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場域特定藝術計劃「聽得見的城市」把音樂從音樂廳中解放出來，以音樂直接介入及改變城市不同角落的聲景，透過一系列演出及工作坊，創造獨特的聆聽體驗，並探索人與地域的關係與結連。
演出：《亞特拉斯》 《亞特拉斯》是一系列專為非音樂演奏用途場地而寫的音樂作品，作曲家鄺展維為每個場域創作音樂，並由視覺藝術家鄧啓耀為這些場地繪畫地圖。各別的場域特點是創作的起點也是作品的落腳地。作品總共有六個演出，分別在香港六處非音樂演奏用途的場地演出。
#1 大館 30.06.2018（相冊）
#2 坪洲．大利島 04.11.2018（相冊）
#3 薩凡納藝術設計大學（香港分校） 26.01.2019（相冊）
#4 香港大學黃克兢平台、香港大學美術博學館 09.02.2019 （相冊）
#5 東蓮覺苑 23.02.2019 （相冊）
#6 虎豹樂圃 26.10.2019 （相冊）
工作坊 香港創樂團與教育活動伙伴聲音掏腰包特別為公眾人士設計了分別關於音樂創作及採聲的實用工作坊，於2018年11月至2019年3月《亞特拉斯》演出期間舉行：
音樂創作工作坊
由鄺展維和篋敲擊樂團領班人陳永業共同指導，這一系列工作坊專為公眾而設。參加者學習利用簡單樂器和日常物件產生樂聲，從討論與實踐中探求音樂的本質，以不同角度體驗創造音樂的樂趣。參加者亦將參與《亞特拉斯・四》於2月9日在香港大學的演出，夥拍香港創樂團的專業樂手及香港大學擊樂團，呈現一場屬於此時此地的音樂作品！
採聲工作坊
由教育活動伙伴聲音掏腰包策劃，採聲工作坊帶領參加者嘗試利用不同媒介及工具在演出現場進行採聲及聲音創作，重新發現「在地演出」。參加者同時可透過錄音技巧研習、聆聽及寫作練習，拓闊對採聲的理解與想像，學習如何將聲音及聆聽經驗化為文字或圖像。如果你對透過錄音、文字或圖像採聲感到興趣，請加入我們，跟專業聲音設計師及藝術家學習成為「採聲人」！
人在一個地方居住、生活，從而對身處的空間、場所和地域產生印象、記憶，由陌生變成熟悉，到發展成歸屬、依存，以至生出守護該地甚至為之而犧牲的使命感。人如何定義自己與一個地方或場域的關係，當中應出於人對宇宙世界感知的靈性，多於單純為生存所驅使的動物本能。我們認為自己何時在何地是主、何時在何地是客、哪些人是屬於哪些地方、哪些地方是屬於哪些人、何處是吾家，許多都是出於人的主觀認知，甚至是對現實的一種演繹，遠超過法律所能為人劃清的界線。人與地方這種結連的昇華，背後其實是人一生以不同角色在這些空間、場所、地域的經歷。人在所處之地的各種行為，有些在地方留下了痕跡，那些場所也成為了人的經驗中不能磨滅的部份。
人經歷一個地方的各種方式中，聆聽是其中一種。人往往假設聲音被聽見是理所當然，認為在聽覺感官中人是處於一個被動接受刺激的角色。但其實當人聆聽四周，是主動對所處之地作深度的感知和理解，也是容許所處之地深化成為自己經歷的行為。去聆聽一個地方，平時存在於該場域中的環境聲音（ambience）只是其中一個面向。猶如光線的進入使一個空間可被看見，如果以本身不存在於場域中的聲音介入一個場域，聲音在空間中的表現亦會將空間的物理特質在聽覺上得以具現出來，成為一個聽得見的空間。帶著此目的的人為聲音介入，除了是一種對場域的探索、考察的方法，令聆聽者可以對場域有另一層認知，其實亦可成為一種帶美學意圖、對已存在的「自然」之改造，成為一種音樂創作。
音樂的場域特定性
在藝術領域中，有些作品被區分為場域特定藝術。這種命名某程度上是在說明，藝術作品在普遍情況下都並非場域特定，作品可以轉移到其他截然不同的場域而無改作品內容本質。若將之引申到音樂，「場域特定性」則具有另一種意義。
音樂是以聲音在時間與空間的維度上之變化而生的藝術。當考慮到聲音在一個空間傳播的物理本質，場域的空間作為聲音的容器，是每個音樂作品的呈現中不能分割的成份。一個音樂作品當轉移到不同的場域進行，必會因該場域空間中之物理特質而有不同的呈現。這些差異是來自空間的回音特點與規模、泛音所導致的音色不同、聲源與聆聽者的距離、以至場域的環境聲音等眾多因素結合而成。
在古典音樂與及其延伸的當代音樂的體系裡，音樂作品都普遍假定在音樂廳或類音樂廳的場域中演奏。音樂廳是近數百年才在歐洲古典音樂文化中出現，是因著西方古典音樂追求純粹的美學而設計出的一種讓人集中於聆聽音樂作品之奇異場域，是由非常特定的條件所建造——舞台、觀眾席、隔音、以西方交響樂聲響作定位的聲學（acoustics）設計。這些可客觀量化的向度，令音樂廳可以輕易跨越地域被複製到世界任何地方。而作為音樂廳功能的不同表演場域之間的物理差異，多被視為一種優劣之分而非場域的獨特性，偏離標準模範聲學設計的音樂廳或表演場域，往往被視為不利演奏甚至損害音樂作品的呈現。
