Serendipity in the StreetTai Kwun
Serendipity in the Street brings together urban observers and artists as they record tales from everyday life in the Central and Sheung Wan neighbourhood, and capture the complexities of the urban fabric through creative use of living spaces. “Modernologio”, an everyday life observation practice originated in Japan, has been adopted as the research method in this exhibition, to identify the interconnections between people, space and activity.
Bringing creativity into daily lives, fascinating street activities have emerged in and around our neighbourhood, and in order to better observe and systematically outline these traces of urban activities, a research team, led by Brian Kwok, Hong Kong Polytechnic University ‘s Associate Professor of School of Design, assumed the roles of urban observers in the past few months. Strolling through numerous streets and alleys, flyovers, open-air markets, recreational parks and criss-crossing slopes and stairs in the area to discover seemingly mundane people and things, the urban observers pieced together fragments of stories hidden within different corners of urban space.
Four intriguing stories tucked away in corners of our neighbourhood and seven creative responses by local artists Annisa Cheung, Choi Sai Ho, South Ho, Charles Kwong, Ocean Leung, Frank Tang Kai Yiu, and Nerve to the environment in the area form part of this exhibition. The artists have been invited to collaborate and create new pieces inspired by the findings of the team. The exhibition also invites people to discover their space, resonate with the idea of juxtaposing art and observations, and empower themselves and others into cultivating profound personal connections with their communities.
