渡 (Portal) - Cheung Chau Wave 2020/21 - Update

 Last month I posted information about the Cheung Chau Wave Arts Festival centered around the small island of Cheung Chau in Hong Kong. At the time I didn't completely understand how the festival was operating, despite being one of the participants. This is an intriguing position to be in and made the whole situation quite interesting. 

Festival Poster (Credit: https://www.facebook.com/CheungChauWave)

Recently, I picked up on festival lists that explained more about the festival. The Cheung Chau Wave festival, titled 渡 (Portal) is now presented more fully on the festival website, here and is listed as running from Dec 2020 - Feb 2021.

Festival website listing

Once inside, information can be sought either by genre or by artist name. My recorded performance of 'No holiday' took place on Cheung Chau during the period I called the island my home (2012-2018). The performance was originally conceived for the 'Duration and Dialogue Performance Arts Festival' in Toronto, Canada in 2017 and subsequently gave rise to the ongoing, serial performance it now is. Since then the performance has been recorded and live-streamed from the UK, Venice - Italy and Saigon - Vietnam. <ore performances were planned but these have been postponed due to the COVID-19 situation. As soon as the situation improves it is hoped to resume the saga. 

My page on the festival can be accessed here.

The recording of 'No holiday - Cheung Chau, 2017' can also be found on the Cheung Chau Wave Festival YouTube channel.

'No holiday, Cheung Chau, 2017'

The performance recording can also be accessed on my own YouTube Channel, and more information regarding the performance can be read on my website: https://www.patricksford.com/performance

渡 (Portal) - Cheung Chau Wave 2020

渡 (Portal), the 2020 edition of the annual Cheung Chau Wave Festival, formed part of the planned Inter-island Festival in Hong Kong comprising exhibitions and events based on the island of Cheung Chau, created by artists residing on Cheung Chau or by those with strong connections to the island.

Unfortunately, as in many parts of the world, the planned events and activities had to be drastically reduced due to the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

I lived on Cheung Chau from October 2012 until May 2018, after which I left and relocated to Vietnam. My time on the island became a kind of exile, though a thoroughly peaceful and enjoyable one. Every morning I would leave on the ferry for work, while it was still dark, and return in the evening after dusk. Consequently, over the years I didn't form many friendships with other island residents. This was a great pity and was caused by my hermetic lifestyle. 

Not long before I finally left the island I was out on a quick shopping trip among the back-streets of the island and I came upon an interesting gathering close to the old fishermen's school. To my surprise it was part of an arts festival organized by artists resident on the island. I was shocked to learn that these and previous events had been organized by a group of like-minded creative residents and I had absolutely no knowledge of the events or the people organizing them. 

I had sometimes thought that a festival on the island would be an amazing opportunity, making the most of the island's unique setting and environment, and it was frustrating to have missed a chance to connect with and participate in this festival while living on the island.

Later, now living in Vietnam, I saw an online notice about the 2020 edition of the festival and immediately wanted to participate. I submitted a recording of my serial performance 'No holiday' as it was filmed on the island in 2017. That year had been a productive one for me, creating several versions of the performance and live-streaming it to performance art festivals in Canada and the USA.  

'No holiday', Cheung Chau, 2017

Cheung Chau Wave Instagram post

Although many events had to be postponed this year, as far as I am aware, my 'No holiday' performance was screened, along with other work, on the Cheung Chau ferry over the weekend of 4th-6th December 2020.

It gave me deep personal satisfaction to be able to participate in the festival and awakened fond memories of my sojourn on the little island, a time I will never forget.

Cheung Chau Ferry, activity listing

This and other 'No holiday' performances can be viewed here on my YouTube Channel, and are introduced here on my website.

International Drawing Dialogue Phase 2, second stage - 2018

To begin the second stage of this collaborative drawing project (see here), 4 drawings by UK artist Jane Kennington arrived in the post.

I unwrapped her drawings and left them out so I could get to know them and, hopefully, strike up a conversation with them.

After a while the drawings began to suggest a way forward and following that I started to construct a response. The drawings evolved as a conversation might, initial introductions, politeness at first, becoming more relaxed as the conversation developed and familiar topics were touched upon.

Jane's opening drawings were generous and left me at least half the page to work with, sometimes more and so the dialogue within the drawings remained polite and respectful.

The resulting drawings were sent on to Georgia Boukla in the UK. I am now awaiting the third stage of the project in which I will be the third artist to work on the set of drawings.

My responses are as follows, in the order I made them:

'No holiday' - Film Reel 1

After completing the editing of the recorded version of the performance 'No holiday', which was enacted in Venice during the summer, I decided to edit together the four recorded versions into one 'film-reel'.
This would enable me to present the four recordings at one time and it also gives any interested viewers the opportunity to see the four versions one after the other. In this way, the differences in atmosphere, landscape and ambient sounds could be better illustrated.
These differences are very interesting and are one of the motivations for me to allow the project to develop further.