音樂廳（和類似音樂廳的表演場域）在現代都市的普世性，令音樂本來不能避免的場域特定本質在今天往往被忽視。然而古今世界上許多的音樂文化，其實都是以音樂廳以外的場域為考慮，有一些音樂文化的演奏場域其本身設計甚至不是單純為音樂而生。音樂創作若以音樂廳以外的場域作創作起點，可開展許多聲響和演奏可能，舞台、演奏者、觀眾在場域中的定位等等亦得以被重新設定，極多不同可能的聆聽經驗隨之而生。
《亞特拉斯》
是次作品由我和視覺藝術家鄧啟耀共同合作，將之命名為《亞特拉斯》（Atlas）。我們特意揀選了本地六個非音樂演奏用途而具有獨特空間設計的地方，細讀當地的背景，聆聽當刻的聲音，由鄧啟耀為每個場域繪畫地圖，我則為這些場域創作音樂。
鄧啟耀善於尋找人、自然與場域之間的關係，就如他在大館中描繪了一道被建築物切割的陽光、一件掛在老樹上濕透汗衣、一隻隻觀察著的我們活動的「天眼」。他將這些細碎的踪跡串連起來，以他的角度描繪出一張屬於當地當刻的地圖。
而我在《亞特拉斯》所寫的音樂具體地將各場域的物理條件例如空間佈置、物料構造造成的回音、在地的環境聲音等等運用為作品的必要元素，有關場域的描述亦為這些音樂賦與了地圖的功能與意義。因此，有關場域的條件越趨仔細，這些音樂就難以甚至無法轉移到另外的場域。換句話說，《亞特拉斯》中的音樂是被綁於一個地方的音樂，必須在該場域演奏才能夠完整呈現。假如這些地方經過高度變化或甚至消失，作品亦可能從此無法再以其原本狀態呈現，是一種依存於場域的短暫存在的音樂作品。
樂譜與地圖在《亞特拉斯》中的並存，建構出一種時空的矛盾——地圖是在過去的時空對一個地方的記載，樂譜則是將來在此地方演奏的音樂之指示。由於地方本身不能避免的不斷隨時間變化，地圖和樂譜這兩個在時間軸中往相反方向的投射實際上幾乎不可能在現實中相遇，這種衝突令作品無法成為一種有關一個地方的科學客觀紀錄，也無法成為單純用以執行一次演奏的藍圖。《亞特拉斯》兩種創作形式對話，只是我們身處的現實中其中一種可能性的理想化描述。而這理想化描述中的這些地方，卻在作品中保存成一種永恆狀態，等待被參考，等待被想像，等待被呈現。
《亞特拉斯》是來自希臘神話中一位泰坦巨人的名字。希臘神話裡，當宙斯率領眾神推翻泰坦巨人統治時，亞特拉斯與泰坦巨人同一陣線抵抗，因此受到後來成為奧林匹斯主神的宙斯懲罰永遠背負天空。亞特拉斯這巨人背負天空的形象，後來在西方文明成為早期地圖集的封面，甚至地圖集亦是以他命名。我們不知道我們是否也要必須想像亞特拉斯快樂，但這位被神祗懲罰背負天空的巨人成為了記錄大地的符號，亞特拉斯的神話故事輾轉與地圖的交集，也為「聽得見的城市」道出了命題——無法離開其場域的音樂、停駐記載所處之地的人，這些人與地的結連，是出於人的願望和意志，還是一種如亞特拉斯接受天罰的命運？我們對身處之地各種渴望的投射，由場域盛載時產生出的是和諧還是衝突？我們為各種「地」所作的各種記載、描述、想像，是為了保存它們，還是其實更加是為了證明自己曾經見證它們？在亞特拉斯背起天空之前，穹蒼一直都在。但由於他所受之天罰，使他不但與天地一同被記起，也成為了被後世所了解的身份。我們為身處之地所做一切，也許也只是不過如此——不是要留下甚麼痕跡，而只是希望天地成為自己短暫存在裡的一部份。
鄺展維
策劃及作曲：鄺展維
鄺展維是香港土生土長的作曲家，創作範疇包括管弦樂、合唱、以至為各種室樂組合及獨奏者而寫的音樂作品，曾演出其作品的著名音樂家包括法國現代樂集、法國廣播愛樂樂團、斯圖加特創聲獨唱團、意大利Divertimento樂團、香港小交響樂團、澳洲Ensemble Offspring、香港創樂團、倫敦室樂團、美國Eastman BroadBand、英國克萊采弦樂四重奏、長笛演奏家Mario Caroli及直笛演奏家鈴木俊哉等，近年其作品於國際間曾於日本武生國際音樂節 (2018)、瑞士提契諾音樂節 (2018)、意大利Rondò a Bobbio (2018)、法國巴黎音樂與聲學研究中心ManiFeste音樂節 (2017)、法國拉羅克‧昂迪榮國際鋼琴音樂節 (2017)、德國東弗里斯蘭「浪潮」音樂節 (2017)、葡萄牙馬爾旺國際音樂節 (2017)、、西班牙奧維耶多夏季藝術節當代音樂系列 (2017)、香港藝術節 (2017)、意大利soundSCAPE音樂節 (2016)、香港新視野藝術節 (2016) 等之中演出。2016年，其作品《樹猶如此》獲法國現代樂集音樂總監平沙爾挑選，在樂團的香港首演中演出。
