LIGHTS UP

LIGHT INSTALLATIONS AT THE CENTRAL ST. MARKET
-The Politics of the Object: Transformative public and cultural landscapes-

On April 15th 2008, the Graham St. market area of Peel Street, Graham Street and Gage Street were lit up, transformed by Seven Light installations linking various market
stall spaces in one of the oldest neighbourhoods in HK, a 150-year old open-air market in a dense urban area of Hong Kong called the Graham St. Market.

The innovative and creative cultural engagement challenged how Light fixtures typical performance with a singular function can  be re-contextualized to provide
multiple meanings. The seminar entitled, ‘The Politics of the Object: Transformative public and cultural landscapes’ was led and initiated by Ms. Marisa Yiu in Hong Kong to
examine and experiment with installations that dealt with the understanding of the history, heritage, existing planning and questions relating to the future of the Central
Street Market. Marisa invited and collaborated with Katty Law from ‘Save the street market’- campaign and Christopher Mok (Principal of Spectrum Design Associates) to
support lighitng workshops and project development with the Masters of architecture students of HKU, whilst also engaging with the URA presentations organized by Prof.
David Lung. The  temporary installation on site encouraged the public to engage with the projects and act as a dialogue between various audiences of the community: from
tourists, passer-bys, students, hawkers, tenants, street market vendors and the general public.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CURATOR: Marisa Yiu
STUDENT TEAMS:
Chowee Chow and Derek Lau
Eric Chiu and Stephen Ip
Eric Po and Sandra Leung
George  Wong and Ida Kwei
Jane Luk and Stella Ho
Janus Li and Tony  Wong
Karen Wong and Ric Tseung
COMMUNITY CONCERN ADVISOR: Katty Law
LIGHTING CONSULTANT: Christopher Mok
PUBLICATIONS:
Published in  Ming Pao newspaper and SCMP, Hong Kong
Marisa Yiu, “Politics of the Light Object: Transformative Architectural Installations”, JAE (Journal of Architectural Education), Volume 63 Issue 1 (2009), pp. 107- 119