Three postcards have been printed, using images from the Cheung Chau, Sewerby and Venice performances to define each of the locations using the postcard motif to tie-in with the theme of the performance.

The 4 performances were recorded as follows:
1) Chi Ma Wan, Hong Kong - 5 January 2017
2) Cheung Chau, Hong Kong - 21 January 2017
3) Sewerby Cliffs, Bridlington, UK - 4 August 2017
4) Dorosuro, Venice, Italy - 16 August 2017

'No holiday' - Film Reel 1

The recording can also be viewed on my youtube.com channel here: https://youtu.be/E72zI-SsI7s

'One's Origin' - Group exhibition by the Hong Kong International Youth Arts Association (HKIYAA)

I was invited by artist and good friend Manling Cheung, to participate in the exhibition 'One's origin' at the Jao Tsung-I Academy, near to Mei Foo, and decided to present the current status of my ongoing performance work 'No holiday'.

The group show featured a large variety of work: paintings, including work by Manling Cheung - https://www.facebook.com/manling.cheung, drawings, sculpture and photography, including some amazing images by Kent Foran - http://www.kentforan.com. It was great for me to have the opportunity to show photographs taken during my performances along with the red suitcase which is my constant companion in the 'No holiday' performance.

I also placed 3 postcards representing 3 of the locations at which the performance has been conducted. These were available for the audience to take away with them.

The opening of the exhibition took place on the afternoon of Thursday 5th October and it will run until Friday 13th October. 

'No holiday' - Chi Ma Wan

During the development stage of the performance 'No holiday', I experimented with different formats and locations and originally I had singled out the Chi Ma Wan peninsula on the south side of Lantau Island in Hong Kong as being a good location. However, I discovered that the mobile coverage there was intermittent and in several places the connection dropped altogether.

As the performance would be live-streamed to Toronto later that month (January 2017) I decided to switch locations across the channel to Cheung Chau Island. As it happened the curators of the festival introduced a Chinese New year theme and so the new location seemed to be more appropriate as I would be exploring one or two of the small temples on the island.

The work-in-progress on the Chi Ma Wan peninsula had been recorded so that the day's activity could be reviewed later and so I have now decided to edit the footage into a logical presentation and this is now another film version of the 'No holiday' performance.

In the future I am still hoping that I could conduct this performance in other locations.

'No holiday' - Chi Ma Wan, Lantau Island, Hong Kong - 5th January 2017

The recording can also be viewed on my youtube.com channel here: https://youtu.be/8YItpXNAwsk

The Path to Enlightenment - July 2017

I had been working on different projects that related to the Sisyphus myth and eventually one group of experimental threads coalesced into a resolved performance piece.

It is said that in order to reach a state of enlightenment and experience nirvana, we must first rid ourselves of worldly delusions. Nirvana literally means something like 'extinguishing' or 'quenching' and the flame that we must extinguish is that of greed, hatred and other selfish and worldly obsessions.

I wished to demonstrate such a struggle and in this performance I found a simple, I should say simplistic, method of encapsulating this struggle. In the performance, I act as another Sisyphean character attempting to extinguish the candle that represents the delusions that must be quenched, and as is the nature of the Sisyphean experience, each attempt fails...the candle relights itself. After a period I try again, only to fail again (shades of Beckett's famous line from Worstward Ho: 'Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better').

This struggle could continue for ever but, thankfully, the candle eventually extinguishes itself after running out of wax and paraffin vapour. So is this the end of the struggle? Perhaps not because as often is the case in life, these tasks are set not by others but by ourselves. We often bring on these torments to ourselves without even realising it.
The beginning of the performance alludes to this, as I am the one who lights the candle thereby initiating the process, which is why I incorporated the lighting of the candle into the performance.

'The Path to Enlightenment' - 2nd July 2017

The recording can also be viewed on my youtube.com channel here: https://youtu.be/gsCFh71jSYs

CONTEMPART '17 - Contemporary Art Conference, Istanbul

Unable to travel to Istanbul to attend the CONTEMPART '17 contemporary art conference due to work commitments, I nevertheless submitted my paper for publication in the conference proceedings along with a 15 minute virtual presentation in the form of a recorded PowerPoint with voice-over.

Two years ago, when I attended the CONTEMPART '15 conference I introduced the concept and method behind my performance 'Going Round in Circles' and found a warm response from the other delegates. Although I am not an academic, I try to demonstrate that my performance art pieces are the result of a combination of background research and practical testing and I aim to maintain a balance between these two sources in my work.

