Silver Award at the 2018 DFA Design for Asia Awards | Silver A’ Design Award in Performing Arts 2019
The Architecture of the City @Shanghai
21st China Shanghai International Arts Festival 'Festival Hong Kong 2019 – A Cultural Extravaganza @Shanghai'
Introduction
Inspired by the 20th-century Italian architect Aldo Rossi’s work of the same name. A creative crossover between architecture, music and theatre, it illuminates Hong Kong’s unique cityscapes with the bamboo scaffoldings on stage, and the shifting multimedia visuals, music and lighting. Yu Yat-yiu is the Music Director, KJ Wong meets the audience at the piano, and Josie and the Uni Boys rocks the stage. The production won a Silver Award at the 2018 DFA Design for Asia Awards – Event and Stage Design Award and a Sliver A’ Design Award in Performing Arts, Style and Scenery Design Category in 2019.
Creative Team
Inspired by the book of same title by Aldo Rossi
Director, Script, Stage & Multimedia Design Mathias Woo
Music Director and Arrangement Yu Yat-yiu
Piano Performance KJ Wong
Performers David Yeung, Wu Kun Da, Chang Yao-jen, Albert Tsang,Grace Hoop
Music Performance Josie and the Uni Boys
Vocal Josie Ho
Drummer Tim Cheng
Guitarist Alan Cheung
Rhythm Guitarist Dee Lam
Bass Guitarist Chan Siu Kei
Chorus, Keyboard & Programmer Pam Chung
Hong Kong Street Photos Mathias Woo
Visual and Graphic Creation Lai Tat Tat Wing
Costume Design Lo Sing-chin
Lighting Designer Mak Kwok Fai
Sound Designer Can.Ha
Bamboo Installation Production Choi Wing-kei, Sit Ka-chun, Lai Chun-hong
- Approx. 1hr 20 mins with no interval
- In Cantonese, English & Putonghua with Chinese & English surtitles
- No latecomers will be admitted, until a suitable break in the performance.
- Zuni Icosahedron reserves the right to add, withdraw or substitute artists and/ or vary advertised programmes and seating arrangements.
More
Architecture creates memories
Cities constructed by architecture are places which create memories
Growing up on the streets would create memories with streets
Growing up with shopping malls would create memories with shopping malls
What are memories?
Memories are past events remembered
Memories are feelings and images that emerge in your mind
Are there smells and tastes in memories?
Are there sounds in memories?
Things disappeared become memories
The future is imagination
The past is memories
MemoriesThere used to be a lot of cinemas in this city
There were a lot of peddlers and markets along the streets
Walking down the streets, filled with a lot of sounds and many different smells
These memories stay in my mind even till now
That’s a city that used to enjoy such a vibrant street life
A city is composed of many artifacts and components
Most of these components are architecture
The architecture is pieced together by roads, streets, bridges, piazzas, and parks to form a city
And the architecture is linked up by various transportation networks
Streets on the ground
Subways underground
Pavements
Highways for cars
Underground railways
A city for cycling and walking
With different kinds of architectures
Residential quarters, offices, classrooms, cinemas, schools, hospitals, shopping malls, factories, museums, court houses
These architectural structures form the experiences of our lives
And these experiences form our memories
A city is an organism that keeps on changing
Cities are continuously changing, and no city remains forever the same
What remains unchanged is that the cities keep changing
A city is a place that produces memories and feelings
A city is a system built up by architecture
Architecture is like any other living thing, with a beginning, an aging process, and an end
The spaces in architecture are created by materials and substances
The spaces of concrete structures and the spaces of wooden structures have different textures
Memories are constructed by spatial textures
In a city full of big roads and small alleys
Architecture gives form to the spaces along the roads
The sizes of the architectural structures, shopping malls and their materials
The high density of highrise buildings
People are living in such close proximity
At first, the function of a city is of a mixed nature
Living and working in the same space
The spaces of a city divide living from working
Today, everything is organised on the display of a mobile phone
In that case, do architectural spaces still exist?
The form of a city changes, in the age of mobile phones
Architecture is also changing
Architecture has become some stimulating images
Spaces disappearing, replaced by images
People used to live in real spaces
The human eyes see spaces
The human eyes see images
What kind of memories are created by images?
What do you recall?
What do you know?
What do you remember?
What do you hear?
What do you forget?
What’s the difference between forgetting a person and forgetting a city?
What’s the difference between knowing a person and knowing a city?
What’s the difference between leaving a person and leaving a city?
What’s the difference between imagining a person and imagining a city?
What’s the difference between liking a person and liking a city?
What contributes to a good city?
What kind of memories would be created by a city full of air-conditioned shopping malls?
What kind of memories would be created by a city with streets and alleys of various sizes?
Are there distances between memories?
For how long would a memory last?
How long does it take to forget a memory?
What do you see and what do you remember when you close your eyes?
I remember the streets that used to be there, streets that were disorderly
I see myself sitting in a huge cinema watching a movie
I see the disappearance of these cinemas
I see spaces are changing
I know that time always goes forward, without looking back.
Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Part
Live Performance by KJ Wong
Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin
Live Performance by KJ Wong
Boléro by Maurice Ravel
The recording by Pierre Boulez / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
La cathédrale engloutie by Claude Debussy
Live Performance by KJ Wong
Prelude in C by Johann Sebastian Bach
Live Performance by KJ Wong
Kickface
(Music: Don Cruz Lyrics: Dash Arranged by: Don Cruz)
Live Performance by Josie and the Uni Boys
Skitzo
(Music: Don Cruz Lyrics: Wyman Wong / Andrew Lam Arranged by: Don Cruz & The Uni Boys)
Live Performance by Josie and the Uni Boys
Instrumental
(Music: Don Cruz Arranged by: Don Cruz)
Live Performance by Josie and the Uni Boys
Rule Your World
(Music/ Lyrics: Tian Yuan Arranged by: Don Cruz / Kong Xiao Yi)
Live Performance by Josie and the Uni Boys
Ticketing
Production Team
International Exchange Director / Producer Wong Yuewai
Producer Doris Kan
Company Manager (Administration and Finance) Jacky Chan
Assistant Artistic Director Cedric Chan
Senior Programme Manager Bowie Chow
PR & Marketing Luka Wong
Touring Manager Ho Yin-hei
Production Manager Lawrence Lee
Stage Manager Chow Chun-yin
Deputy Stage Manager Zeta Chan
Rehearsal Master Charmaine Cheng
Video Production Wing Chan
Video Operator Johnny Sze
Monitor-Mixing Engineering Cheung Man-yu
Assistant Stage Manager Chan On-ki
Lighting Assistant Issac Keung
Make-up (Josie Ho) Angus Lee
Make-up Siu Wai-yan
Hair (Josie Ho) Vic Kwan
Hair Chris Ho
Wardrobe Assistant Bonnie Chan
Graphic Design Rachel Chak
Graphic Design Assistant Coco Cheung
Photography (Josie and the Uni Boys Promo) Kimhoo So
Promotional Video Chan Chin-ho, Wing Chan
English Translation Mona Chu, Vicky Leong