This is a scene captured on camera some time around 18th July, 2012, in an industrial building in Kwai Chung. A few of us were in the studio of Fiona Lee’s (Left 1) that day. She was preparing her light bulb sound performance <<delight>> for an upcoming exhibition in Korea. We went there to give our humble comments to a preview of her rehearsal. Jasper Fung (Left 2) and Wong Fuk-kuen (Left 3) were my colleagues in the SCM Annual (graduation show) 2012 committee. We were all Aries, the super troublesome in the committee group. SCM Annual ended mid-July that year. I guess we were going to Fiona’s studio together right after packing up the dismantled works of the graduation show. Since we had nothing to do at that time in my studio, just nearby, we moved from Block C to Block B inside that same hell of an industrial building.
The four cans of beer on top of the table are the evidence of some serious discussion triggered.
The three limited editions of a “misfit” Philips light bulb make me wonder, curiously, how many more of that kind of light bulbs Fiona still has in stock. She once told me that she no longer wanted to be a “light bulb artist.”
Her laptop computer was already rather worn out and doomed at that time, as far as I remembered.
Three years have gone by. Fiona finally managed to change the DMX system that connected all light bulbs using “control voltage.” I would never forget the annoying interface we were all stuck with back then – MAX/MSP version 5 with its chaotic and ugly straight lines.
Wong Fuk-kuen in the photo looked a bit bored, above everyone without being condescending. Ever since then, he has been driven by the constant need to look up to see the clouds. Perhaps it is more in his nature to take a high angle. In order to see things on a normal horizon, he needs the lead of a tube or some pipe structure to guide his vision.
Jasper Fung’s right fist should be, as one may guess from the photo, grabbing an unlit cigarette. He seemed to be in a bit of a rush to have his puff, and yet maintained a calm position, as he always did in the presence of others, and so did his art works.
From 2012 to 2015, we worked together occasionally in several sound-related events, forming a collaboration team something like a new generation of sound-makers. They were often the artists of the shows and I was the curator or technician. Perhaps it was my “big brother” syndrome at work, I could not recall any moments when I felt we were “playing together” on equal landing, until…
Two weeks ago, Jasper said he would be back in Hong Kong from Europe for a warmer New Year holiday. Around the same time, Fiona was looking for an on-site location for her appearance in a TV documentary program. Three weeks ago, Wong Fuk-kuen happily lost his full-time job. A few days ago, a Ph.D. researcher from outside Hong Kong wanted to have a group interview with all four of us. …
It was only until then we recalled that occasion in the photo – when we said to one another, something like, “Let’s have a gig together one day!”
[**This piece was written on the eve of Floating Projects’ Spatial Pressure Calibration series 0.04, 20 Dec 2015.]
Related reading:
http://floatingprojectscollective.net/events/floating-projects-spatial-pressure-calibration-004/
照片攝於2012年7月18日，地點在李穎姍（左一）的工作室。那時她正好要準備一個在韓國的演出，印象中是她的燈泡演出作《delight》，叫我們去看看給點意見。另外馮俊彥（左二）跟黃福權（左三，最高）是那時侯組織畢業展的好伙伴和壞伙伴，跟我一樣同是白羊座的麻煩人。那時畢業展剛好完了幾天，我沒有印象為什麼會出現在這個地方了，也許是收拾其他同學的爛檔子過後，回去當年的工作室沒事好幹吧，於是就由嘈吵的C座走到B座去。
看桌子上的四罐啤酒，應該是認真的討論會。
看那三個限量的錯版菲利浦燈泡，有點想知其實李穎姍還有多少個收藏。她曾說過不想再當「燈泡artist」。
看李穎姍的電腦，當時已是千蒼百孔，3年多後才剛剛把控制燈泡的dmx主腦用control voltage連起來，我還記得那個MAX/MSP 5的討厭直線介面。
看黃福權的咀臉和高度，實情仍是很高傲卻又宅心人厚，只是經常想抬頭往上看雲，可能俯視的角度才是他習慣的，要他在水平線上看東西，他要一根管子作為引導。
看馮俊彥的右手拳頭，是角度問題嗎？那支應該是煙吧，看來還未點燃，看似有點心急想抽煙。其後他大多坐在扮冷靜，作品也是。
其後數年，不知由什麼時侯組成了一個似乎是新生代的做聲音的伙伴們。我卻有難以跟他們平起平座的感覺，應該都是「大哥病」發生，總沒有一次是一起玩的。
上上星期，馮俊彥（應該不想）撐不住歐洲寒冬的人說要回來過年；上上星期，李穎姍要被訪問拍攝，要找地方演出；上上星期，黃福權剛剛被快樂地解僱；前幾天，竟然有來自國外的研究東南亞聲音藝術的博士生想一次過找這幾個人一同做一個小訪問。
這才令我想起，在那照片中的一天，應該有說過類似「我們什麼時侯玩一場show」的話。
[**本文寫於2015年12月20日「據點空間壓力測試 」系列 0.04 的前夕，記敘是晚表演的前緣。]
相關閱讀:
http://floatingprojectscollective.net/events/floating-projects-spatial-pressure-calibration-004/
