Record: light from +22° 16′ 14″ +114° 68′ 48″
by Kingsley Ng
Video installation (2008)
Video installation is a contemporary art form that combines video technology with installation art. This video installation is combined with two night views of Hong Kong on the screen and a music system.
The night view that is projecting on the left hand side is “The Peak”; the other one on the right hand side is “Victoria Harbor”. In these recorded videos, there have some flashlights, which were produced by the people who were recorded. Those are the photographic flashlights made by the tourists in “The Peak”, and the lights recorded in “Victoria Harbor”. The artist, Kingsley Ng, thinks this kind of light is the most significant thing on the Hong Kong landscape.
source: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/4845688305_c1e9f2cb9e.jpg
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POXTVIGN47w&feature=plcp
(00:46 – 01:56)
The collected data from the recorded video is translated onto a metal disk. And play the data as a gramophone-liked sound system. It means that the work translated the lights into sounds. When there are some flashlights on the screen, the machine would also produce some flashlights with same frequency and made some sounds in the same time, the length and pitch of those sounds are depended on the lights. The sounds translated from the light would be mixed together into soft background music.
Both of the night views have their own meaning respectively. For the “Victory Harbor” side, it is representing the activities of local citizens because those buildings are business building that local citizens work there. On the other hand, the “The Peak” side is representing the activities of tourists in Hong Kong because it is a famous site in Hong Kong for them. In this installation, these two videos made an interaction between the tourists and local people, it is presented by a harmonious music, which is translated by the flashlights.
The audients would be surrounded by the soft background music, which is produced by the machine with the disk, in the installation. It produced a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere to them.
Kingsley seeks to examine the relationship between public spaces and a city’s transient inhabitants. In this artwork, the two night views with the sounds produced is able to show the relationship that he want to perform. It produced a relaxing feeling to audients and everyone could find that, the interaction between visitors and citizens could be harmonious and attractive. More deeply, it showed a different face of Hong Kong that which is not dynamic than that it used to be, to audients. It helped audients to see more clearly to Hong Kong
