co-presented by
Art After Hours this April is presenting the concert in a theme of “Connective Memories” together with Asia Art Archive.
The lyricist, scholar, and educator Chow Yiu Fai, in collaboration with singer-songwriter Sophy Wong and a group of young art lovers from Hong Kong, presents a concert and sharing session as part of the Connective Memories project at Art After Hours. Co-presented by Asia Art Archive and Tai Kwun Contemporary, the concert and sharing session is a live premiere of six original songs co-created by Sophy Wong and Chow Yiu Fai, inspired by six works surrounding the Ha Bik Chuen Archive from PageNEXT members. Against a backdrop of music and musical visualisations, they will talk about their experience with the residency and working on Connective Memories, the stories and themes they developed with the archive materials, and what “connection” means to them.
Connective Memories consists of six new artworks, songs, and music videos, and is inspired by possible “connections” within the interpersonal relationships of the Ha Bik Chuen Archive. These works explore multiple themes—secrecy, curiosity, understanding, faith, destiny, biography—ultimately inviting viewers and listeners to make their own connections, and to invoke their own memories.
“Collect. Connect. I was intrigued by the correspondence between these two words when I started my Asia Art Archive residency. A linguistic response, triggered by my experience as a creative writer. It led me to ask who I could connect to collections. As a university educator, I thought of young people; as a music industry professional, I thought of songwriters, producers, MV creators—so we connected and co-created six works, songs, and visualisations. I call these layers of connection and co-creation Connective Memories. They explore how materials can follow different logics, lead different lives, tell different stories; how materials can be ours to connect with.”
—Chow Yiu Fai
“To me, music has always been an art; an art of expression and connection. It is true when people say ‘when words fail, music speaks.’ Creating music has been my way to connect to everything in life; it is the only and most freeing way to translate pieces of my feelings through the space between each music note. To connect one note to another; to connect words to rhythm and melodies; to connect my soul and emotions to yours; to connect all of us, just as this project and these six songs do.”
—Sophy Wong
*The event will be conducted in Cantonese
Connective Memories is the result of Chow Yiu Fai’s residency at Asia Art Archive in 2018–19, sponsored by The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation. The music production project is sponsored by the S. H. Ho Foundation Limited and C. K. and Kay Ho Foundation.
The Concert & Sharing Session is a special project co-presented by AAA Learning & Participation programme and Art After Hours by Tai Kwun Contemporary. AAA Learning & Participation programme is supported by the S. H. Ho Foundation Limited and C. K. and Kay Ho Foundation.
