The Project Directors, Laurent Gutierrez (right) and Valérie Portefaix (left), and Project Supervisor (Cartography) Gilles Vanderstocken (middle) worked on the ‘Hong Kong Is Land’ project which proposed eight artificial islands in the territory.
(PRWEB) November 30, 2014
Laurent Gutierrez and Valérie Portefaix, faculty members of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) School of Design (SD)’s Environment and Interior Design discipline, are exhibiting their project ‘Hong Kong Is Land’ at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)’s Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities. The two designers will give a public lecture at Jockey Club Innovation Tower at PolyU campus on 5 January 2015 to share the background, studies and insights leading to this exhibition that is relevant to our time in Hong Kong.
‘Hong Kong Is Land’ is a project created under MAP Office founded by Laurent and Valérie and contributed by students of SD. Each of the seven Bachelor of Arts in Design and Master of Design students in the area of urban environments design researched and developed an urban scenario – including the research on materiality, pattern, morphology, and cartography and representation. These corresponding scenarios illustrate how the proposed artificial islands adding to Hong Kong’s territory would promote universal values and raise global awareness of specific contemporary issues.
Working with eight specific communities locally, Laurent and Valérie explored their unique culture and economy, and imagined these in the shape of eight artificial islands evenly distributed in the territory. The proposal for this project is to establish an inventory about uneven growth in the city of Hong Kong, with the resulting ‘islands’ as optimistic visions for the future, exploring scenarios that may serve as paradigms for urban planning, housing density, as well as population growth.
‘Hong Kong Is Land’ is funded and supported by Urban Environments Lab of SD, Hong Kong Arts Development Council and Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation of Columbia University. It has also received the Cultural Project Grant of Hong Kong Ambassadors of Design’ first Design Trust recently.
MoMA is one of the most influential modern art museums in the world, and ‘Hong Kong Is Land’ is sure to be one of the major attractions at Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities now featuring in MoMA. After MoMA the project will travel to the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna.
Public Lecture on ‘Islands, Archipelago, and Other Liquid Territories’ by Laurent Gutierrez and Valérie Portefaix
Date: 5 January 2015
Venue: Jockey Club Innovation Tower, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon
Entrance: Open to public. Free-of-charge. Registration will be open shortly.
Event Site: http://goo.gl/uGJ5Z4
Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities
Opening: 19 November 2014
Date: 22 November 2014 – 10 May 2015
Venue: The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City
Curator: Pedro Gadanho
Exhibition Site: http://uneven-growth.moma.org/tagged/east-asia
About Hong Kong Is Land
Project Directors: Laurent Gutierrez and Valérie Portefaix
Project Supervisor (Cartography): Gilles Vanderstocken
Project Manager (Film): Henry Temple
Project Assistants / SD students (Cartography): Jenny Choi Hoi Ki, Xavier Chow Wai Yin, Hugo Huang Jiawu, Venus Lung Yin Fei, Winson Man Ting Fung, Tammy Tang Chi Ching, Vivienne Yang Jiawei
About MAP Office, Laurent Gutierrez and Valérie Portefaix
MAP Office is a multidisciplinary platform devised by Laurent Gutierrez and Valérie Portefaix. This duo of artists/architects has been based in Hong Kong since 1996, working on physical and imaginary territories using varied means of expression including drawing, photography, video, installations, performance, and literary and theoretical texts. Their entire project forms a critique of spatio-temporal anomalies and documents how human beings subvert and appropriate space.
Laurent Gutierrez is an Associate Professor at the School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University where he leads the following Master programmes: Design Strategies (MDes) as well as Urban Environments Design (MDes). In addition to his professional position and artistic practice, Gutierrez is also the co-director of Urban Environments Lab.
Valérie Portefaix received a Bachelor in Fine Art, and a Master of Architecture degree. She earned a Ph.D. in Urbanism. She is a Visiting Lecturer at the School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Press Contact: Laurent Gutierrez, PolyU Design
Telephone: +852 2766 5502
Email: laurent(dot)gutierrez(at)polyu(dot)edu(dot)hk/ mapoff(at)netvigator(dot)com