HONG KONG—This year marks the centenary of the 1911 revolution, which overthrew imperial China, ending the Qing Dynasty and ushering in China’s first republic. This revolution was not just about introducing a new political order, the aim was also to create a new society, which — building on ideas from the West — would transform China into a truly modern nation.
One hundred years on we have certainly seen plenty of modernization in China — industrialization, urbanization, technological transformation — but still many wonder, have we modernized without actually becoming modern?
It was with that question in mind that Hong Kong’s experimental theater company, Zuni Icosahedron, launched the second edition of its Architecture Is Art Festival (AIAF) in the harbor city this month. The brainchild of architect, theater director, and all round polymath Mathias Woo, the festival brings together five performance pieces, seminars, and an urban design exhibition all in pursuit of a fresh understanding of the last 100 years of history by viewing it through the lens of that ultimate modernist pursuit: architecture.
“It is easier, and more revealing, to study our history through architecture rather than by studying politics,” argues Woo, who has arranged his festival around that notion, presenting theatrical pieces that dramatize everything from the Bauhaus movement to the building of China’s national railways.
As passionately as Woo asserts architecture cannot be separated from history, he also believes that the discipline must develop as an adjunct to art and culture, not economics and development.
This puts him rather at odds with his native city of Hong Kong, which is confident that it has put itself at the very forefront of contemporary architecture by being the most adept and innovative place in the world at turning space into property. Woo will have nothing of such self-congratulation: “Everything is the same here. Most buildings are mediocre, you can’t even say they are good or bad.”
In an attempt to indicate how much more is possible he curated an exhibition for the AIAF focusing on Hong Kong’s Cattle Depot Artist Village, a former Kowloon slaughterhouse which over the past 10 years has developed into a home for upwards of 20 arts groups. For Woo the depot indicates the way Hong Kong should be going — away from showy development and towards sustainable growth.
On the occasion of the festival, ARTINFO China sat down to talk with Mathias Woo.
Where did the idea for the Art is Architecture Festival come from?
Art festivals around the world have become rather stylized these days. Look at the Edinburgh Festival and the Hong Kong Arts Festival, which these days have a bit of everything, from classical music to opera, becoming more and more like high-class entertainment for the wealthy. I believe the main function of an art festival is to trigger our mind to go in search of some new aesthetics or to investigate some social issue or phenomena. But since the 1980s when festivals did have such aims they too have been gradually eroded by the globalization of capitalism, making cultural events more akin to consumer activities. So I thought about whether it could be possible to stage a relatively pure art festival, a festival that would investigate more serious topics, and at the same time maybe be a new genre in itself.
What are you trying to express in this edition of the festival?
We live inside architecture, yet our understanding of architecture these days always remains in the economic dimension. But the essence of architecture is not economics, but art. Architecture is everywhere, in every part of our world of the senses: sounds, colors, smells, light and air. Architecture before was always considered as an art in both Chinese and Western traditions, an art that created various aesthetic systems for the delineation of space.
Both the Chinese Siheyuan (courtyards) and Western Gothic churches use architectural spaces to draw relationships between men, heaven and earth. However, with the globalization of capitalism in recent decades, as well as the development of a market-driven environment, architecture all over the world has become more and more unified, serving only economic benefits, and focusing solely on monetary returns.
Why do you use “architecture” as the starting point for an arts festival?
Architecture should only be art, and nothing else, just as cinema should only be art. Economic benefits should be derived from artistic effects, but now the nature of architecture is distorted by the market. If the true nature of architecture is lost, and architecture is no longer art, then architecture is no longer architecture. What we are left with is luxury apartments and properties for sale and speculation. What is the meaning of architecture for the human race, without the art of architecture?
You suggest architecture provides a more honest way to look at history than politics. Given that how would you evaluate China’s architecture over the past 100 years?
There have been great changes in the relationship between politics and architecture in this last century, and China has experienced huge political changes. Chinese and Western architecture went in different ways during the past one hundred years. A century ago, industrial revolutions in the West brought development and transformation in the modes of construction, and modern architecture emerged, and along with it came mass production in housing, and buildings became another product which could be reproduced. Over the last 100 years you can see Western architecture has been evolving and improving. Meanwhile, in China, for the first eight decades of the last century, there was simply a denial or rejection of traditional Chinese architecture under the influence of various political orders, but there was no development whatsoever of a new national architecture model. Then beginning with China’s reform and opening up to the West from 1978 the country began a thirty year crash course in 100 years of Western architecture ago the country began absorbing one hundred years of Western architecture, compressing it into a crash course in architecture. What is interesting is that architecture was led by industries a century ago in the West; while in China, architecture is dominated by property business a century later. The recent problem of developer hegemony on property in Hong Kong is also an architectural problem. What kind of architectural style would come out under such a real estate model? Negative things like constructions of screen buildings creating wall effects, property units with “inflated” saleable floor area would appear. Traditional Chinese architecture a century ago put plenty of stress on the metaphysical aesthetics and concept of space, and it is such a great pity that one hundred years later, Chinese architecture has become a maxed-out consumer product which is anti-aesthetic and anti-concept.
What do you think of Hong Kong’s architecture?
Although Hong Kong people spend a lot on property, their knowledge of architecture is so thin and poor. No courses on architecture are offered in schools, and the mass media is not proactive in talking about architecture. However when we look at the Mainland China, due to events like the Olympics, earthquakes and the recent economic development, there is a growing interest in architecture and many new architectures have been created. On architectural culture, there are also many attempts to investigate on the relationship between architecture and society. But in Hong Kong, we see less and less innovativeness and understanding of architectural culture. People often have a misunderstanding that good designs are expensive. It is not necessarily the case. Innovative and creative designs do not necessarily mean higher costs. Good designs have more to do with time and ideas than with money. Many classics of architecture were created in a very cost-effective way. For example, Le Corbusier’s public housing estates in France are well known for their no-frills simplicity, and created many pleasant living spaces.
“The Architecture is Art Festival” continues till Dec 12 at various venues around Hong Kong, check out www.zuni.org.hk for details.