創作中鄺展維也有打破演奏廳範式的音樂作品，探討音樂作為一種體驗處境的創作方向，因此除場域特定音樂作品和聲音裝置，鄺展維亦曾與來自其他範籌如視覺藝術、舞蹈和劇場等的藝術家多次合作。2018-2019年鄺展維於《聽得見的城市》擔任策劃及作曲，計劃與香港創樂團、聲音掏腰包及視覺藝術家鄧啟耀合作，由何鴻毅家族基金之「藝術 ‧ 改寫香港」計劃資助，在此計劃中鄺展維為香港多個非音樂廳場域創作一系列的場域特定作品，名為《亞特拉斯》。
鄺展維早年於香港中文大學及倫敦大學國王學院修讀音樂，期間獲兩間院校和香港作曲家及作詞家協會等頒授多個獎學金。及後獲利銘澤百年紀念獎學金全費資助，於英國約克大學在Thomas Simaku指導下鑽研作曲，並於2013年獲頒授博士學位。此外他亦曾從國際間之作曲工作坊及大師班中隨細川俊夫、Francesco Filidei及Mauro Lanza等作曲家學習而獲重要啟迪。
鄺展維現於香港定居，並積極於本地推動當代音樂。他2014年至2015年間亦曾於香港創樂團擔任研究統籌，現為香港小交響樂團作當代音樂研究。鄺展維現為香港大學音樂系客席講師。
協作藝術家：鄧啟耀
1988年生於香港，藝術家鄧啟耀從城市生活當中尋找人與大自然的痕跡，並將其微渺的關係帶到創作。他於 2010 年畢業於香港浸會大學視覺藝術院(榮譽)文學士。於2014年，他獲邀參與蘇黎世藝術大學為期半年的藝術家駐留計劃。他曾獲「麥羅武中國繪畫獎」(2012)、「美思堂文教基金」獎學金(2012) 、「視覺藝術創作獎」(2010)及「友生昌中國繪畫獎」(2009) 。近年，他曾參展於香港藝術中心及比利Les Halles de Schaerbee合辦「香港味道」(2016）、京都藝術中心「音をめぐる場と表現」(2016)、德國蓋爾森基興美術館的中國八項目「Tradition Today – Ink Painting and Calligraphy」(2015)，德國柏林Momentum「為未來而創造：想象不可想象之事」(2015)。其作品更見於德國、瑞士、日本、中國、台灣和香港的各個藝術館、藝術機構和畫廊。
香港創樂團
獲美國有線電視新聞網譽為「香港最前衛的音樂團體之一」，香港創樂團於2008年成立，製作包括音樂會、教育外展活動及與其他界別藝術家的研究計劃等，極具創新的演出節目備受廣泛讚賞。
香港創樂團現由十五位成員組成，以各種靈活組合於不同場境演出。樂團多年來演出多首當代音樂大師的經典名作，並為多位本地及海外作曲家的新作作首演，當中包括不少由香港創樂團委約創作的作品。
香港創樂團曾參演新視野藝術節（2010、2014、2016、2018）、統營國際音樂節（南韓，2016）、西九自由野（2014）、法國五月（2014、2015）、澳門藝術節（2016）、澳門國際音樂節（2010）、ECHOFLUXX新媒體、藝術、音樂節（捷克，2016）、柏林三月音樂節（德國，2011）、新舊藝術博物館現代音樂節（澳洲，2011）、香港藝術節（2014、2015、2017）、Cycle音樂及藝術節（冰島，2017）及上海當代音樂周（2018）。
香港創樂團曾與多個團體及文化機構合作，包括進念・二十面體、香港中樂團、廣東現代舞團、愛麗絲劇場實驗室等，並應香港藝術中心、西九文代管理局、Spring工作室、亞洲協會香港中心、香港歌德學院等機構邀請合作籌劃活動。樂團也經常與本地各大專學院合作，於2013-2015年為香港演藝學院的駐院藝團。
香港創樂團自2012年起成為香港藝術發展局資助團體，並兩度獲香港特區政府的「藝能發展資助計劃」資助，創辦「現代學院」。
聲音掏腰包
soundpocket 扮演宣傳、教育、促進與收集的角色。我們涉足聲音、藝術與文化，發現聲音與不同的藝術形式(包括視覺藝術、裝置藝術、音樂、戲劇、舞蹈等)有著多樣化和動態的關係；在不同的文化背景下為我們的生活賦予意義。我們希望與所有對聲音有同樣興趣的人共事。
