(images: Ruusu Hulmi, Minna Suoniemi, Andreas Kohli & Marianne Kesselring)
Accidental Tourist Guide Project reached it’s final phase as the exhibitions in Node Space Helsinki and Connecting Space Zürich opened simultaneously on Wednesday 22.3. Hong Kong Baptist University joined the opening trough a virtual tunnel.
The Node Space exhibition presents the Helsinki version of the group projects. The Helsinki group is Heikki Heinonen, Heta Huttunen, Maija Mikkola, Verna Kuutti, Emma Hovi, Ruusu Hulmi, Valeria Nekhaeva, Meisi Wang, Aina Bexell and Myrto Theocharidou, with lecturer Minna Suoniemi.
Do not move – useful | Video installation
Emma Hovi, Monchi Tsang, Moses Iu, Vera Pfister, Ruusu Hulmi
What happens when one persistently spends time in a place one hardly ever visits?
We attempted to develop an artistic practice at the North Point Ferry Pier, which would allow us to get to know the place and the people there. We were interested in the elements of water, of slight boredom, of waiting around for something to happen. Indeed for locals, the pier seems almost dull. Yet people come there regularly to catch the ferry, exercise, fish, meet with friends, even dance.
The challenge consisted in staying sensitive to our surroundings, creating subtle conditions for interaction. Our group decided to draw what we saw around us – people, landscape, random details. We used found cardboard and attached our drawings to the fence at the waterfront with found bits of thread. As the days went by, a small public picture gallery took shape. People were curious to talk to us, others simply stopped to look. Often people stopped to take pictures of us, of our drawings. In this way, a friendly loop of picture-making evolved.
On the fifth day some – but not all – of the drawings were removed, for reasons still unknown to us.
Looking for love | Installation with photographs, texts, drawings and a booklet
Heikki Heinonen, Louis Vaucher, Maija Mikkola, Seain Liu, Stefan Bächli, Stephanie Choi, Vera Kaeser
What do you think is romantic?”
“Mmm like comforting him… forever.”
Love is universal but dating and the ways to show affection can be quite connected to the culture. There is a business created around love and dating; applications, match makers and romantic holiday packages. Through different kinds of services couples can have experiences together but what is considered as romantic in everyday life?
From foreigner’s point of view Hong Kong shows up as a hectic and crowded city. Are there some romantic places to be found between the skyscrapers and busy market streets? To understand how Hongkongers consider their hometown, we asked local couples about their relationships and romantic experiences. We wanted to focus on young couples and their perspective to Hong Kong. Interviews with people helped us to understand how and where they spend time in the city. Based on the research we made a booklet and combined romantic elements to the installation of “ideal” romantic space in Connecting Space Hong Kong. In this Node exhibition we present the photo of that installation, the booklet and materials of our encounters with the couples.
$100 STORY | Video 12.20 minutes, 5 audio tracks, Booklet
Edwin Chuk Yin Man, Verna Kuutti, Mariana Pote, Lia Schmieder, Meisi Wang, Glary Wu Hoi Yan
The taxi drivers are a perfect emblem for the city of Hong Kong. People and locations are changing faster and faster, what remains is the entrepreneurial spirit. The will to make a living, the will to make profit. The taxi driver represents the layman whose only wish is to have enough stability to continue making money. The drivers voice is the voice of the people that even politicians are willing to listen.
Everything can be bought and sold in this city, we applied a similar method: 100 dollars for the ride, stories about the city for us. The journey took us to places that surprised, moved, bored and confused us. We let the drivers show us how they see the city, and their stories and drives became our Hong Kong story. A story that cannot be told one way.
Officealley | Installation, Video
Bobby Yu, Laila Frauenfelder, On On Pang, Ozan Polat, Valeria Nekhaeva, Myrto Theocharidou
Hong Kong is well known for its high population density. Public space receives a special kind of treatment in this setting, while it belongs to nobody and everybody at the same time. The objective of our project was to explore how Hong Kong back alleys are used, and how they can be used. While pedestrians see these narrow streets as shortcuts, locals often utilize the space for storage or as a kitchen extension. To observe daily life in a back alley and to explore new possibilities, we too privatized part of the street in North Point. Old office chairs are a common sight in Hong Kong, therefore our decision to set up a temporary office was rather logical. We called our office “Officealley” (pronounce “officially”) to underline the legal ambiguity of the privatization of public space.
For the group exhibition “Accidental Tourist Guide” in Connecting Space Hong Kong, we presented all the furniture (plastic crates and stools) and office supplies from Officealley, piled up on the trolley we had used to transport it to the gallery. The installation included video documentation of our interactions with passers by, neighbors, street cleaners and police.
4 ½ frames | Video installation, Notebook
Aina Bexell, Alan Sahin, Annie Chui, Heta Huttunen, Mandy Li, Stefanie Müller
4 ½ frames is a project that explores visual and audial concepts of our experiences of Hong Kong by collecting footage every day. We reflect on our different gazes towards the city – as tourists, and as locals. To better explore this idea, we decided to use a democratic working process, where each group member uses their own smartphone to film.
Within 4 ½ frames are two related video installations, which were installed together in Connecting Space Hong Kong: 35 mm features an experimental video whereby, with the help of a sound designer, a song was produced using our footage; Passers-by features an installation that represents a city scene in North Point, with framed scenes of the streets and shrines scattered throughout.
In Node there is one part of video installation Passers-by, a video perceptions about tiny shrines and altars which can be seen a lot in Hong Kong. As part of their everyday life, people are sacrificing food and wealth to the spirits at the shrines, but also just passing by them. On display there is also a notebook about 4 ½ frames-team’s work experiences.
