Underground

Born and brought up in Iran, I have always witnessed lack of freedom of expression in social, cultural and political matters; and how people have used different means of manifestation to shout out their beliefs and mentality regarding the society in which they live. These social movements have always been unpleasant for a certain group who surprisingly are the most powerful in terms of "control". 

When Mahtab and I were exploring Hong Kong to get an understanding of its artistic and social domain, we came up with an underground group of artists. They were three artists in their 20s, each with a certain field of interest, but all have a common concern about the Chinese society and how it is governed. One of them was a graffiti artist who has chosen tattooing as a financial support for his main interest, with his studio based in an industrial building in Kwun Tong district. The reason he and some fellow artists have chosen this area is the cheap rents and of course being remote and inaccessible as the nature of underground art asks for. 

As we talked more about the social aspects of their art, we all felt a common sense about our backgrounds, situation and hopes. We are all the young generation from developing countries with dictatorial systems, who are wide-awake about the global village and can no more be tricked and kept silent. The interesting thing about this fact is that no matter which country we are from, we have all chosen to object and manifest through art. It is at this point that the boundaries disappear.

After leaving their studio, I was experiencing a feeling of pleasance and grief at the same time. Why we are always being controlled in our societies; and what a hopeful movement towards our goals! 

graffiti in the industrial district

Kwun Tong

the studio

NEON

Talking about my obsession of Hong Kong, I was amazed by its numerous neon signs, hanging from the dark background of inelegant facades. These signs are more than advertisement elements in the city; they add a mental and cultural layer to it. A layer which becomes surreal, creating a 3D space overwhelmed by brightness. Streets of HK are so much lit up with these lights and colors that it has become an identity for the city. It has definitely influenced people's lifestyle, as the city is famous for its never-sleeping habits.


Being exposed by these still and flashing lights is an unforgettable experience. When I first saw HK, I was fascinated by this glamorous and joyful play of lights. 


Above their visual effects, these lights reflect an economic mentality. The businessmen and shopkeepers are competing for more audience, more profit. They need to expose their business to people who may not be interested in their services. Hong Kong has chosen this kind of advertisement overload. And it seems to be effective. This city is becoming more and more financially successful from a global point of view. This success is certainly exclusive to a low percentage of its residence; but it is this small portion of the society that projects the image of the city.


Busy streets of Mongkok, lined up with shops of every size, offer everything from food to clothes and electronics. Streets take on a new appearance when sun goes down. A different kind of chaos is seen during the night, with some streets closed to the cars, opening up the way for large crowds of not-so-real customers. Stalls are put up and ready for bargaining. All this liveliness can not be defined without the lights from the shops and signs. It is dazzling the way they decorate the streets.  

A non-profit exhibition space in Shanghai, ISLAND 6 is dedicated to collaborative artworks of artists from different backgrounds. The core of the collective is collaboration and interactivity between artists. They explore social issues and future of Asia in the global context, considering Chinese values and culture. They use videos and transform them into LED moving scenes.

One World Exposition

Study of Chinese media art from regional, national and global perspectives and exploring Hong Kong identity through Chinese culture.

http://oneworldexpo.org/en/about.html

Fetish

Model of Hong Kong


The deconstructed model which has the template of a perfect cube. The only things that seem to be standing as time passes are the social and psychological effects of neon lights in the street advertisements. They define the characteristics  of Hong Kong as a 'Shopper's Paradise', on which the city is dependent.

light and shadow

CURIOSITIES OR CONCERNS?

I have experienced life in cities twice: Tehran, 24 years and London, 2 months; so my interpretation of the curiosities of the city is highly influenced by my life in Tehran, a layered city full of contrasts and contradictions in physical and social forms.

I believe cities are alive. Streets, buildings, alleys, parks, furniture and the space within them make up these unknown creatures, which us, the people, have the illusion of controlling them, while in fact, we are being controlled by their self-organized growth.

NOSTALGIA

Cities go through different phases during their growth. They are being reborn over and over again. But there is something that never changes. Something that attaches the cities to their previous living ages; and that is the history which I’d rather call it nostalgia. The memory of a city lives inside us. It is by recalling the familiar images of the city that we find a fixation toward a certain city - me towards Tehran.

What is going on in the design of the cities now- no matter having roots in politics, economics, or simply inattention - is that the memory of people is being washed away. People need a certain reminiscence to refresh a hidden memory inside them. I think no ideal city can be defined in the absence of the familiar elements.

AN URBAN FLOW

As soon as I shut the door of my house, I feel myself being pulled by a strong magnetic power. It is as if I lose my identity as an individual and suddenly become part of an ever-running flow of humans. This feeling lasts until when I get into the familiar work or study places… So the urban flow is defined in the in-between passages. The avenues and streets of a city are the main places which we experience the interaction with the strangers in an urban context. This sudden impressive change has always amazed me.

INFORMAL VS. FORMAL

The cities have always witnessed different styles of living, varying from palaces to temporary carton shelters, being the extremes. The amount of income plays a vital role in the social class and the place that people live in. And that depends on the economic and political orientation of the government. Most cities in the world suffer from discrimination and inequality of wealth distribution. What is interesting for me is the coexistence of these different scales and types of settlements and how people with the least incomes are pushed to living without the basic standards of life and creating an informal community all around the world. As of 2005, one billion people, one-sixth of the world's population, live in shanty towns.[1] This informal way of living seems to be found mostly in developing countries; one of which I come from.

Tehran

   

        Shanty house                                                                   Apartment building

IDENTITY

Thinking of globalization and urbanism, the first thing that comes to my mind is the cultural heritage and identity being lost in this process. People and cities are  detached from their cultural roots while they try to connect themselves to this global flow. The result is a state of confusion and disorientation which is seen more in developing countries.

GOOGLE MAP STREET VIEW

The installation and use of the CCTV cameras all around the world seems to be following the security policies. Governments often initially claim that cameras are meant to be used for traffic control, but many of them end up using them for general surveillance.[2]

A positive use of the cameras, is the street view provided by google. One may never have travelled to a city but can have an overall live concept of how it looks. I think for students like us, this is a good tool for observing different areas and neighborhoods of cities in relation to our research or design projects. It helps us design more realistically.

FUTURE CITIES

When I google ‘future cities’ I find these:

Water | Green spaces | Density | No humans | Bizarre volumes, scraping the sky or floating in the air | Out-of-this-world spaces full of horror and uncertainty

Is this really where we are going and what we are planning to design in the not-so-far future?

Maybe we have to reconsider our values.

     

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[1] ^ David Whitehouse, "Half of humanity set to go urban", BBC News, May 19, 2005.

[2] ^ www. en.wikipedia.org