"Temple and Feng Shui Tour", a guided walk around Hong Kong Island & Kowloon
Tue, Jan 22 2013Alongside the four tours led by Hong Kong artists Nadim Abbas, Yuk King Tan, Ho Sin Tung, and Samson Young, Latitudes is also venturing into the city, researching around local forms of vernacular collection display and eccentric attractions. This encompasses museum-like retail spaces, or ‘marginal’ sculptural displays, as well as joining pre-existing tours.
2013, Heman Chong, Hong Kong, Incidents of Travel, Moderations, Spring Workshop, tour, Witte de With, Yuk King Tan
The "Temple and Feng Shui Tour" that we joined on the 22nd January around Hong Kong Island & Kowloon began by looking at Norman Foster's Hong Kong HSBC building in Admiralty, built according to Feng Shui principles.
Pavilion of absolute perfection at the Nan Liam garden, Diamond Hill, Kowloon.
The HSBC building has a large wide-open area (i.e. the Statue Square) in front of it, with no other large buildings blocking the view of Victoria Harbour – thus a big plus point for good feng shui.
Natural sunlight makes its way inside the building via a movable platform regulated by a computer which directs sunlight towards giant mirrors at the top of the atrium.
ATMs in the atrium.
Left lion statue (focus of Yuk King Tan's 'Scavanger' (2008) video) protecting the entrance of the building.
Two escalators access the building; three after the first floor (4 is a superstitious number as, when pronounced in Cantonese it sounds like the word for "death", hence the building doesn't have floors 4, 14 or 24).
I.M. Pei's Bank of China Tower has notoriously bad Feng Shui, nearby buildings try to compensate with shield-like shapes and curved corners.
View from 43rd floor of Bank of China Tower towards West Kowloon.
Wong Tai Sin temple (Sik Sik Yuen) where people worship Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism.
Main altar to worship Master Wong Tai Sin.
Incense sticks and offerings to Master Wong Tai Sin.
Nan Liam garden built in the style of a Tang Garden.
The Rockery gallery in Nan Liam garden, "a collection of rocks excavated from the Red River in its stretch through Dahua County in Guangxi Province, China."
Chi Lin Nunnery in Diamond Hill, Kowloon, across the Nan Liam garden.
Nan Lian garden and Buddhist temple at the Chi Lin Nunnery.
Moderation(s) is a year-long programme occurring throughout 2013 between Witte de With, Rotterdam, and Spring Workshop, Hong Kong.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
View of the Japanese-style pagoda from the Buddhist temple at the Chi Lin Nunnery.
Follow the project: #IncidentsOfTravel #Moderations
To complement the tour, please check the archive with tweets, sound recordings and more.
To complement the tour, please check the archive with tweets, sound recordings and more.
Moderation(s) is a year-long programme occurring throughout 2013 between Witte de With, Rotterdam, and Spring Workshop, Hong Kong.
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All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except when noted otherwise in the photo caption)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
