2022 Hong Kong Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism\ Architecture (Hong Kong) “Seeds of Resilience, Re(dis)covering The City” Four Exhibition Zones All Open to Public Starting Tomorrow

Organised by The Hong Kong Institute of Architects Biennale Foundation, in conjunction with The Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA), Hong Kong Institute of Planners (HKIP) and the Hong Kong Designers Association (HKDA), and sponsored by Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) of the HKSAR Government, the Biennale is jointly curated by a group of six emerging architectural graduates namely Ms Fei MUI, an American licensed architect who has practised in different parts of the world; Mr Alfred HO who is an architectural designer licensed in The Netherlands passionate about urban research, conservation, and community design; Ms LO Wan Ki, Wiki who specialises in transdisciplinary theatre and art and curatorship; Ms Erica CHUI, who is a Hong Kong licensed architect proficient in heritage conservation; Mr Nicky WONG who is a Hong Kong licensed n architect keen on heritage and history of Hong Kong; and Ms Carla LUNG, a Hong Kong licensed conservation architect who actively participates in a wide range of heritage conservation projects.

With the theme "Seeds of Resilience - Re(dis)covering The City", the Biennale features over 50 exhibitors advocating different agendas in urbanism, architecture and built environment to imagine and envision new interpretations of coexistence and balance in trying times through the lens of architecture. By reflecting on the concept of “seeds” — the minuscule energy pods, that are nevertheless capable of preserving their lifeforce through endless difficulties, the curators hope that everyone in the city will be encouraged to witness the growth of these “seeds” through the Biennale, be inspired, and generate new visions for the future.

The Biennale is open to the public from now to 26 November (Saturday) 2022 in Hong Kong and later in Shenzhen until early 2023. Creative works and cross-disciplinary exhibits are first physically displayed at North Point (East) Ferry Pier, Central Market and Star Ferry Piers (Central and Tsim Sha Tsui), while the Shenzhen edition will feature three of the exhibits in physical format and the others in digital format starting from 25 November at the Jinwei Brewery Industrial Heritage Renewal District in Luohu. Echoing the theme of the Biennale "Seeds of Resilience - Re(dis)covering The City", the curators aim to generate an extraordinary journey of urbanism routed through scattered yet familiar locations for the participants.

Interactive Exhibits Encourage Kids and Adults to Embark on a Community Exploration Journey

Opened since 27 August, the exhibition of the Biennale at Central Market focuses on different social agendas, hoping to foster a deeper understanding of urban development and related content for visitors of all age groups. The exhibition features various interactive exhibits, offering fun experiences for participants, especially kids and families, to explore the local community through exciting perspectives, and learning during playing.

Key Exhibits:

• Deep Food designed the taste-oriented experience of the “Yuen Yeung Map (of Hong Kong Streets)” to represent the diversity of local communities, the drink and map serve as reflective tools of vibrant street landscapes and inclusive environments.

• Designed by transdisciplinary artist Amy Cheung, “Time Bank the Game” invites players to invest their time and contribute to the goal of sustainable development. It is a reality game situated in both the virtual and real world for ultimate fun.

• Designed by Playright Children’s Play Association, "Designing Play Space is NOT Child’s Play (or is it?)" makes use of stair slides, models, and panels to invite a reconsideration of the concept of “PLAY” through the eyes of children, and thus stimulate conversations between serious professional designers and their playful “inner child”.

Local and overseas exhibitors of the Biennale come from a wide spectrum of fields ranging from science, art, education, design, community, architecture, conservation, to imaging. They have reimagined a resilient city, and "planted" a blueprint for harmonious sustainable urban development under four sub-themes namely "Bottom-up", "Co-habitation", "Human Nature Symbiosis" and "Living Manifesto". Physical and virtual content including installation art, interactive design, cross-media creation, and virtual technology are presented in the Biennale. A series of engaging community programmes such as workshops, symposiums, guided tours, and film screening, etc. will also take place during the exhibition period.

