Category: Filming the Modern Asian City

Cat Links Filming the Modern Asian City, Lecture 2 Filming the Modern Asian City

Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas

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This reading is exceptionally thought-provoking that carefully portrayed the colonial Hong Kong’s cultural and historical development through architecture and cinema and it’s disappearance from Hong Kong in postcolonial. The postcolonial Hong Kong since 1997 resulted in a commercialised and urban future of Hong Kong with influx of migrant workers looking for a home and rapid financial industry development. Tai Kwun in Central, which used to be a police station is the perfect example for the disappearance of cultural and historical sites in postcolonial and its conversion into commercialisation as it is now used as a tourist site with shops. Though

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Cat Links Filming the Modern Asian City, Lecture 2 Filming the Modern Asian City

Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas

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In order to convey the idea that preservation is posited on the disappearance of the historical site, Ackbar defines preservation as selective and tends to exclude the dirt and pain, and provides three examples that illustrate three perspectives: we should not retain the building s that assimilate into the surrounding environment but still creates the gaze of coloniality, troubling people’s cognition of identities; the reincarnation of old buildings is not preservation  since it aestheticizing the house out of existence; rebuild has its aesthetic meanings in films or architecture but no longer contain the idea of preservation. We can see that

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[READING RESPONSE] ABBAS, M.A.

Posted on sumkie

Chan Sum Kie Dorcas u3579263 The past, to me, is incredibly fascinating.  The world where people lived harmoniously without the distractions of technology and enjoyed nature’s breeze every day, the freshness and freedom made the past seem like the ideal world to live in.  I often crave songs from my parents’ (or even grandparents’) generation.  One would think that things from past generations may be outdated, but in reality, the comments under old music videos are filled with youngsters like me who don’t even belong in the generation.  Comments like “reliving my nonexistent 70/80/90s memories” are usually the top comments

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Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas

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Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas City evolves, building ages, people change. There is no eternal principle to the built environment, and Hong Kong as a city where the east meets the west is no exception. In this high time when many questions the true identity of Hong Kong, Abbas’s writing brings in-depth reflection from the perspective of architecture on how the city is shaped. As a past colony of the British Empire, Hong Kong is a city in the east while preserving many western, often British characteristics. Victorian style architecture such as the Murray House the Old Supreme Court and more

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[Reading response] Ackbar Abbas

Posted on daeun

The article mainly discusses about disappearance of historical identity and emergence of anonymity of architecture. He does not only account for physical disappearance, but fading away of the historical meaning it possesses within the architecture. It is further emphasized in films which reflects a city in a specific manner resulting in changing the city’s image. For example, Hong Kong used to be an international port where many trades occurred between countries, a city in China and a British colony. However, large and compact buildings were necessary on such a small land available. Consequently, Hong Kong became a globalized city and

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Spatio-temporal Connections at Zero Degree of Film

Posted on Sum Yuet Faustine

Architects of Time: Reel Images from Warhol To Tsai Ming-Liang brings me to the new realm of film and architecture, seeing filmatic architecture with new eyes.  One may feel confused why architecture is a film. But after watching Andy Warhol’s Empire (1964), I am convinced that architecture is indeed a film. The reflective quality of Empire’s facade becomes a large screen where an urban film displays. The building plays the changing of time with diffraction. The light texture of architecture enables high sensitivity to the “atmosphere”, hence architecture becomes a “pure atmosphere” and a film. However, one not only feels

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“The preservation of history often brings about it’s disappearance”

Posted on Sophia

Abbas talks about the culture of disappearance within Hong Kong, and the issues surrounding it. Abbas claims that preservation, particularly in the Hong Kong context actually brings about the disappearance of culture. Abbas says: “the notion of disappearance I am alluding to does not connote vanishing without a trace”.  The issue of Hong Kong’s cultural and architectural preservation, according to Abbas, is that history is selectively preserved and therefore doesn’t bring about the real substance of Hong Kong’s identity. An example brought up by Abbas is Kowloon Walled City, and the backlash that was brought upon its demolishment. Although Hong

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Hong Kong as a City of Disappearance

Posted on Yui Kan Karie

In Abbas’ Hong Kong: Culture and Politics of Disappearance (1997), Hong Kong is presented as a city of disappearance, where there exists a gap, or hysteresis, between the city and its representation through media and architecture. Hong Kong exists in a limbo between its identity as a British colony and a Chinese city, and an overarching sense of nostalgia colours our image into one of a fleeting, unstable nature. Abbas contends that our image of the city is one that views Hong Kong from a distant and impersonal lens; architecture and iconic landmarks are used as easily recogniseable symbols to represent

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Cat Links Filming the Modern Asian City

Field Trip 2: Tram

Posted on Sunyub

Tilt Shift and Time Lapse   While on the tram, the scene I could catch out was the miniature-like view of Hong Kong. Compare to the size that I actually observe, size on the screen was way more smaller than it was. So I tried to demonstrate the tilt shift method by using some time lapse in horizontal, vertical, and diagonal angles. “Children of the Millennial” Co-existence of old and new generation of Hong Kong was the subject matter that I tried to merge in two different video clips. This distinct contrast paradoxically explains continuous legacy from the past to

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Fill that Void – Let Architecture Times

Posted on Mei Ting

“We become aware of void as we fill it (Porchia, 1943).” No matter are we glimpsing at, passing through or sheltered by architecture, it is often regarded as nothing as compared to the complexity of life we are housed. However, by breaking the general sensory provoking approach, Andy Warhol presented the 8 hours-movie: Empire (1964) to film stationary skyscraper with the juxtaposition of variance brought by time. As the building takes the lead throughout the movie, it brings touchable urban movement and subtle climate changes to the front. Though qualification of Empire as a movie was in question, it is

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