Blog, Edition 2016, TC 2016

WE, THE GARBAGE, THE LIFE

A Project by Mbene Mwambene, Sylvia Liu Yang,
Going Ying Hsiu Kuo and Andreas Mayer

 

On paper everything is pretty painted in white and black. Hong Kong is one of the densely populated places in the world. The economy is fast booming hence the volumes of garbage shoots up the ladder. Wastes in Hong Kong are first collected from disposal bins to refuse transfer stations (RTS). After they are compacted and put in containers, they are delivered to disposal lands or recycling centers. Those which can be recycled are recycled, some are burnt to create and some sent to land fills. Done and dusted.

There are hundreds of collectors in the territory where wastes are located before transferring to refuse transfer stationsThere are seven refuse transfer stations in the territory. They serve as centralised collection points for the transfer of waste to the strategic landfills. Operated by the EPD, the landfill sites only accept garbage from Hong Kong. Thirteen of 16 landfills were closed from 1988 to 1996. There are also 13 closed landfills. The closed landfills are converted into facilities such as golf courses, multi-purpose grass pitches, rest gardens, and ecological parks. Greenhouse gases emitted from closed landfills are used for energy.

This sounds all well managed. The fact that the levels of consumerism and the acute lack of land cannot be ignored is worrisome. Hence, we conducted a blur research in the city of Hong Kong with a handful of important questions. How much of the garbage shall the landfills keep on swallowing? How much of garbage is being produced? How is the garbage categorized?

The next step was, as group to identify an artistic form of present the materials. This came as one last question as the goal was merely to gather the materials and be laid to determining the form.

 

We finally, came to conclusion that the presentation should be a performance as in dance and spoken word but also as an exhibition as in photos and props made of garbage. We also tried to philosophize with the idea that we are as humans are garbage. Like garbage we rendered useful when functional and alive but also useless when we are dead and burnt or buried just like the garbage.

In addition we played Mahjong, a Chinese with only garbage to emphasize to wholesomely generalize everything before our eyes, garbage.

<<It’s ok>> written by Going Kuo Ying Hsiu

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<<THANK YOU>> written by Mbene Mwambene

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