failed to link history, space and affectivity. Preservation denied any pain and dirt. Together with the too-easy

Continue readingReading Response: Ackbar Abbas

Andy Warhol’s Empire State Building lasted for eight hours, using a single fixed camera to shoot the changes of the Empire State Building in New York from dark to early morning for eight hours, and then splicing the negatives. While some critics say Warhol’s films are a boring aesthetic, his “artwork” gives architecture a whole new definition. Seen from his Empire State Building film: Perceiving space is achieved through the observation of the passage of time and changes in light. Architecture becomes a vehicle for many actions, preserving the movement of time and the passage of people. Of course, at

Continue readingReading Response: Giuliano Bruno

In the article, Hong Kong is described as city of heterogeneity and contradictions as disappearance develops tendency towards timelessness, placelessness, yet also proposes need of cultural identity. When narrating architecture, movies are double-edged swords. For viewers, films may be the only window to have a glimpse of Hong Kong’s landscape, hence fostering one-dimensional understanding towards the city. Even me who grew up here sometimes subconsciously take what’s portrayed in films as the only “architectures” in Hong Kong, neglecting what constructs the remaining dull yet essential part:  urban vernacular. The city is not only the old Hong Kong with traditional Chinese-styled

Continue readingReading Response: Ackbar Abbas

According to the article by Ackbar Abbas, the concept of disappearance refers to a tendency to timelessness and placelessness, and he seems to believe that Hong Kong best exemplifies this concept. As a Korean, I had lived in Seoul for a long time (16 years and a half). After visiting such cities as Tokyo and New York, I had this frustration that Seoul, compared with these cities whose uniqueness had astonished and enchanted me, was rather dull and boring, having nothing to offer but a confused topology, broken skylines, labyrinths of unimpressive streets, perpetual stress, and pneumonia. Perhaps this judgment

Continue readingReading Response: Ackbar Abbas

In Abbas’ article, he mainly discuss the connection between architecture and films. Since they are all preeminently visuals, film can show audiences the architecture from the point of view of the city. Besides, Abbas mentioned the concept “disappearance”, which means that many architectures and histories were disappearing in the context of Hong Kong. However, I think what makes every city has unique charm lies on the experience of it, including the passing of architectures and histories. In Bruno’s article, he skillfully compare the real time in reality and the ‘real’ time in the movie. It is important to transfer the

Continue readingReading Response: Ackbar Abbas and Giuliano Bruno