In Hong Kong, many spaces have been commodified. McDonald’s restaurants are being designed as “non-places”. The interior design, services and food are exactly the same as all of the other McDonald’s over the world. Instead of recognizing the existence of such “non-places”, local users unintentionally revolt such original design of space by re-constructing a spatial identity through their everyday life experience.

McSoundscape is a soundscape work developed by artists Brian Kwok and Terrie Cheung upon the “non-places” attribute of McDonald’s restaurants in Hong Kong. This research-based project provides an awareness and understanding of how the space is commonly transformed and appropriated and evolved into a visual spectacle, not only in Hong Kong but also of Hong Kong. The document re-articulate the identities of the space or even further indicated the governing factor of the ever changing spatial identities and thereof its characteristics and extended meanings of our city.

In a simple wording, McSoundscape illustrates a cultural phenomenon of Hong Kong people making use of McDonald’s as their “home” both temporarily and transitorily, and participating in daily activities “McGamers”, “McRefugees”, “McStudents”, and a few more other types altogether would otherwise have done in private space of their own.

These field recordings were collected by the researchers between February and March 2008 as they visited different McDonald’s restaurants at different periods of time, which covered McDonald’s on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon, New Territories and even on some outlying islands. This ethnographic document work serves as a foundation of informative visualisation that was first presented as an artistic expression on the web site (http://www.mcsoundscape.com).

After traveling to international media art festivals, the work is presented again in a physical space in 2009. By walking through the black box gallery space, you will experience the real lives that once lived in McDonald’s and reconstruct your own personal experience from the McDonald’s soundscape where the McDonald’s users’ personal spaces are all overlapping with your present space. Video artists, Darius Lee, responding to the artists duo’s McSoundscape with video clippings of multi-facets, barn doored view of the public space, reminding a broken visual memory of a “Mcvideomaker”. Visitors further expanded the volume into anew experience. The exhibition will be a third layer to the interpretation of non-places by visitors to the gallery.

Exhibition Period: March 14-29, 2009
Opening: 14 March 2009 (Sat) 3pm
Venue: Videotage
Lecture: 28 March 2009 (Sat), 3pm

LECTURE INTRODUCTION

Topic: Spatial Phenomenon in Hong Kong

Speakers: Brian Kwok, Terrie Cheung
Date: 28 March 2009 (Sat) 3pm
Venue: Videotage