For the 2017 edition of the conference I presented the development of my performance work 'Releasing Sisyphus', which was performed at Repulse Bay on the south of Hong Kong Island on 2nd July 2016. In the paper I examined the myth of Sisyphus, at his character and reflected upon various stories relating to his punishment and the justification for it.

Click here to view more details of the performance 'Releasing Sisyphus'.

Albert Camus examined the myth in his short essay 'The myth of Sisyphus' and concluded that due to the repetitive nature of his task, Sisyphus could find solace and respite in the regular breaks from the forced work that occur after each summit, as the stone rolls back down the hill and Sisyphus descends the hill in order to begin his climb once more. In these brief interludes he is free from toil and, as Camus suggests, may even be happy.

I resolved to symbolically climb the hill in place of Sisyphus and once at the top I built a cairn, a small pile of stones to mark the spot where the climb ends. With the stones I planted small saplings that would bind the stones in place as they grew thereby preventing them from rolling back down the hill. This gesture removed Sisyphus's endless punishment.
We are all carrying our stones to the top of assigned hills, we have our tasks to complete and often there seems no resolution. If I can propose a possible release for Sisyphus, perhaps I may also find a resolution for my own tasks?

Click here to view details of my publications.

Drawing Project - Working process

I edited together footage recorded during the recent drawing day on Cheung Chau and edited 2 short videos outlining the construction of two drawings.

These drawings are the latest in an ongoing project that investigates the collaboration between a human (me) and nature and as active participant. Together we create an image through dialogue. As with all conversations, sometimes one party dominates, when they have a lot to say, while the other listens, sometimes it is a balanced two-way interaction. 

I will post more updates from this project in future, hopefully recording the progress of the investigation.

Here are the two drawings made on 7th May 2017.

The first drawing

The recording can also be viewed on my youtube.com channel here: https://youtu.be/ZZLeJxAsITg

 The second drawing

The recording can also be viewed on my youtube.com channel here: https://youtu.be/g8OmGnUXbss

This project was referred to in the blog of Garry Barker, artist and educator in Leeds, UK. Garry goes into detail about the use of frottage in art, in great detail and great eloquence here.

No holiday

I have edited a recorded version of my performance 'No holiday' that formed part of my preparation for participation in two performance art festivals, the Duration and Dialogue II Festival in Toronto, Canada and the Inverse Performance Art Festival in North-west Arkansas, USA.

This 33 minute version was recorded on Cheung Chau Island in Hong Kong.

Currently in the planning stage are further episodes of the 'No holiday' performance, including locations in the UK and Venice in Italy. News of these developments will be written up later in the year, as they happen.

'No holiday' - Cheung Chau Island, Hong Kong - 28th January 2017

The recording can also be viewed on my youtube.com channel here: https://youtu.be/R4V5faOIX1w

Nam Tam Wan 2016 - Book Publication

Referring back to a previous post about the photographic project I am undertaking at Nam Tam Wan on Cheung Chau Island - Hong Kong, I have now finally arrived at a satisfactory format for the book of images I would like to publish.
I do not intend to print up multiple copies, instead I will present, exhibit and promote the book myself and I will only print copies upon request. This means the book is therefore not being produced commercially and the price cannot be reduced by large unit numbers.

Below I have attached low-resolution captures of the introduction and two pages of images.

If you are interested in purchasing copies of the book, please contact me using my email address: patricksford@live.com

The book is 8" x 10" 20 x 25cm, portrait format, 64 pages, 60 images, colour photos taken by phone camera, 1 image per page, title page, introduction page, blank page at the back, the hard-back cover is black with white lettering on the spine, spine text reads: Nam Tam Wan 2016 Patrick S. Ford

A review of the book as well as an interview I conducted with the 'Local Idea' section of the 'Lik Ink' website and blog can be found here: https://www.likink.com/patrick-s-ford/

Duration & Dialogue II Performance Art Festival 2017 - Part 2

On Saturday 28th January (Toronto time) / Sunday 29th January (Hong Kong time) 2017 I conducted my latest performance piece: No holiday. The piece was performed on Cheung Chau, one of Hong Kong's Outlying Islands, and live-streamed to the 'Duration & Dialogue II Performance Art Festival' in Toronto, organised by Katzman Contemporary.

The Festival webpage features links to recordings of the performances that have been uploaded to youtube.com, mine can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DK9YcnViKs

This festival presented recordings of both Clayton Lee's performance conducted in the gallery and my performance live-streamed from Hong Kong. The festival organisers suggested playing both recordings side-by-side in an attempt to recreate the full curatorial effect that the festival audience were able to experience. (This featured page has since been replaced by a later pair of performances).

Following straight on after the performance there was a discussion, with Q&A that involved myself, artist Clayton Lee, audience members and moderated by Yan Zhou.

