Download PDF 2015 Durational Installation Table, grey plastic tray, watch, attendant in formal wear, wooden door, soundproof walls and ceiling, laminate flooring, wall skirting, aluminum window with sanded glass, air-conditioner, wall paint, steel wall hanger, curtain, light bulb, kinetic light system
300 cm x 220 cm x 250 cm, 10 minutes
In front of a door, there is a person sitting on a chair. When you get close, this person greets you and asks if you want to enter. However, you are only allowed to enter individually, without your mobile phone, camera, electronic devices and books, etc. After you enter, the door is locked and is only unlocked after 10 minutes. You would sign an agreement to confirm your decision at your own risk. Inquiries about what is behind the door would not be answered. Every visitor is only allowed to enter the door once for the whole exhibition period.
There is overwhelming information all around that numbs our senses. We are constantly forced to fool our basic observation of our daily life surroundings. In urban city life like Hong Kong, it’s almost impossible to be alone. We are always occupied and distracted. With mobile communications, it gets even “better”. This can hinder our understanding of ourselves and our needs. The work explores whether solitude and boredom can open space for reflection and creativity. It offers a solitary, meditative experience, free from social pressure, as an invitation to inner exploration.
Exhibited in
《The 20th ifva Awards – Media Art Category Finalist Exhibition》
Pao Galleries Hong Kong Art Centre, Hong Kong, 2015
An attendant sits next to the entrance of Flat D to control the operation.
A grey tray is used for visitors to leave their belongings (mobile phone, camera, watch, etc.).
Visitors are obliged to read the agreement carefully before entering Flat D. A watch is used for the attendant to keep time.
The attendant locks the door after the visitor has entered Flat D.
Light from outside the window scatters on the wall and the floor. It changes slowly across the room.
Air conditioner creates an atmosphere with ambient mechanical sound, temperature and humidity.
Collaborative work with Wendy Ng By I’m almost there. 幾乎做了 – An artist met a designer (or the other way round) for almost a year. Through their struggles and misunderstandings in communication, they felt the need to express their contradictory thoughts and awaited for the unexpected agreements.
2011 Spray paint, wall paint, wood, digital Video
Every day we write to each other, but what we know of us? I tell you ‘I’m thinking of you’ in all sort of ways, do you weigh the message same as I? The group I’m almost there. is taking this chance to bring awareness on the topic of mobile communication technology and its impact to us. Technology has the power to shape or construct our interpersonal relationships, yet the realisations on some of us are uncertain. How much effect do we actually pay to reach out for a person or to a society? It is believed that the quantity of communication offered by technology does not reflect its quality, while the perception and the necessity of communication technology is yet to define…
I’m almost there. would try to provide alternative perspectives on the consumption of intangible commodity.
Exhibited in 《Detour 2011: Useless》Former Married Police Quarter, Central, Hong Kong
2013- Video installation
HDV/ Color/ Sound
Complete statement and interview questions Silas Fong invites online stalker to suggest a target which he would approach and conduct video interview with. The stalkers set questions according to his knowledge to the stalkees. The stalkee was not told the identity of the stalker at any course. The stalkee then sits for an interview. During this interview the stalkee unavoidably created an image of the stalker and represented themselves with response to this imagination. The video was shown to the stalker after it is edited and commentary are done according to the discrepancy of the stalkee’s in fantasy and reality. In this work, audience is actually looking from the stalkers perspective while being aware of his/her mental activity according to the video.
—
Dear Stranger,
Are there people in your social networks that you don’t even know, that you have never seen, that you are not too familiar with. There maybe someone whom you are curious about, and have even watched for some time.
Have you ever thought of knowing them further without disclosing yourself?
If you have, we can help.
This is an invitation to enjoy our service.
We would help you to interview these strangers, and you would have the chance to comment on your strangers freely. We assure you that your identity would be kept confidential.
If you are intrigued, please kindly contact us by email via isp@silasfong.com.
Yours sincerely,
Silas Fong
Interview Service Provider
Exhibited in
《Sky ++》 Digital Community Art Exhibition, Goethe Institute, Hong Kong 2013
—-
Social network now allows us to get in and out of a stranger’s life without any difficulty. The greatest advantage of all is you can meet an enormous crowd of strangers in no time. It might be incorrect to stalk a stranger’s life without notice. However, a stranger has clearly granted such permission once their photos, information and thought are uploaded to the public domain. Don’t feel guilty about your curiosity. It should be shared and talked as hobbies for pleasure. After all, aren’t we all curious to know more about that familiar stranger?
The Service
Interview Service Provider (ISP) makes the world more open while being able to keep people disconnected. Enjoy the excitement and being safe at the same time.
We now offer stalkers the opportunities to know more about a stranger further through social networks.
We would help a stalker to interview a desired stranger (stalkee). ISP professional conduct guarantees that the stalker’s identity be kept confidential by both parties (ISP and the stalker).
When a stalker agrees to participate, ISP would approach this stalkee to sit for a video interview.
ISP would ask for the stalkee’s permission. When granted, ISP asks the stalker to provide 10 questions and 1 message for the stalkee. One single rule applies – any question or message that potentially suggests the stalkers’ identity would not be entertained.
Both ISP and the stalker shall never disclose the identity of the stalker by any means.
The video would be roughly edited and shown to the stalker. The stalker proceeds to comment on the stalkee and the video (commentary) as written text with ISP guidance.
The commentary would be made according to stalkee’s behaviour, and the discrepancy between the stalker’s fantasy and reality. Therefore the stalker is required to comment on the video in general but not just the stalkee.
