Visiting an artist’s studio was a first-time experience for me. It was certainly different from seeing a finished work in a public exhibition space, and there was a charm in Tung Pang’s preliminary materials because they aroused imagination of what they could become as well as many thoughts.
To begin, Tung Pang’s choice of focuses in the red pockets intrigued me. Ranging from the arts, namely literature and music, to agriculture, it seems that Tung Pang is not only trying to find common fields between the Echigo-Tsumari region and Sha Tin, but also to engage with both the spiritual (reading literature or enjoying music) and the practical (cooking and eating rice), just as a ‘house’ in reality is the intersection point of mental and physical activities, instead of either one, in someone’s daily life. Diving into aspects of popular culture and the everyday, I find the Half-step House an interesting reflection upon community art. From seeing Tung Pang’s progress, I can feel that the project is one that encourages an open dialogue between the seeing and the being seen. The universalistic activities related to a house and the surprisingly plentiful links between the two cultures would certainly evoke degrees of familiarity from both Hong Kong and Japanese audiences. Similar to the way Tung Pang asked us to interpret the objects in his studio, I am eager to see what the visitor could bring to the artwork, and what we, as contributors to the project, can also gain from a visitor’s perspective.
As I choose to work with Tung Pang in his studio, I am interested in seeing how an artist approaches a project, his thought process, and the final realization of these ideas. Through organizing these materials, I hope to provide a different perspective from someone outside the artist’s creative mind, as well as a potential visitor to the artwork. Of course, I would also be happy to help with anything related to research of materials, or the Japanese language in general.
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