My comments to certain questions have been posted on my youtube channel at the following links:

Introduction video (2.59 mins) : https://youtu.be/q6TzNLl6nfE

Q1 video (2.16) https://youtu.be/FGSDtwtzhLs

Q2 video (3.44) https://youtu.be/tmIySh5TJg8

Q3 video (4.20) https://youtu.be/a82afyBGdL0

Q4 video (3.02) https://youtu.be/bD8moCqXJj4

Q5 video (4.16) https://youtu.be/3MHLIA5KrNg

Q6 video (3.41) https://youtu.be/ps0nCqTht78

Q7 video (2.18) https://youtu.be/GCFrHOXNbjM

Q8 video (3.11) https://youtu.be/yn84ABDO9cE

Q9 video (1.15) https://youtu.be/fNkb3Y2RKAk
Q10 video (2.47) https://youtu.be/e2qJw_sL3Gk

6:45am - Preparing for the Skype link-up with Toronto

BA (Hons) Fine Art 2016

At the end of June 2016 my 10 Fine Art students graduated with BA (Hons) Fine Art from the Hong Kong Design Institute. It was the culmination of an exciting year for the students, most of whom I had previously taught at Higher Diploma level. The Fine Art programme was run as a collaboration between SHAPE/VTC in Hong Kong, and Birmingham City University in the UK. The structure comprised 2 years working at Higher Diploma level followed by a third year on the collaborative programme.
I had spent two years on the preparation of the programme including validation with Birmingham City University and accreditation with the Hong Kong Education Department and a third year working with the students in the studio attempting to guide the 10 students towards a successful graduation.
It is my sincere hope that at least some of them will go on to make some waves in the art field.

As a group, their work was quite diverse and I would like to illustrate it here with a few images, created in their studios at Morrison Hill in Wanchai, Hong Kong. I would like to wish them every success in the future!

Ada, Leung Nga Ting

 

Sharon, Choi Shu Long

 

 

Karen, Ng Hei Tung

 

Marlena, Yik Ka Yan

 

 

Alan, Lau Cheuk Lun

 

 

Leo, Choi Lai Yin

 

 

Ruby, Pang Hiu Man

 

Maggie, Cheung Lok Yi

Wesley, Kwan Tsz Him

 

Roni, Cheng Weng I

Event Horizon - Anthony Gormley in Hong Kong

After a year's delay Antony Gormley's city-wide installation 'Event Horizon' finally appeared on the Hong Kong skyline.
A year ago, a suicide in the city frightened sponsors away but finally Hong Kong joined world cities such as London, New York, Sao Paolo, and Rio de Janeiro in integrating Gormley's work into the local environment.
The project was initiated in 2007 when it was first recognised that over half of the world's population were living in cities and was first installed in London.
Antony Gormley's sculptures (cast from his own body) stare out across the cities in which they have been installed, surveying the cityscape, trying to understand how they fit into this chaotic, man-made jungle.
The installation is due to be dismantled on May 18th but the memory (for me at least) will last much longer.

'Going Round in Circles', performance - Part 2

On Wednesday 30^th July 2014 I travelled to Tai Tam Country Park in Hong Kong, specifically to a small hill that had a footpath all the way around, pretty much level for the whole circuit. I set up a base near to a small dam as my starting and finishing point. Nearby was a wooden shelter that would be very conveniently located for my breaks and lunchtime.

I walked around the hill clockwise from 9 to 5, the typical working day, stopping for tea breaks in the mid-morning (roughly 10:30am) and mid-afternoon (roughly 3:00pm) plus a one-hour break for lunch (at around 12:30). I treated the whole day seriously as work.

There was no script for the performance beyond the start, break times and finish.

As I walked (worked) I carried a bag containing essential worker’s tools as well as my packed lunch and something to drink. I also carried a small note-pad to record the circuits i.e. the passing of time.

I notated the circuits of the hill in simple form with one short, straight line for each circuit and a cross bar to complete each group of 5 circuits. The working day is often measured by the worker’s output and this is often compared day by day in order to take stock of productivity. I adopted a strict work ethic and my production was the expiration of energy into circuits of the hill and these had to be measured in order to take stock of the sum of my labour at 5pm when my working day ended.

During the performance I became tired, a little distracted. This mirrored the real experience of work, especially work that is menial in nature. I reacted to these feelings instinctively and my reaction become part of the performance. I found myself clock-watching, calculating how long I needed to walk before I could allow myself a break and my mind was cast back to the days when I have had to hold down jobs I didn't enjoy and which robbed me of invaluable amounts of my life. My consolation during these times was the salary that allowed me to pay my rent and therefore survive.

When the 5pm ‘clocking-off' time came, I felt a sense of relief as I walked back up the steep hill to Park View and a bus back to Central.