After presenting the first group projects in the previous week and ending the first phase of Hong Kong, this week marked a fresh start.

We changed their location from AVA Kai Tak campus to Kennedy Town on Hong Kong Island. The students were guests at HART Haus, a modern-day art house, where they took part in a one-week improv workshop resulting in a public experimental performance on Friday night. The workshop was facilitated by guest artists Andreas Siagian (ID) and Simon Dietersdorfer(AU).

The week was cut one day shorter. Due to Chinese National Day, the protests and safety reasons, the program did not take place on October 1st. Within four days, the students had the chance to experiment, pursue and develop ideas and learn through the process of exploration and trial: Designed for the students to let go of practical habits and the possibility to step out of their comfort zone while immersing in a discipline other than they’re used to.

After collecting ideas of how the public performance at the end of the week could look and feel like, the students formed smaller groups based on their interests. Soon after, they started working and experimenting.

One group set up a sound island and jammed together: They layered sounds of a clarinet, a drum machine and spoken words such as poems and recordings from urban Hong Kong everyday life. Others have experimented with tape and dance performance and some built an installation to project live drawings and writings onto various surfaces in the gallery space. Another group created a corner to discuss and reflect on the ongoing political situation in the city. They invited guests on to a sofa to engage in a talk or to write their thoughts on sticky notes to post them on the wall. Outside on the terrace, a duo has brought bamboo and cable ties and tried a hand at the construction of bamboo structures. Lastly, one group dedicated themselves to supply the bar for the evening. But the bar was not just a bar – they created a Hong Kong market scene and touched the topic of plastic use and waste by handing out the drinks in used plastic bottles, which were wrapped in plastic bags or plastic sleeves. They stored the drinks in styrofoam boxes filled with ice.