A Bird’s Eye View of Hong Kong

“Wěndìng Fánróng” is a two channel HD video installation that was created by Artist Mariana Bisti in Hong Kong as part of a 10-week residency at the Academy of Visual Arts in Hong Kong. Shot via drone, the video captures the geometric lines of the city’s soaring, dense towers and also something of its street life and vitality. The mesmerizing film serves up a bird’s eye view of a city that can’t be fully comprehended from the ground.

“Hong Kong’s contradictions and complexities are scribed on the body of its city, manifested in its urban landscape, in the organization of working, living and public spaces,” Bisti describes. “The city’s structural formations and functions encapsulate the spirit of its past, present and future, speak of its monstrosities and its miracles, uproot the official Chinese discourse and reveal a wealth of contradictions that constitute HK as one of the most attractive and mesmerizing dystopias on earth.”

Bisti’s intention was to illustrate the Chinese organizational rule of Hong Kong—“wěndìng fánróng” (stability & prosperity)—and relate it to Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown’s theories on complexity and contradiction in architecture.

(The following passage is from Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, Robert Venturi, Moma, 1977.)

[Complexity and Contradiction] The latter two terms reveal the complementary foundations upon which the official Chinese discourse constructs the image of Hong Kong as an exuberant and thriving community. Yet contemporary Hong Kong is more than that: its complex and contradictory nature stems from its turbulent historical past, its colonization and decolonization, its re-nationalization, the constant movement of goods and capital, the social injustice and inequality, and above all, the perpetual movement of its people. This movement produces the political, cultural and social mix that generates a hybridized identity, with ephemeral foundations and fluid characteristics. HK’s contradictions and complexities are scribed on the body of its city, manifested in its urban landscape, in the organization of working, living and public spaces. The city’s structural formations and functions encapsulate the spirit of its past, present and future, speak of its monstrosities and its miracles, uproot the official Chinese discourse and reveal a wealth of contradictions that constitute HK one of the most attractive and mesmerizing dystopias on earth.

Watch both the Left and Right Channels of the 8 minute installation below:

sources: marianabisti, curbed