Traces of an invisible city

Abstract

Traces of an Invisible City (2016) presents urban space in Hong Kong as a vivid showcase of the hidden logics of globalization and capitalism, and of the historical changes currently occurring in world cities. It examines a series of urban landscapes in Hong Kong to illustrate the tension among their visual existence, function, and ownership, and how the city's public space has been constructed, used, owned, and interpreted. Public spaces, which are primary loci where public life happen, are regarded here as nodal points that connect the city's past, present and future. The film contains three chapters that are parallel to but interwoven with each other: global, local, and divided space. "The exhibition" observes Art Basel, one of the largest art fairs in the world, held at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in an inside-out manner — through the architecture's space and function, the visitors and the post-usage conditions of the space to reveal its symbolic and literal void. "The Streets" explores the dramatic transformations of Hong Kong's public space in recent years, blended with flashback of history."The North Side" juxtaposes the Hong Kong-Shenzhen division area in their visual reversal, where Hong Kong's agricultural landscape became a spectacle from the rapidly urbanized side of the socialist China. 影片《寻迹无形之城》（2 0 1 6 ) 以香港的城市空间为窗口，展现了全球化和资本主义所隐藏的逻辑，以及世界级城市当前的历史变革。它探究了香港的一系列城市景观，以展现其视觉存在、功能和所有权之间的紧张关系，并揭示了城市公共空间是如何被建造、使用、所有和解读的。作为城市公共生活发生的主要场所，公共空间在影片中被视为连接城市过去、现在和未来的节点。職眼于全球、本地和分界线的空间的三个平行而又泪互交织的章节贯穿了影片的始末。‘‘展览”章节取材于在香港会议展览中心举办的巴塞尔艺术展。作为世界上最大的艺术展之一，它以自内向外的方式，通过建筑的空间和功能、访客及空间的使用后状态等展现其象征注的和切实意义上的空洞。**街道”章节结合对历史的回顾，探讨了香港公共空间近年来的戏剧性转变。“北面”章节讲述了在香港-深圳分界线地区的一种视觉反转，在处于快速城镇化逬程中的杜会主义中国的衬托下，香港的农田反倒成了一种历史景观。