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For a long time, our understanding of the environment is through text book and data. These publications and research findings often study and present the environment from a trajectory of human’s point of view, may it be to satisfy our curiosity on nature, or to seek a better way of living in the world. Not that we don’t care about the environment, we just have always been comprehending the environment from our point of view, but rarely from the land’s.

Therefore, this art project aims to reveal the stories from the perspectives of the land. We take “elements of the landscape” as “first persons” to tell us their stories. By listening to stories told by the landscape itself, with its own language, we hope to reveal relationships between landscape and culture in an alternative way.

Inspired by the rich settings of the inter-connectedness between human and nature in the indigenous village of Lai Chi Wo in Hong Kong, we take this village as our project site, exploring how nature and culture are shaping the landscape of this place.

Narrations of five “elements of the landscape” in the village are developed through art installations to tell stories from the perspectives of the landscape, aiming to show how landscape is acting as an agent, to provide natural settings for habitats, to inspire local cultures through its natural cycles, and to reveal how nature responds to external changes.

Nov 14 – Dec 2
Exhibition

Time: 10am-7pm on weekdays, 11am-8pm on Saturdays and Sundays

Venue: Ground Floor, 4 Pound Lane, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Highlights: Five site-specific art installations will be exhibited

Nov 15 (Sat)
Exhibition – Public Launch / Opening

Time: 2:30-5pm

Venue: Ground Floor, 4 Pound Lane, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Highlights: Project teams will give sharings about their art creations and experience at Lai Chi Wo

Nov 16 (Sun)
Guided-Tour at Lai Chi Wo

Time: 9:30am-4pm (including complimentary boat ride between Ma Liu Shui Pier and Lai Chi Wo)

Venue: Lai Chi Wo Village

Highlights: Project teams will give guided tours to lead audience to experience and appreciate the landscape of Lai Chi Wo, and to share their findings and inspirations that helped them to create their art work. Please sign up at: http://goo.gl/forms/2KOsfgI4Sq

“Langue des Terres I土 • 話” is part of the “Shaping the Landscape I 塑造大地” Land Art Workshop + Exhibition Series. Curated by Ms Vincci Mak, Assistant Professor at the Division of Landscape Architecture at HKU’s Faculty of Architecture, the “Shaping the Landscape” Series was established since 2011. The Series has created land art works in Pok Fu Lam, Lei Yue Mun, and Lam Tsuen before. This year’s “Langue des Terres I土 • 話” is conceived with the following supports:

Organizers:  HKU Faculty of Architecture and HKU Common Core Curriculum; Community Partners:  HKU Kadoorie Institute and Lai Chi Wo Village; and Sponsor: HKU Gallant Ho Experiential Learning Centre.