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Past
Celeste Prize 2009 Entry Form
30 June 2009

Videoholica 2009
20 June 2009

OK Video COMEDY - 4th Jakarta International Video Festival 2009
15 June 2009

Bloomberg Emerging Artists Programme 2009
11 May 2009

Hong Kong Contemporary Art Biennial Awards 2009 (香港當代藝術雙年獎 2009) Chin Eng
3 May 2009
Application form Chin Eng

Rhizome, New York, US
2 Apr 2009

Ars Electronica 2009, Linz, Austria
6 Mar 2009

The Rijksakademie Residency 2010, Amsterdam
1 Feb 2009

The Cartier Award 2009, London
5 Jan 2009

Second Young Writers’ Debut Competition, HK (年輕作家創作比賽)
20 Dec 2008 First Round
18 Apr 2009 Final

Singapore International Film Festival
20 Dec 2008

Cinema du Reel, France
30 Nov 2008 for registration, 30 Dec 2008 for submission
Submission

OPEN e v+ a 2009, Ireland
28 Nov 2008, delivered to Ireland on or before

Asia Cultural Council - Fellowships and grant, Hong Kong
15 Nov 2008 (Extended)

International Film and Video Awards, HK
14 Nov 2008

80+1 A Journey around the world
31 Oct 2008

Live Herring, Finland
- digital animation
- net art
20 Oct 2008

Design your sac competition, Hong Kong
13 Oct 2008 (Extended)

Inaugural Exhibit Artist Submissions, NYC
1 Oct 2008

Augen-Blick 2.0 - Mirroring China, Berlin (德國 “視界 2.0 - 鏡像中國”)
26 Sep 2008
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Call for entries/proposals/artists:
Artistsonline.biz
Art Deadlines List
Asia Art Archive
Film Festival World
Public Art News Taiwan
鏡像中國 Sinoreel.com (Chinese)
VAAA Art Blog

Artist Residencies:

Germany - Follow Fluxus, Wiesbaden(By Nomination Only)
Korea - Gyeonggi Creation Center, Gyeonggi-do
The Netherlands - De Atelier, Amsterdam
The Netherlands - Rijksakademie, Amsterdam
Taiwan - Taipei Artist Village, Taipei

Res Artis
Artist Residency Program Directory by Hong Kong Art School

Grants:
Asian Cultural Council
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant

The sunken belongings of a flight passenger were recalled back into the air.

Screened in
Brian Eno’s Music for Airports: New Audio–Visual Counterpoint for Aenon Loo’s music under the same title

朝空
2010 數碼錄像
高清/彩色/15分30″

航機乘客沉沒於水的隨身物被召回空中。

放映
布賴恩．伊諾的《機場音樂》：當代音影實驗現場音樂會與羅家恩的當代音樂作品共同演出

Performance view

Video stills

Working for a job at Hollywood Road in Hong Kong for more than a year, I often see workers taking rest from their very hard work, they are smoking, lying and chatting at some hidden places. These may be their real moment of freedom and space in their daily lifes. In search of the community in their realistic and idealistic lifes, I try to represent the spaces of these people of working class with their private space, time, characters, dialogue (monologue) and imagination.

Exhibited in
《Re-Orientation》 Former Married Police Quarter, Central, Hong Kong, 2010

在荷里活工作
2010 雙頻數碼錄像

高清/彩色/無聲/ 43分

在上環荷里活道工作一年多，午飯時間常看到一些工人在隱敝的街巷中，三五成群抽着煙、躺着。他們忙裡偷暇，享受着僅餘的自由時間和空間。
我嘗試將上班一族的私人空間、時間、人物、對話和我對他們的想像重現，尋找社群中現實和理想的生活及城市空間。

展覽
《擺渡》香港荷里活道前已婚警察宿舍, 2010

Video stills

Video Excerpt

as I sleep from shallow
as I see from sunset
as I hear the sound under lids
from what you found and did
The feet get wet and the hair are drunk
On the way I sweat and sunk
- Ant Ngai

Exhibited in
《Mirror Stage》Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong, 2009

小睡
2009 數碼錄像
高清/彩色/ 聲音/ 5′30

展覽
《鏡子舞台》香港視覺藝術中心, 2009

Video stills

When American photographer Walker Evans trawled the New York subway taking his “subway portraits” at the end of the 30s and early 40s, he anticipated the collective anguish and alienation of the metropolis. With a hidden camera, Walker Evans would take the portraits of his unsuspected sitters, bringing the art of portraiture into the realms of life in the 20th century. In similar ways, Silas Fong adopts strategies that continue this research well into the 21st century. But as times have changed, the camera is shown in full flare, challenging the sitter to react, or to model suitably. Many things have been transformed after Warhol’s 5 minutes of fame or Guy Debord’s Culture of Spectacle, resulting in new behavioral patterns. On the other hand, life in the Big City – New York or Hong Kong – still is a fertile terrain for solitude, and as the artist puts it well: anonymity.

The place of the human being in the metropolis and the multiple possibilities of socialization have been major preoccupations for philosophers and artists akin, as 20th century meant society moved deeper into the urban landscape. Recognition of the Other and its nature has most intrigued us. Translating ourselves into the public space, where fortuitous encounters are fostered, has provided us with an ephemeral knowledge of the Other. These issues have informed Silas Fong most recent production: “Stolen times for sale”, “When the door opens” and “Surveil the strangers” are good examples of this research within his work. Digital technology, including video, web access and mobile phone, update this sociological quest. A definition of each project explains the procedures and rules that the artist has established. For “Stolen times for sale”, the artist writes: “The performer steals time from strangers through pressing the buttons of the elevators”.

