I want my B(OOK)TV -- so much to unpack (literally) from Good Afternoon Hong Kong! by @chihoichihoi
#REPOST @taikwuncontemporary #LoveBooksByArtists
Chihoi, Good Afternoon Hong Kong!
翻閲香港藝術家智海的《香港午安》(台灣挪石社,2017)就如同網上介紹最新手機或科技產品的「開箱」體驗。這本特製畫書比火柴盒略大,紙盒裏外的一幅幅手繪插圖,引領著我們去尋寶:一部如玩具電視般的掌中幻燈機,可以讓讀者觀看特別委託德國老牌廠商沖製的「電視上看不到的香港八景」幻燈片。幻燈機的復古風格讓人想起香港七十年代末最興盛的電子工業。
内附的中英小誌説明書有一篇《八景筆記》,以香港機場、文華東方酒店、白仙嶺和舊天星小輪鐘樓等地點為背景,記載了個人和社群在時代變遷中流離失所的點滴故事。
《香港午安》是一個時間膠囊,通過幻燈機的模擬鏡頭,描繪了一趟虛擬旅行。打開這個小小的「八寶箱」,就可看到藝術家書籍原來也有如此這般的景致。
Exploring Good Afternoon Hong Kong! (nos:books, 2017) evokes the experience of "unboxings" by netizens introducing the latest mobile phone or tech gadgets online. For Hong Kong artist Chihoi, this starts with a cardboard container barely bigger than a matchbox. Replete with vivid text and illustrations, its exterior and inside flaps effectively advertise the treasure trove within, including a "full colour slide viewer" in the form of a miniature plastic toy television. Sourced from a traditional factory in Germany, its retro style recalls Hong Kong's heyday as an electronics hub beginning in the late-1970s, and where "8 splendid views of Hong Kong unseen on TV" can be seen and "read".
The box also contains a zine in the form of an instructional guide. Entitled "Notes on the Eight Scenes" Hong Kong's airport, Mandarin Oriental hotel, Pak Sin Leng Mountain, former Star Ferry Clock Tower and other sites, serve as backdrops to relay stories of personal and communal displacement amid the challenges of changing times.
In the end, Good Afternoon, Hong Kong! is a time capsule depicting virtual travel through an analog lens. In so doing, it simultaneously "unpacks" a vision of what an artist book can be.
#LoveBooksByArtists(心水藝術家書籍),我們會從藝術家書籍圖書館精心挑選其中藏品,公諸同好。圖書館集中搜羅亞洲藝術家主導出版的書籍,並不時舉辦講座、展覽、工作坊等活動,推廣書籍作爲藝術表達的媒介。
#LoveBooksByArtists features selections from the Artists’ Book Library—a growing collection of Asia-centred, artist-driven publications—and through its programme of talks, live events, displays, editions, workshops, and special projects highlighting books as a medium of artistic expression.
智海:《香港午安》(2017) Chihoi, Good Afternoon Hong Kong! (2017). (at Hong Kong)
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