Site-specific project "Our Audible City" takes music out of concert halls, creating new musical experiences that directly transform and interfere with the soundscapes of the city. A series of specially curated performances and workshops provide a distinctive listening experience, exploring the relationship and connection between space and the people who inhabit it.
Performances: Atlas Atlas is a set of compositions specifically created for various non-concert hall locations in the city, with the music of Charles Kwong specifically written for these sites and maps drawn by visual artist Frank Tang. The unique character of each space becomes the integral part in the creation of each composition. Six performances will take place at six different non-concert hall sites in Hong Kong.
#1 Tai Kwun 30.06.2018 (Photo Album)
#2 Tai Lei Island, Peng Chau 04.11.2018 (Photo Album )
#3 SCAD Hong Kong 26.01.2019 26.01.2019（Photo Album）
#4 Haking Wong Podium; University Museum and Art Gallery, HKU 09.02.2019（Photo Album）
#5 Tung Lin Kok Yuen 23.02.2019 （Photo Album）
#6 Haw Par Music 26.10.2019 （Photo Album）
Workshops In partnership with the project’s Education Programme Partner soundpocket, and in conjunction with the performances of Atlas, two series of practical workshops on music making and sound collecting will be offered from November 2018 to March 2019:
Music Making Workshops
Led by Charles Kwong and Gip Chan, founder and director of GipPercussion Ensemble, this series of workshops are tailored for members of the community, providing insights on some of the fundamental principles of music making through discussion and practices. Participants will be given the opportunities to learn about using simple musical instruments and daily objects to create musical sound, and explore the various interesting aspects of music creation. Participants are expected to be able to perform in Atlas 4 at HKU on 9 February 2019, alongside professional musicians from the HKNME and HKU Percussion Ensemble. Join us to be part of this phenomenal performance team!
