The People

2011

Public Art
Dimension of wall: 8.20m x 11m
87 stainless steel silhouettes (107 people),
25 rgb LED spotlights, 25 white LED spotlights,
controller, timer

As the Legislative Council is the constitutional body representing the people of Hong Kong, this work intends to represent these people and their lives in the new LegCo-building. The artwork connects the architecture of the building and its function with the people of Hong Kong. The artwork is an homage to Hong Kong’s democracy.

The wall space in the staircase is populated with silhouettes of a representative demographic selection of people and their everyday activities of the streets of Hong Kong: men, women and children of all ages and ethnicities passing time, playing, working, trading, lingering, individually or in groups, busy or bored.

The different street scenarios tell different stories that can be discovered by the passers-by passing through the staircase. Each time another story might trigger the attention. In the artwork there is a bit of everything in Hong Kong: the high-level financial business life of Central, the trendy shopping in Causeway Bay, the busyness of Mong Kok, leisure in a park, dai pai dong, school kids, bus queues, construction work – just every day street activities.

The scenes are brought to life through light, which is the second essential element of the artwork as it turns the white wall into a dynamic canvas. A base light sets the tone of the artwork in interchanging soft and vibrant colours that reflect the outside daylight situation and the activity level of the building inside. The colours change throughout the day adjusting to the daily hustle and bustle in the mornings from a refreshing green to a quiet blue tone in the evening. Focused white light spots create multiple reflections and shadows of the people’s silhouettes. The white light animates the light sculpture as it change more frequently throughout the time.

The wall becomes an interface of reflections and shadows, filled with stories and memories that each passerby can discover individually at every single visit. The changing light combined with the physical movement of the visitor passing through on the escalators below and above the artwork turns the artwork into a living and breathing, ever changing representation of the people’s life in Hong Kong.

Permanent public art installation at the
New Legislative Council Complex, Hong Kong

Commissioned by the Commission of the Legislative Council Hong Kong

Jessica Magazine No.137_Nov-2011 Feature on Public Art in Hong Kong
Photos taken by:
Cornelia Erdmann
Diogo Cordes Ancieto Martins
Marco Sparmberg