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EVENT DESCRIPTION
Wyndham Social gladly presents we have to be very strong, a collaborative exploration through installation, participatory creative sessions and a workshop series on the neglected, intimate personal spaces in our urban daily lives in collaboration with a group of local artists and creative units.
In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, the rhythm that individuals experience is primarily dominated by social rhythms. Each day, at almost the same time, individuals perform nearly the same tasks alone, with their daily lives generally divided into similar segments: work time, commuting time, and sleeping time. In non-places such as the lobbies of commercial buildings, during daily commutes and lunch hours, everyone tends to head towards nearly the same destinations before moving on to the next, with all linear time pointing in a specific direction. Immersed in this flow, personal emotions become numb and feel inconsequential.
In contemporary daily life, an individual’s presentation of the self constructs various group relationships, shaping different forms of social connections. Whether in work or family environments, when facing others who are not “I”, “I” acts to construct or meet the expectations that others have of them, transforming the individual into a performer. This creates the distinction of “I” and “me”, where individuals react and act differently in front of others, performing in a life that resembles a stage. The notion of “me” is constrained by social norms to varying degrees, able to stretch only in the backstage space where stage lights do not reach and where there is no social audience. In the daily life of a highly commercialised society, the stage extends everywhere, and individuals are required to maintain their performance over time. Their personal emotional space becomes submerged, and concepts like “vulnerability” and “emotion” seem to transform into taboo subjects, while human sensibilities become fragmented and suppressed under societal norms.
The title of this project is derived from a lyric in the song Romantic Kowloon Tong by the local independent music group my little airport: “we have to be very strong / if we want to do something very wrong.” Although we are not preparing to do anything wrong, under various societal constraints, if we want to break through established rules, frameworks, or rhythms and re-understand the relationships within private spaces, groups, and communities, we must continuously present ourselves as strong (or at least feign composure). By transforming the non-places of commercial building lobbies that connect main streets and office areas into participatory safe spaces, we create a private nook on the social stage. This extends the “backstage” space, encouraging the public to participate as they pass by, connecting and sharing their embodied experiences through practices such as performance, writing, and visual media, allowing individuals to pause and breathe away from the homogeneous and linear pace of commercial urban life, to embrace and discuss self, emotions, and vulnerability.
The project is primarily divided into three parts: sharing sessions, participatory installations, and workshops. Each weekly sharing session approaches emotional expression in modern urban life from different angles. The first phase is hosted by the wellness community The Blu Journal, which explores topics related to self-love and mindfulness that are often overlooked in daily life, such as how emotions affect the body’s senses, fading friendships, and how to age gracefully. Guests include Cindy Chan, the champion of ViuTV’s beauty pageant show Beautiful Life Towards 40; registered Chinese medicine practitioner and top 40 contestant in ViuTV’s Miss Mask Pageant, Yan Yan; Michelle Chen, founder of the natural skincare brand RARE Skin Fuel; and mental fitness instructor Winnie Sung.
Two sharing sessions will be hosted by counselor and cultural media worker Li Tin-yan, focusing on mindfulness and the five senses, starting with small daily experiences to explore various overlooked negative emotions. Portrait photographer Linda Cheung will lead a set of creative workshops using Oracle Cards to guide participants in sharing and listening to each other through writing and visual media, fostering meaningful connections in a relaxed manner.
Cross-disciplinary artist, writer, and scholar Sonia Wong will present two site-specific interactive installations: There is space for everything and WHY WALK WHEN YOU CAN DANCE. There is space for everything starts with the concept of safe spaces, setting up private phone booths in the lobby of a commercial building, complemented by various props to create intimate spaces and expand the understanding of personal realms. WHY WALK WHEN YOU CAN DANCE intervenes in the walking behaviour and steps of passersby, transforming the lobby corridor into a large dance machine that disrupts walking rhythms and reconstructs the imagination of urban non-places. Hong Kong playwright and actress Santayana Li will set up a writing practice station during busy weekday afternoons. Using various forms and themes, she will encourage people to sip on hand-brewed coffee, relax, or share a story through writing.