Sound Collecting Workshops
Education Programme Partner soundpocket will present a series of workshop on sound collecting. Participants will explore different media and tools to collect sound at the unique sites during the performances of Atlas, and will discover new experiences appreciating site-specific performances. Through various listening and creative exercises, participants will learn also how writing or drawing as sound collecting can be realised, and expand the knowledge about the concept of Sound Collecting.
If you are interested in collecting sounds through field recording, or experience how sounds can be written out using words and graphics, join us to become a Sound Collector and learn about the art of Sound Collecting from professional sound designers and artists.
As we lodge and live in a space, site or region, we begin to develop impressions and memories of the place we are in; our feelings for it grow from foreignness to familiarity, from which springs belongingness, dependence, and even a sense of mission to protect the place and sacrifice for it. How we define our relationship with a place or site arises from the human spiritual perception of the universe more than from animal instincts driven solely by survival. Many views, such as when and where we regard ourselves as a host or a guest, what place certain people belong to and vice versa, or what “home” is, are subjective cognition, or even an interpretation of the reality which far exceeds boundaries law can draw. Behind the sublimation of such connectedness between humans and places is in fact the experience we gain from playing different roles in these spaces, sites, and regions. Some of our acts leave traces in these places; in the same way, these places become unfading parts in the human experience.
Listening is one of the ways a human experiences a place. We often assume that sounds are heard as a matter of fact, and accept our passive role when it comes to the auditory sense. However, listening to our surroundings is in fact active and in-depth perception and comprehension at work, and is a behaviour to allow the current place to be internalised as our own experience. The ambience, which has always been present at the site, is only one of the aspects we can listen to. Like the entry of light which lends visibility to a space, the intervention of visiting sounds and their behaviour in the sites will enable a space to reveal its physical characteristics and become an audible space. Such purposeful sonic intervention of men is not only a way to explore and investigate a site that gives the listener a new level of understanding of the site, but could also be an act of aesthetic intentions that transforms an pre-existing “Nature” into a musical creation.
Site-specificity of Music
Some works of art are categorised as site-specific art. Such categorisation indicates, to a certain extent, the general non-site-specificity of artworks, which can be transferred to a completely different site without changing the nature of the content. However, when the term, “site-specificity”, is applied to music, other connotations arise.
Music is the art of sounds transforming in the dimensions of time and space. If we consider the physical nature of sound propagation in a space, the space of the site, as a vessel of the sounds, is an inseparable component in the presentation of every musical work. When a musical piece is transferred to a different site, its presentation inevitably changes along with the physical features of the space. These changes result from a myriad of factors, such as the characteristics and scale of resonances in the space, the projection of overtones leading to different timbres, the distance between the source of a sound and the listener, and also all the environmental sounds.
It is a general assumption that works of classical music and its contemporary continuation are performed in a concert hall or the like. The concert hall did not emerge in European classical music until only a few centuries ago. It is an intriguing space designed out of pure aesthetic pursuits of Western classical music, one that enables people to focus on the music they are listening to. It is constructed by highly specific conditions including the stage, auditorium, soundproofing system and acoustics designed with the Western symphonic orchestras in mind. These objective and quantifiable dimensions allow the concert hall to be easily duplicated anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, the physical differences between these venues are often considered merits and demerits. Deviations from standard acoustic designs, features unfavourable, or even damaging, to the presentation of musical works rather than a kind of characteristic of each space.
The prevalence of concert halls (and performance venues in such spirit) in modern metropolises has obscured the ontologically imminent site-specific nature of music. In fact, many music cultures in both ancient and modern times are originated from venues outside the concert hall, and some of their venues are not even designed solely for music. If the making of music starts from somewhere outside the concert hall, we will unearth the many other possibilities of sound and performance. The stage, performers and audience in these spaces could be re-situated, and infinite potential aural experiences would arise.
Atlas
Atlas is a work in collaboration between visual artist Frank Tang and I. For the work we handpicked six unique non-music performance venues with exceptional spatial design. Perusing the story of each venue and listening to the sounds the moment offered us, Frank draws maps for all the spaces, I write music specifically for these sites.
