Veins In Situ

 

2023

Site-specific water pipes, tights, printed texts. 2-channel audio (4 minutes each) on separate floors.

​Dimensions variable. 

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In the back stairs of the Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, Hong Kong, water pipes penetrate all floors connecting separated spaces, yet invisible to people inhabiting there. Students come and go, most of the time, never knowing what flows through the back side of the building. The back stairs hold a space like a tunnel, where sounds echo and linger. Water pipe systems in the concrete jungle serve as a metaphorical symbol of segregation yet hidden connections among individuals.

 

Inspired by Hon Lai-Chu's novel, Water Pipe Forest, the site-specific installation quests for what flows through the water pipes and corners of people’s minds. Behind the architecture of history writing, what kind of questions do ordinary people wish to ask, and what kind of thoughts occur in their minds? The water pipe serves as a carrier of hidden emotions and thoughts. Collected questions and thoughts linger in the back stairs. Trivial mumblings that find no room in the grandeur of history silently drift in the concealed water pipes.