[Field-Homework 3] Fast City-MTR passage

Title: Fast City-MTR passage

Director: Wang You, 3036260278

Video Link:

 

The Theme

Hong Kong, being known as a fast-developing city, has experienced huge urban development since the 19th century. Corinne Tiry, an architect researcher, pointed out in a review that the railway infrastructure plays an essential role in future development. Cities can “redevelop” through mass transit”. [1] The construction of the Mass Transit Railway, or the MTR contributes much to urban development in Hong Kong. It started its first passenger service in 1979 with only nine stations. However, up until 2022, there are already 99 stations, connecting the corners of the city and the downtown and building the mass network of transportation. [2]

S. A. Barden and T. V. Runnacles who are working for the Hong Kong government, said in an article that “Traffic has concentrated along particular corridors where its volume now exceeds road capacity”.[3] MTR contributes much to that. It is built underground, reducing the pressure of limited use of land. Meanwhile, it also alleviates heavy traffic on streets. People have more convenient and cheap ways of going out.

I focus on the MTR passage in Hong Kong as a subject to convey the idea of ‘fast city’. I think the MTR passage is a typical example of a ‘transient’ place. Every day thousands of passengers pass through here, with a destination in mind. Everyone only short stays for a period, then hurrying for their daily trivial. No one really belongs here. The strangers you have brushed past, the chatting sounds around you, and the views from outside, are all the things that last for only seconds. No one really calms down and feels the moment. Everyone is fast-paced, so is the train itself.

Despite being “fast” in transiting, MTR is using its way to encourage passengers to slow down and observe the surroundings. The site-specific artworks presented in the stations and the ‘stingers’ hidden in the name of different stations are used in this way. The introduction of all the artworks can be found on the official MTR website. People as passengers not only short-stay in the stations, but once they see the artwork and think about it, they engage in this environment. Arts help to alleviate tense of the space and build a connection between the place and people. The whole-wall glass mosaic mural in Central conveys the message that “Each of us is like a little stone, but together we reveal the face of our Home”. [4] Perhaps it will comfort someone hurrying for life, at least it comforts me when I noticed such a huge piece.

Therefore, even though MTR is a carrier for ‘being fast’, it itself is designed to tell us to ‘slow down’. Train is fast, our life is fast, but we can choose ourselves to be slow, in every moment of being fast.

Methodology

Before this assignment, every time I took the MTR or passed through the MTR passage in Hong Kong, I could feel the hurry from the crowd of people. This feeling of hurry and chaos makes me feel uncomfortable and even suffocated. People with different identities are moving towards different directions. Being one member of the crowd, I began to be quite curious about this circumstance. What makes it so fast? Meanwhile, I noticed some artworks are acting like ‘fresh air’ in the stations, which doesn’t exist in Shenzhen’s railway station. I was impressed by those designs. In this rapid and even “indifferent” underground railway station, the existence of those arts makes the place more vivid and humane. There are lots of people around me, but the feeling of loneliness and stress is unstoppable. It is only those arts that make me ‘breathe’ in this fast-paced and even frantic place. That’s the reason I chose this topic.

The method I chose to produce the video is going to different MTR stations for fieldwork. I chose the lines that I am familiar with, mainly the Island Line and the East Rail Line. I also focus on the Admiralty station, which is an interchange station where four lines cross here, so there is always a large flow of people.

In the video, to convey the idea of ‘fast’, I try to focus on the large crowd in the stations, either when transferring lines or getting on or off the subway. In some of the scenes, I used the low-angle shot to capture the disordered steps of the crowd. I at the same time moved the camera with the steps. It can reveal a feeling of fast and hasty. There are also some scenes that I shot from a high angle. The many ‘heads’ in the frame can help create a feeling of chaos. I also shot vertically down on my feet, together with other people’s feet intruding on my frame, to depict the crowd. But the majority of shots are on the eye level, to reflect the reality in a more natural and daily way. To capture the scenes of artworks, I attempted to avoid the crowd to show how they are different from the rest spaces (Although it isn’t achieved perfectly).

In the video, there are some scenes of views from the window. I was so surprised when I saw the complete, pure green from the window. Taking this line several times, it was my first time noticed the beauty outside, which relaxed my frayed nerves. I think it can be used as a comparison for different atmospheres. The dull inside and the bright outside, of which people are always focusing on the former but ignore the latter (like many people prefer to look at their phone).

Overall, from the video I want to convey the message that MTR passage as a transit place accelerates the speed of modernization of Hong Kong, and also the life of us residents. But at the same time, it also encourages us to slow down and pay more attention to surroundings.

References:

[1] Tiry, Corinne. “Hong Kong’s Future Is Guided by Transit Infrastructure.”Japan Railway & Transport review, http://www.ejrcf.or.jp/jrtr/jrtr35/pdf/f28_tir.pdf

[2] Hong Kong: The Facts – Railway Network, https://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/factsheets/docs/railway.pdf

[3] Barden, S. A., and T. V. Runnacles. “Transport in a High‐density Urban Environment: The Experience of Hong Kong.” Taylor and Francis Online, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01441648608716628

[4] Official MTR Website, https://www.mtr.com.hk/en/customer/community/art_archi_home.html

Video References:

[1] Hong Kong: The Facts – Railway Network,  https://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/factsheets/docs/railway.pdf

[2] Zhang, Wenyi. “Hong Kong: Average Daily Passenger Journeys on MTR Lines 2021.” Statista, 3 Jan. 2024,  https://www.statista.com/statistics/960380/hong-kong-average-daily-passenger-number-on-mtr-lines/

[3] Official MTR Website, https://www.mtr.com.hk/archive/corporate/en/publications/images/business_overview_e.pdf

[4] Rainbow pic: MTR Corporation Limited

Wang You, 3036260278