After the final editing and adjustment by ISP, the interviews would be released in selected public occasions as a form of moving image. It would include the video interviews, the recorded speech of the stalkee and commentaries as subtitle by stalkers.
We would not disclose the stalkee’s response to the stalker’s message to any party.
It is ISP’s professional endeavor to satisfy any stalker’s curiosity and keep the stalkee’s curiosity ravenous.
Observation Society, Guangzhou
20 Oct 2012– 1 Dec 2012
I observed that green colour carefully – how should I describe it? That green was as mysterious as the heart of a gentle and calm devil, if one can know his heart?
I don’t mean to talk like this, as if without coherence, but there are always all these fascinating little tricks that seem to distract me from the necessary details.
How did those two frightened seals arouse my interest? Oh, I forgot to tell you, it was a Tuesday Afternoon and I was drinking warm beer. Later, I saw two animals in weird costumes outside the window and the sky was full of thick clouds – I must have seen them somewhere else.
I don’t know… I have this feeling of always hanging on, always wanting to know what will happen next.
I can only count on luck, waiting for the muse to come and nourish my curiosity. I sometimes bump into her, when she is washing dishes in kitchen; sometimes I find her behind her behind the door of the fridge looking for something. She always seems to be busy with whatever trivial thing comes her way.
What do you stare at, when you daydream? I usually stare at myself, always with the feeling that I’m also being stared at by someone else.
All these stories have passed and yet still they recur everyday, seemingly without end. I can no longer distinguish between the memories and the premonitions; it’s like I am watching several wonderful sitcoms unfolding at the same time.
It is an exploration question of Love – how long does love last? In seeking meanings of life, some people find love as the answer. German words Leben and Liebe write and pronounce so similarly and that manifests the cultural mentality of the people in equality of Life and Love. Questions followed – Does all Love end? Why and how does it end? Instead of hectic urban cityscape, this work I chose to work with a hundred years old dam built by the nature. It is a self-exploratory project. I situate myself in this magnificent monument, which has the natural feel yet highly artificial. The dam stops water flows through and over for a specific reason. A story is told in 3 perspectives and to be shown in 3 locations. First-person, third-person perspective and the omniscient narration helps to illustrate and examine floating quality of a story. The text of this work is developed from and inspired by works of others, from selected films, poetries, old anonymous postcards from flea market and antique stores, novels, interviews and most importantly Marina Abramovic’s and Ulay’s collaborative work The Lovers: The Great Wall Walk. The diversity of text attempts to exploit audience’s comprehension and interpretation to where lingually unreachable.
Exhibited in 《Inventing Dreams》 Weeds Studio, Hong Kong
2011 Video Installation 26-channel video installation on monitors
The exhibition is a video installation consisting of 26 videos, slide shows and text captions. The videos are captured by telecine super 8 film, webcam, cellphone, camera and digital video of different qualities.
With Memory Disorder, Fong investigates how the temporality of memory comes into play. In our consciousness, the images that one sees prompt an associate with images drawn from our memory. This often triggers flashbacks and even imagined events. Our minds are often a sequence of randomly connected scenes. Is there an ordering for memories? Are they organized chronologically or dependent on one’s state of mind, or an inseparable mixture of both?
By using his biography as a specimen, Fong choreographs an experience of immerging in memories and imagination by letting moving images appear and disappear. The scenes are drawn from personal encounters with conflict, the youthful urge to search for something not known, people to empathize with and places imbued with affection. According to Fong, the work is an on-going fragmented narrative that raises the question: “do we want to forget, or not?”
-Aenon Loo
Exhibited in 《Memory Disorder》 Gallery Exit, Hong Kong
2010 Dual-channel digital video HDV/ Color/ No sound/ 43’
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
2008–2010 · Video installation and performance 販賣偷來的時間
By pressing lift buttons during rush hour, I take a few seconds from strangers. Their interrupted journeys become video recordings that visitors can purchase and take away on a disc.
Each interval is priced according to its duration, the people involved and their responses. When a sequence is sold, it is replaced in the exhibition by a notice recording the seconds and price. Sold and unsold time continue to play together.
Documentation
Series 2
Original artist statement and exhibition history · English / 繁體中文
2008 Video Installation/ PerformanceExhibited in《Move On Asia 2010 Single Channel Video Art Festival》(Touring Exhibition)Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong; Tate Modern, London Alternative Space LOOP, Seoul, Korea;《Hong Kong Contemporary Art Biennial Award 2009》
Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong《The 14th ifva (Interactive Media Category) Finalist Works Exhibition》
4/F, Pao Galleries, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong, 2009《Anonymity – The Debut Solo Exhibition of Silas Fong》
Artist Commune, Cattle Depot Artists Village, Hong Kong, 2008
《New Trend 2008》Artist Commune, Cattle Depot Artists Village, Hong Kong, 2008《Current》Graduation Exhibition, Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, 2008
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.
2009 Dual screen video installation HDV/ Color/ 16’44”, 16’41” A video is shot on a bus towards the street on passers-by.
In a populous city, a specific person could only be captured in a random manner whenever the bus stops, not before or after, and just for some seconds.
I chose a lane I travel weekly for shooting. The footages, taken in different time are sequenced into two 16:9 videos with slightly different duration and order, being back projected on two screens facing each other. In such way they are hung to create a narrow “moving” space/path to embrace the audience in between, and an experimental cinematic space for the encounter between the audience and the people in each of the two screens.
Exhibited in 《Some rooms》Osage Kwun Tong, Hong Kong, 2009
