Ghost Writing the City

Hong Kong has unveiled their submission for this years the 13th Biennale Architettura.

Here is the abbreviated version for those who are foolish enough not to read the above link.

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/45819946?badge=0" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/45819946">Venice Biennale HK 2012 - Introduction to Kowloon East</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/vbhk2012">Venice Biennale HK 2012</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

The theme of this years biennale is 'Common Ground' and this year the Oval Partnership is the curator of the Hong Kong submission after a national call from the Hong Kong Institute of Arhcitects.

The final selection is a collection of 13 live projects by local contributors working specifically in Kowloon East on the focus of urban renewal, sustainability and other related city related topics.

In case for some reason you where under a rock for the last 10 years or you have no interest in Hong Kong, (okay the later is quite likely) you should know that West Kowloon is ear marked for a 'cultural development'. The 300 plus hector remanence of the old airport has been pegged to be the largest urban redevelopment in Asia and could easily be one of the most prominent in the world but has been plagued with bad luck, corruption and general disinterest and plain old shitty lack of direction. This area and what its eventual development has, can or will achieve with in the urban time line was the starting point for this exhibition.

The idea of a "Common Ground" being the city but the approaches to the urban fabric being far from the prescribed, from bee farms on roof tops to night clubs in factory units. (hey, I never claimed Hong KOng was doing anything ground breaking) The body of this exhibition weave a series of interlinked narratives to reveal the fragile ecologies of an urban culture. Somethings are new, somethings are as old a the city itself, all co-existing within the official master plan as a commentary upon this government project with seemingly no purpose or plan.

Chek it out, it makes you think, and the poster's pretty rad too.

“Inter Cities / Intra Cities: Ghostwriting the Future”