RNH Space

11/01/2023

SU Chang, Houses Like Water: Observations and Reflections on House Types of Kat O Fishing Village in Hong Kong. Landsc. Archit. Front., 2022, 10(3): 86‒93

https://journal.hep.com.cn/laf/EN/10.15302/J-LAF-1-050047

Author Su Chang is the project lead of the research project “Liquid Homes: Building, Living and Other Stories of Hong Kong Fishing Villages,” based on which RNH Space curated the eponymous exhibition in July 2022. This essay not only reflects on the research team’s recent observations of the houses in Kat O fishing village, one of the subjects of the research, but also evokes an understanding of houses as “amphibious creatures” of hybrid qualities ridingon the seams between land and water, and denote the notion of homes as “fluid entities”—physical yetelusive, subject to the floating identity of the community.

23/09/2022

In her essay “In Hot Water”, Hou Lam Tsui used her solo exhibition 𝐵𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑒 at RNH Space to lay the groundwork for the discussion on her obsession with City Pop and Shōwa aesthetics, and their significance for her art practice. The essay is now published on AAA’s IDEAS JOURNAL.

08/08/2022

The seminar “Flowing Methods – Artistic/Creative Research and Practice on the Waters” looked into research methodology in art and design, and its significance in unravelling forgotten or untold stories around the waters and beyond. By gathering historic, mythic, sociological and architectural readings of our territory and its flow pattern, Lee Kai Chung, Tan Yue, Xiaoshi Qin and Tamotsu Ito discussed the interplay between their research and practice.

In this seminar, artist Lee Kai Chung introduced his research project about reclamation, source of sand for The Lantau Tomorrow Vision, and his recent personal experience of 'smuggling' through islands in Southern Hong Kong; curator Tan Yue delved into the world of islands as cosmology diverse from current civilisation of anthropocene and terracentrism, unveiling the universal experiences, tension and grey area between human, civilisation and nature constantly shaping each other through researching on islands and archipelagos in the Indo-Pacific; artist Xiaoshi Qin shared her projects focusing on the South China Pirates and legends from the mouth of Pearl River, including her recent work that traces Pearl River Delta mythologies in the psychological landscape, and how people without a home on land are able to build their own on the water; architect and educator Tamotsu Ito moved beyond the geographic definition of the waters to arrive at discussions through the lens of "material flow" and "reinterpretation" and introduced his projects under the term “re-structuring”.

06/08/2022

The city’s recent history has reminded us of Zygmunt Bauman’s provocative statement on “liquid modernity”, that “to ‘be modern’ means to modernize – compulsively, obsessively; not so much just ‘to be’, let alone to keep its identity intact, but forever ‘becoming’, avoiding completion, staying underdefined.”

Lᴀsᴛ Dᴀʏ Tᴏᴅᴀʏ
Tʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʟʟ ғᴏʀ sᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛɪɴɢ 𝙇𝙞𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙙 𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨

29/07/2022

The exhibition presents narratives that would question the process of privileging permanence over temporality, land over water, exposing the problematic, biased dialectics within the current land-based value system. By revisiting historical government documents and inventing a new system to document the structures, the research injects life into the otherwise inanimate framework. Resurrecting the subject position of Tanka people and the “liquid-ness” of their identity, 𝙇𝙞𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙙 𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 reveals dynamics between the urban and the rural, the superstructure and the people, and fosters future conversations on the role of contemporary architects.

展覽質疑各種將「永久」視作高於「臨時」、將陸地視作高於水域的行動，揭示以陸地為本的價值體系中，問題層出不窮、有失偏頗的辯證與定論。研究重讀歷史政府文件，並創造一套新系統以記錄寮屋構築，嘗試改造這一領域衰頹又冷漠的記錄框架。而基於此研究內容，「水漾之家」以疍家社群的視角與身份重構敘事，在都市與鄉村交錯、上層建築與普通市民分隔之處落腳，展開對歷史、經濟和環境議題的新討論。

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𝙇𝙞𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙙 𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨
𝗘𝘅𝗵𝗶𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱: 1 July - 6 August 2022
𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀: 3 - 7pm, Wednesday - Saturday

25/07/2022

The seminar "Meaning, History and Metaphor of the Waters" was in dialogue with the research and curating projects by 𝗤𝘂 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴, 𝗟𝗮𝘄 𝗬𝘂𝗸-𝗺𝘂𝗶 and 𝗦𝘂 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴, tracing their historical and theoretical background, and opening up more space for cross-disciplinary discussion.

In this seminar, curator, writer and scholar Qu Chang discussed her curatorial projects which delved into Hong Kong local history from the perspectives of multiple origins, concerning sea-land dynamics, migrations and its people's love and friendship; artist Law Yuk-mui unpacked her on-going research project to reimagine migrants and refugees’ dispersion journey at sea in the history and geographical space of Hong Kong and beyond, unraveling the complicated relationships between one's hometown and oneself; architect and educator Su Chang introduced his architectural research on Hong Kong fishing villages to draw attention to the notion of “Home” in the liquid state of mind for Hong Kong’s sea dwellers, and how such notion has developed under the process of modernisation.