Frank is deft at discovering relationships among people, the nature and places. Like how he at Tai Kwun portrays a ray of sunlight intersected by a building, a soggy sweatshirt hanging over an old tree, surveillance cameras watching our every move, Frank strung bits and pieces together to create a map of each space at the very moment from his very perspective.
Whereas in the music for Atlas, I specifically integrated the physical features of the places, such as their spatial arrangements, resonances caused by the building materials and structures, as well as the environmental sounds as the fundamental elements. These physical descriptions, or requirements, for each venue have endowed these compositions with the functionality and meanings of a map. Thus, the more particular the features of a venue are, the more difficult it is for these musical pieces to be transferred to another space. In other words, each composition in Atlas is tied to a particular site and must be performed at that site to be full and whole. If these sites undergo tremendous alteration, or even vanish, it would be impossible for these musical works to be presented in its original state evermore. They are thus short-lived music that much depends on the transient state of the sites.
The juxtaposition of music notations and maps in Atlas form a kind of conflicting co-existence in time and space: maps are records of a place in the past, while music notations are instructions for a performance to take place at this site in a future. As a place will inevitably change with time, it is almost impossible for the projections of the maps and the music notations, casting in opposite directions of time, to ever meet in reality. Due to such conflict, these works cannot serve as a scientific and objective record of the venues, nor solely as a blueprint for a performance. However, the places so idealistically depicted will remain in an eternal state in these works, waiting to be referred to, to be imagined and to be realised.
Atlas derives its name from the Titan giant in Greek mythology. It was said that when Zeus led the gods in rebellion against the Titans, Atlas sided with the Titans and was thus condemned to hold up the sky on his shoulders forever after Zeus became ruler of the Olympians. This image of Atlas holding up the sky was later printed on covers of early map books in Western cultures, and these map books are now even called atlases. We are not sure if we must also imagine Atlas happy. But the punishment he received made him a symbol of the record of the land. How Atlas’ myth and maps crossed their paths brought out the themes of “Our Audible City”: music that depends on its site and the humans who record the piece of land they rest on. Are these connections between men and land out of the our wishes and will, or a fate like Atlas receiving punishments from gods? Are these desires that we project on the land we are on and contained by the places a kind of harmony or a kind of conflict? Are the records, descriptions, and images of the land we are on meant to preserve the land, or more to prove we are witnesses of it? The sky had always been there even before Atlas held it up, but because of the punishment he received, he is remembered along with the sky and earth, and the act has become the identity he is known by. Likewise, all that we do for the place we are at is no more than this: rather than leaving traces, we simply wish for the places to become part of our transient existence.
Charles Kwong
(English translation by Heidi Chun)
Curator & Composer: Charles Kwong
Born and raised in Hong Kong, composer Charles Kwong's creative output ranges from orchestral and choral music to works written for all types of chambers ensembles and solo performers. Distinguished musicians that performed Kwong’s music include Ensemble intercontemporain, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Divertimento Ensemble, Ensemble Offspring, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Eastman BroadBand, Kreutzer String Quartet, Mario Caroli and Tosiya Suzuki, among others. In recent years, his music has been internationally featured in festivals such as Takefu International Music Festival (Japan 2018), Ticino Musica (Switzerland 2018), Rondò a Bobbio (Italy 2018), IRCAM ManiFeste (France 2017), Festival International de Piano La Roque d'Anthéron (France 2017), Gezeitenkonzerte in Ostfriesland (Germany 2017), Marvão International Music Festival (Portugal 2017), Ciclo de Música Contemporánea de Oviedo (Spain 2017), Hong Kong Arts Festival (2017), soundSCAPE Festival (Italy 2016), New Vision Arts Festival (Hong Kong 2016), among other presentations. In 2016, his work Lachrymae was selected by Matthias Pintscher and Ensemble intercontemporain as part of the programme for the ensemble's Hong Kong début.
In composing Kwong is also active in creating works beyond paradigms of concert hall music, extending his explorations in music as experiential situations. This has brought Kwong to the creations of site specific compositions, sound installations and collaborations with artists from other disciplines such as visual art, dance, literature and theatre. Kwong is the curator and composer of Our Audible City (2018-2019) - a project-in-progress in collaboration with the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, soundpocket and Frank Tang, and supported by the Arts: Transforming Hong Kong Grant of The Robert H.M. Ho Family Foundation. For the project Kwong is creating a series of site-specific compositions tailored for non-concert-hall spaces in Hong Kong, titled Atlas.
