Learning to walk in darkness
黑暗中行走的練習
2014
Video, 2 mins 19 secs
Living in Hong Kong means one hasn't really experienced true darkness at night in the city, thus I was initially overwhelmed by the complete darkness when walking on the stony path (with steps and different objects on the way) from the gate of the artist-in-residence site (located in the Bangladesh district of Yerevan) to the artists’ apartment.
The first few nights I lit my way with the use of my mobile phone, but then I tried to walk without it and found that exciting. I started to time how fast I walked in the dark and compare that with my daytime walking speed. This video was shot to reflect my speed on July 21, 2014—after more than two months of practice.
It's meant to be a reflection on my being-raised in a highly urbanized culture where night is synonymous with danger and there must be abundant light to prevent crime and accidents. Brightening up the city of Hong Kong also include numerous neon lights, spotlights, and those never switched off lights in commercial buildings--all these result in light pollution, sleep problem, and energy wastage.
Please see Night Scene Photo Exchange—an extension of this work (https://nightscenephotoxchange.blogspot.com/?view=flipcard)—that will give you an idea of what Hong Kong looks like during the night.
在香港生活，未曾在市區經驗過黑喑，所以在亞美尼亞葉里溫市駐場計劃的住處頭幾個晚上，要在沒有照明底下，從閘口在滿佈石頭的路上步行至下榻之處 (途中有梯級及其他物件），亦曾擔心過失足跌倒，會用電話作照明之用。
雖然明白自已的反應，但也對此好奇。人的眼睛能在不同的光喑處景看見週遭的情況，所以我開始嘗試讓它們引路，不用電話照明。現在，電話就成了我行這段路的計時器，比較日間與晚上步行速度的差別。這個録像紀録了2014年7月21日晚上，在練習了兩個月後的黑夜步行結果。
對我來說，這是一個對長久活於高度都市化地方經驗的反思。 在香港，黑喑是危險的代號，晚上有甚多的街燈。此外，還有商戶的霓虹燈、強烈的射燈、及商業大廈裡永不關掉的燈，造成光污染、難以入睡及能源浪費的問題。
而當我嘗試向這裡的人解說為何很享受那段路的黑喑時（晚上的路黑暗是當地的常態），發現原來我沒有香港夜景照片，所以決定開展這個項目，讓這裡的人跟香港的人有機會“經驗”對方所經驗的“晚上”：https://nightscenephotoxchange.blogspot.com/?view=flipcard