12/07/2022

Fishing village houses riding on the seams between land and water are referred to as “Amphibious Houses” in the research for their hybrid qualities. By government standard, these houses are called Squatter Structure, which were registered and documented ​​in a territory-wide survey in 1982. These surveyed squatter structures are allowed to remain in existence on a “temporary” basis until they are cleared for development, safety or environmental reasons, or until they are phased out through natural wastage. In 2018, Hong Kong government launched an One-off Squatter Occupants Voluntary Registration Scheme and asked the residents to report on their squatter structures. The scheme categorised building materials into only two types: temporary or permanent, which would then be the deciding factor in compensatory arrangement, whereas spaces for the residents’ activities on water are not taken into account.
在漁村裡，研究團隊並非著眼於成熟的建築形態或審美，而是在尋找一些帶有混合特質的住宅。這些在研究中被稱為「雙棲住宅」的結構，大多數能夠（且需要）同時適應陸地與水上的環境。以政府管制政策的標準來定義的話，這些住宅歸類為「寮屋」。房屋署「1982年寮屋登記」對這類構築物進行登記、記錄。已登記的寮屋獲「暫准」存在，直至因發展計劃、安全或環境理由而清拆，或直至自然流失而被取締。2018年起，地政處實施一次過「寮屋住戶自願登記計畫」，日後政府發展清拆行動時，為符合資格的住戶提供補償。但這些所謂的「資格」，基於一套簡陋、粗暴的標準，例如僅將建築物料分為兩類——即「臨時物料」或「永久物料」，亦無將漁民在水上的棲身之處考慮入補償範圍當中。

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𝙇𝙞𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙙 𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨
𝗘𝘅𝗵𝗶𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱: 1 July - 6 August 2022
𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀: 3 - 7pm, Wednesday - Saturday

04/07/2022

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺
Su Chang is Principal of Su Chang Design Research Office, currently teaching at the University of Hong Kong. The work brings together design, research, and action toward an architecture that embraces multiple temporalities in contemporary life. His design method puts particular care into architecture's relationship with the ground, emphasizing the intersection between architecture and landscape to create spaces for new public life.

Raven Tam, Hon Ming Rou, Julia Zhu and Isaac Ma are currently studying architecture at the University of Hong Kong. Their current work rethinks our state of living during the pandemics in Hong Kong, and looks for new design opportunities at the periphery of the city through cartography, drawings, photography and film.

蘇暢，蘇暢設計研究室主持建築師，目前任教於香港大學建築學系。設計實踐通過當代文化反思歷史建築類型，在建築與地景之間尋找新公共生活的空間場所。作為註冊建築師，蘇暢畢業於哈佛大學設計研究院，獲建築學碩士，並獲香港大學建築學文學士。

韓旻柔、馬浩程、譚穎萱、朱雅蘭，香港大學建築學生，設計研究關注疫症下香港的生活狀態，通過製圖與影像從城市邊緣尋找新的設計機遇。

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𝙇𝙞𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙙 𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨
𝗘𝘅𝗵𝗶𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱: 1 July - 6 August 2022
𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀: 3 - 7pm, Wednesday - Saturday

24/06/2022

RNH Space is honoured to present exhibition 𝙇𝙞𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙙 𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨: 𝘽𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙇𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙊𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙃𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙆𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙁𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙑𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙨, a research, curatorial, and design collaboration that explores the culture of Tanka people and their fluid state of living and building, presenting stories from a long overdue reading of the 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 Hong Kong.

The research focuses on three fishing villages, Tai O, Kat O and Po Toi O, and their sense of “liquid-ness” – physical yet elusive, subjected to constant changes. It denotes the condition of Hong Kong as an entity borne by water, as well as its people’s floating identity. However, the urge to conquer or devalue substances of “temporality”, a definition of flux and the lack of solidity, reflects the questionable need to dominate water whilst annihilating water, which resembles the power dynamics in any binary value systems.

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𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱: Su Chang
𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺: Raven Tam Wing Huen, Hon Ming Rou, Julia Zhu Yalan, Isaac Ma Ho Ching
𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿: Yang Jiang
𝗘𝘅𝗵𝗶𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀: Yoyo Kong Ling Yiu, Chloe Leung Man Wah, Lesley Mao Yueyang

*The project is supported by Design Trust.

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𝗘𝘅𝗵𝗶𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱: 1 July - 6 August 2022
𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 6 - 8pm, Thursday, 30 June 2022
𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲: RNH Space (Godfrey Centre Shop 121, 175-185 Lai Chi Kok Road, Tai Kok Tsui, Kowloon, HK)
𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀: 3 - 7pm, Wednesday - Saturday

08/06/2022

[Throwback] Aaina Bhargava’s review on exhibition series 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑂𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑑𝑜𝑠𝑒 showing artists cucurrucucu, Starry Kong and Liao Jiaming last year.

Thank you so much ❤︎

The article was originally published in ARTOMITY’s printed issue Winter/Spring 2021/22.
Now it can also be viewed online:

Reality Overdose / RNH Space / Hong Kong / Sep 25 – Dec 12, 2021 / Wearing a silicone body suit with a muscular physique featuring six pack abs, and a mask with a bright red lipstick stain, artist …

06/04/2022

Hou Lam walking you through 𝐵𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑒!

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Last 4 days of the exhibition
No appointment needed

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RNH Space opening hours:
3–7pm, Wednesday–Saturday

25/03/2022

𝐸𝑥ℎ𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐸𝑥𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 ☞︎𝑈𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 9 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙
𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 ❤︎

𝗛𝗼𝘂 𝗟𝗮𝗺 𝗧𝘀𝘂𝗶 徐皓霖: 𝘽𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙚 盲彎處
Opening Hours: 3 - 7pm, Wed - Sat

Installation shots: Herman Chan Ho Wang .hermanchw