Kwong studied music at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2004-2007) and King’s College London (2007-2008), with multiple scholarships from the respective institutes and the Composers and Authors Society Hong Kong. In 2013, he earned his doctorate in compositions from The University of York under the supervision of Thomas Simaku as an R C Lee Scholar with full sponsorship from the Drs Richard Charles and Esther Yewpick Lee Charitable Foundation. He also received important benefits for his artistic development from the tutelages of Toshio Hosokawa, Francesco Filidei and Mauro Lanza, among other composers, via international academies and masterclasses.
Currently living in Hong Kong, Kwong has also been actively involved in promoting contemporary music in the scene. He was the Research Coordinator of Hong Kong New Music Ensemble in 2014-2015, and he now works with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta for the orchestra’s research and programming in contemporary music. Kwong currently teaches at the Music Department of the University of Hong Kong as part-time lecturer.
Collaborating Artist: Frank Tang Kai Yiu
Born in Hong Kong in 1988, Frank Tang uses Chinese painting and video installation as a means being provocative to human thoughts and daily behavior with nature. He received his Bachelor of Visual Arts from Academy of Visual Arts(AVA), HKBU in 2010. In 2014, he was invited to a 6-month residency in Zurich by The Zurich University of the Arts. He was awarded Grant Award by Muses Foundation (2012), the Louis Mak Chinese Painting Award (2012), AVA Award (2010), Yau Sang Cheong Chinese painting Award (2009). Tang has participated in exhibitions including, in “A Taste of Hong Kong” at Les Halles de Schaerbeek in Belgium (2016), 「音をめぐる場と表現」at Kyoto Art Center in Japan(2016), “China 8 - Tradition Today – Ink Painting and Calligraphy” at Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen in Germany(2015) and “Creating the future : Thinking About The Unthinkable” at Momentum in Germany(2015). His artworks have been exhibited in museums, art organizations and galleries in Germany, Switzerland, Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Hong Kong New Music Ensemble
Founded in 2008, the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble (HKNME) is hailed as “one of Hong Kong’s most progressive groups of musicians” (CNN). Widely praised for its innovative programming, the Ensemble’s productions include concerts, educational outreach events, and interdisciplinary collaborations and research projects with artists from different artistic fields.
The HKNME currently consists of fifteen core members who perform in versatile combinations in a variety of settings. Over the years, the HKNME has performed masterpieces of the contemporary repertoire as well as numerous premières by composers from Hong Kong and overseas, including many commissioned by the HKNME itself.
The HKNME has been featured in prominent showcases for the New Vision Arts Festival (2010, 2014, 2016, 2018), Tongyeong International Music Festival/ ISCM (Korea, 2016), Freespace Fest (2014), Le French May (2014, 2015), Macao Arts Festival (2016), Macao International Music Festival (2010), ECHOFLUXX Festival of New Media, Art and Music (Czech Republic, 2016), MaerzMusik (Germany, 2011), MONA FOMA (Australia, 2011), Hong Kong Arts Festival (2014, 2015, 2017), Cycle Music & Art Festival (Iceland, 2017) and Shanghai New Music Week (China, 2018).
The Ensemble has collaborated with renowned organisations such as Zuni Icosahedron, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Guangdong Modern Dance Company and Alice Theatre Laboratory. The HKNME has also been invited to organise events in partnership with the Hong Kong Arts Centre, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, Spring Workshop, Asia Society Hong Kong Center and the Goethe Institute Hongkong. A regular collaborator with music departments of all tertiary institutions in Hong Kong, the HKNME has been Resident Company at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (2013-2015).
The HKNME has been annually funded by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council since 2012, and twice received project grants from the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme of the HKSAR Government to present The Modern Academy.
soundpocket
soundpocket is a promoter, educator, facilitator, and gatherer. We work in the fields of sound, art and culture. We find sound in diverse and dynamic relations with many different art forms (visual art, installation art, music, theatre, dance etc.), and with a variety of cultural contexts that give meanings to our lives. We would like to work with all those who share this active interest in sound.
soundpocket supports not just an art form, but ideas and possibilities that engage with aesthetically meaningful, culturally-grounded and publicly relevant sonic practices, which have a lot to teach about how we understand the world and the experiences yet to be valued.