In his works there is a reflection on the notion of time. The video “When the door opens” shows footage of the brief instant when the doors open at a MTR train, at the same time the artist sets the footage into slow motion, effectively “freezing” time, providing us with a contradicting measure of the rhythm of the urban web. The accelerated path in this interstitial “locus” suddenly becomes a choreographed series of beautiful movements that capture our imagination. It is in the idea of the expansion of time, where we revel, and where he delves into the nature of this time based media. As we always want to be supersized, this concept of expanded time suitably fits into our 21st century essence.

“Stolen times for sale” is another of his recent projects that deal with related issues. On this occasion there is a performative edge to the video. Although the performer is hidden behind the camera and we only witness the consequence of his action. His simple action – pressing the elevator call button – generates a sequence of reactions. We suddenly view the occupiers of the elevator peer through the open door. It also connects with this notion of relayed or expanded time, his actions originating a relational performance. In a second stage of the project, during the public showing of the video, the gallery visitors get the chance to purchase these “stolen times”. As Silas Fongs describes: “The video sequences once sold are replaced by “SOLD – XX SECONDS FOR $ XXX”. This results in the video becoming a work in progress, subject to continuous transformation, where the end would only come when all the sequences have been allocated with new “owners” of this time.

It was only natural that Silas Fong turned his eyes into the public bus system, having already explored the MTR as a ground for his work. Bus transportation invested him with a higher number of possibilities related, not only to the subjects of his videoperformances, but also to the surrounding urban landscape. His latest work, takes us into the realm of experience. The artist is not just preoccupied with the production of the images, but this time he applies the idea of circulation to his videoinstallation. Armed with a video camera inside a bus, he shot from the left side of the bus, thus filming a footage that shows us the life on the other side of the window. Passersby are invited to react to this filming as the artist reuses some of his tactics. The resulting video is exhibited in a real life size two channel projection; the visitor being sandwiched in between the two screens showing mirror like images. This idea of spatialization of video connects with the development of the genre of the installation. Sculptural qualities are linked to the moving images, enhancing the experience of the viewer, who at this stage is transformed into a visitor. Other issues, such as the representation of the real are also brought in through this strategy, adding complexity to what was originally a simple idea. Although the themes of Silas Fong’s work go back to the origins of video and its relation to experimental cinema, the way he resolves these dilemmas are only possible with the current technological and conceptual development. This is because of the way he uses space, but most importantly because of the use of a 16:9 panoramic ratio, which enhances the cinematic aspect of the work and points towards a departure from 70’s videoart.

At Times Square in Hong Kong, I wait for people staying on the bench, who are probably waiting for someone. Videos are shot and edited for audience experience.

Waiting is a transitional stage before an event happens and time might be meaningful because of waiting. To me, waiting is an uneasy play with time in which it induces emotions dramatically and sometimes sufferings. It gives an intense experience of time and being, sometimes it is like a meditation or self reflection.

Since the advancement of technology, especially in transportation and communication, waiting becomes a basic part of daily life in the contemporary society. Much time is saved but people are less patient.

When economic effect and efficiency become the sole considerations for time measurement, an inhuman society will come as no surprise.

Exhibited in
《a place changes as we look》 agnes b.’s LIBRAIRIE GALERIE, Hong Kong, 2009

等待
2009 數碼錄像
高清/彩色/ 43′

在時代廣場上，我等待一些待在長凳、可能在等人的人。鏡頭下將情境拍攝成錄像後剪輯為短片。

等待是進行或發生一件事前的過渡階段。時間亦可能因等待變得有意義。就我而言，等待是令人情緒起伏，使人忐忑不安的一場(遊)戲，也可說成一種折磨。等待期間產生對時間強烈的感覺及自我存在感，有時像一種冥想或自省。

從當代社會看，等待已成為日常生活中主要組成部分。由於科技進步，特別在交通運輸及通訊，我們省下不少時間，但也失去耐心。

當一個社會將經濟效益及效率作為量度時間的大前題，我們不難看到它的涼薄無情。

展覽
《凝視中，事過境遷》香港 agnes b.’s LIBRAIRIE GALERIE, 2009

Video stills

We are merchants
Everyday we purchase
Time for money Money for time

I sell the stolen times
For reasonable price

Silas Fong is the first merchant in Hong Kong, for giving customers outstanding value for money, the highest quality in fresh time.

The performer steals time from strangers through pressing the button of elevators. The stolen times are recorded as video and are being exhibited in a gallery. Visitors can purchase and take away these times, which are extracted into a CD with money from the performer. According to the duration, number of people involved, their approximate age, appearance and response, prices for stolen times are different. The video sequences once sold are replaced by “SOLD - XX SECONDS FOR $XXX”, and are being shown together with the unsold ones.

販賣偷來的時間
2008錄像裝置/行為

展覽
第十四屆ifva互動媒體組入圍作品展，香港藝術中心四樓包氏畫廊, 2009
《不知名》方琛宇首個個人展覽，牛棚藝術村藝術公社, 2008
《出爐2008》大專藝術畢業生群展，牛棚藝術村藝術公社, 2008
《Current》畢業展，香港浸會大學視覺藝術院畫廊, 2008

我們都是商人
每天賣時間、買時間

我以合理的價錢
販賣偷來的時間

方琛宇是全港首位致力為顧客提供價錢至抵、高質素新鮮時間的商人。

透過升降機的按鍵，陌生人的時間被偷走，這些偷來的時間被攝成錄像在畫廊中展出。參觀者可自由選購時間，表演 者將它放進光碟隨顧客帶走。被偷來的時間根據長度、片中人數、他們的年齡、外貌及反應，價格各有不同。而己售的時間片段，即時被換上“己售 - XX秒 XXX元” 的字樣，與還未被出售的錄像繼續播放。

Catalogue for stolen times

above: Silas Fong selling time