Bottom-up - Community & Social Design

When both our city and its built environment are aging, bottom-up design may be an ideal way to avoid conflict when changes have to be made. But how might they be implemented in reality, and not superficially as a gesture? How could such an implementation redefine the role of architects and planners? Could bottom-up dialogues be a way to push heritage conservation forward?

Key Exhibits:

• The work “#Streetopia” created by Street Reset presents the concept that streets are the fabrics of the city and everyday life and invites every street “user” to rethink about the ideal form of “street”.

• Hong Kong Cleaners DIY Lab, through the work "Cleaner DIY Tools", showcases how cleaners can make practical and durable work tools at their own expense for social good. While praising the cleansers’ creativity and craftsmanship, the work also evokes the public about the challenging situation faced by them.

Co-habitation – Diversity, and Inclusion

Hong Kong takes pride in being an inclusive city. But how well do we co-habit among all walks of life, including the underprivileged, people with disabilities, LGBTQ communities, the elderly, and ethnic minorities?

Key Exhibits:

• Is Hong Kong a liveable city for everyone? In the research work "Housing is a Verb - Building Domesticity in Transience" by Make Room Community (currently displayed in Central Market) which uses camping beds and sleeping bags as the main mediums to evaluate what the Transitional Housing Scheme has achieved, through the lens of the residents who moved from Subdivided Units to Transitional Housing projects, thereby promoting the creation of collective resilience among the inadequately housed.

• The “Inflatable Chapel” designed by Napp Studio & Architects is a portable, reusable, personal and spontaneous spiritual space for everyone. The work vividly resonates with the policy of the vaccine bubble and social distancing implemented in Hong Kong.

Human Nature Symbiosis - Sustainable Planning

Amid the global pandemic crisis, cities are less bustling, and more people are moving out to relatively affordable and more liveable areas. This becomes an opportunity to review how planning should be done, which is also an opportunity to rethink the symbiotic relationship between “urban & rural”, “contemporary & historical”, and “human & the nature” to achieve a truly liveable and sustainable way of planning Hong Kong with respect for the nature and traditional culture.

Key Exhibits:

• The experimental project “Bee Hotel Signage” created collectively by Aron TSANG, Rosalia LEUNG and Outdoor Wildlife Learning Hong Kong (OWLHK) addresses the need to make humans and other beings more equal so that the city is more biologically diverse and inclusive.

• The key project, called the “A Local Bamboo Experiment”, is themed on rural conservation and set up at North Point Pier. Exhibitor The Common Map has formulated restoration proposals for revitalising the 360-year-old Hakka village of Mui Tsz Lam in Sha Tau Kok. By gathering the knowledge, technology, experience, and creativity of the research team, residents, participating students and volunteers, the work explores the relationship between human and the nature, and uses local materials such as bamboo, broken construction materials and plant-based dyes for creating and curating a database of rural resources.

Living Manifesto - Alternative Living & Low Carbon Living

Pursuing a sustainable low-carbon life to protect the environment is the living manifesto of many individuals and even countries. In the face of the global pandemic crisis, single-use disposable items and shipping and packing materials have been widely used for hygiene and personal protection. This prompts us to reflect on how we can continue to challenge the status quo and stay true to our beliefs of living more resilient and sustainable lives.

Key Exhibits:

• Exploring urban planning, "WEEDsilience" located at Central Pier No. 7 (Star Ferry Pier) is designed by Ivy WONG Hiu Yan and Benni PONG Yu Ling. By emphasising the resilience of “weeds”, which are often associated with negative impressions and thus overlooked, the exhibitor intends to build up knowledge and experience of urban wildernesses, the unnoticed nature in our everyday life, and explore coexistence with multispecies in a hyper-dense urban landscape.

• “Revisiting Victoria Harbour - Star Ferry Salon”, curated by the creative collective "When in Doubt", brings audience ailing through Victoria harbour towards Star Ferry Dockyard in Tsing Yi on an electrical ferry, revisiting the stories of our city that is closely tied with this small piece of harbour through history, dialogue with the veteran ferry staff, literature and pop culture.

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