words that matter most

here are some personal stories from this incredibly rich past year. because of these stories i am doing what i am doing.

'freedom to grow', the art of the umbrella movement, queen's rd.central, hong kong

one friday i sat at one of the tables on queen's road central. it was occupy time. and lunch time. two girls did their uni assignments in the ‘study area’ at the same table. behind me a carpenter made more tables. for more students. making space. building time. there was a general energy of helpfulness, politeness and presence. i myself did a plant carving dedicated to the movement. a women in her fivties sat down next to me with her lunch. she offered me some of the food from her lunch-box. we started talking. she was working as a warden in an underground car park. now during her lunch break was the only time she saw the sun. she told me she loved the umbrella movement: all of a sudden there was so much space in the middle of the city, there were people who had time, there were shared lunches and spontaneous conversations. you were not merely talking about the weather, you were talking about the things closest to your heart: about your ideals, about the future, about identity. it was the least thing i expected to happen in hongkong. i see hongkongers through different eyes now. i see that very near to the surface of conformity and obedience, there lies a deep longing for expression and freedom. when the women left she said ‘i love you’.

 '垃圾排檔 / lost'n'found', clockenflap 2014, west kowloon cultural district, hong kong

one of the most interesting conversations i had at clockenflap festival 2014 was with a toy designer. a plastic toy designer to be precise. she has been working in the toy business in china for over 30 years. so here we are, two women working with the same material, coming from exactly the opposite ends: she was designing and giving birth to plastic toys, i was picking up their remains after they had lived their consumer life. i have never heard so many up-to-date facts about chemical components, security standards, production procedures, recycling etc. and she was astonished about how much of it gets ‘lost’ in nature. funnily enough we felt very close. the last words were: 'i hate plastic' from both of us. 

'垃圾排檔 / lost'n'found', 'blue matters' campaign, ocean park hong kong

i was selling and talking trash at ocean park all day. as the closing of the park drew close flocks of people headed towards the exit streaming past the dai pai dong. ignoring the closing time a man approached the stall and looked at the items displayed on the shelves. after a while he said: 'my whole childhood is in this window.' and then he told me his story of when he was a little boy, his dad had given him a battery pack together with a tiny light bulb. exactly the same light bulb that i had found on the beach and put on display with the price tag 'response-ability'. as a boy he built a simple circuit by connecting the poles of the battery with the light bulb. it was magic. for hours he would hide under the blanket in his bed, play with the new discovery of electricity, read, think, sing ... it was his little world. just a blanket from the outside. his very own magic world inside. the man told me he works as a talk master for a radio station in hong kong. 'thank you' he said and left. i forgot his name. i will not forget his story and the moment it touched my story.

'mind your head' workshop for imagine peace 2014, pui o, lantau island, hong kong

judith and richard lang have been making art from marine debris for over 20 years now. they are from california, met on a beach and are still finding their art pieces on that very same beach. they came up with the term ‘curating the beach’. i love this term! 'curating' has its roots from the latin word ‘curare’ which means ‘to care for’ and at the same time ‘to cure’. by cleaning up a beach, we care and we cure that beach from its burden of trash. true magic is happening when not only that beach is being healed but at the same time it is us being healed. on the sunday of imagine peace 2014 on lantau island we did a nature walk to find trash&treasure for the workshop i was holding. we could all feel the magic happening. nature has the most forgiving and gentle embrace. there are no words for this. just gratitude. 

'垃圾山水 / trash-land-art no.11', shui hau beach, lantau, hongkong

i would like to thank each and everyone of you who has helped me realise my visions in 2014. everyone who has picked up trash and changed the landscape with their own two hands. everyone who has contributed to raise awareness and changed the inner landscape with their positive attitude. anyone who changed some of their consuming habits. anyone who has passed on the word, who spread the images or who simply read this blog. thank you from the bottom of my heart!

lost'n'found at ocean park hong kong

 talking about mainstream: with over 20,000 visitors per day ocean park hong kong is one of the 7 most popular theme parks worldwide. the park states to provide 'unique experiences that combine entertainment with education and conservation'. as a visitor i always felt that this credo disappears under the mass of entertainment and amusement attractions and the commercialization of animals and nature. for the first time now, not being a visitor but a contributor to these experiences, i'm getting a different angle to this picture. working within the educational department i can see their efforts of bringing awareness, knowledge and conservation approaches into the park. talking about oceans these days is not only amusement! displaying an installation like lost'n'found shows their willingness to confront visitors with the threatening human impacts on the oceans. it is a couragious step away from a generalized, partial and romantisized  perception of the complex marine eco-system!

lost'n'found is part of ocean park's 'blue matters' campaign addressing the problem of marine pollution, over-fishing and marine biodiversity in hong kong. to all of these problems solutions are on hand: ocean park is now only serving sustainable seafood at its restaurants, the ocean park conservation foundation (www.opcf.org.hk) is monitoring species in hongkong waters and trained staff is raising awareness of the negative impacts of plastic packaging. the volume of plastic packaging at the park is reduced by replacing single-use plastic packaging with bio-degradable packaging at all stalls (coming into effect this year) and promoting water fountains to refill your water bottle. this 3-year campaign is a step in the right direction, with a huge impact on over 20,000 hongkongers and mainland chinese each day. from this angle mainstream also means a great chance!

lost'n'found is located directly in front of the old-hongkong-road on your way up to the cable car. you can't miss it. the waste-pai-dong will be on display all through july and august 2014 and is open every day from 10am-5:30pm. 

this is the text on the panel:
"It took one single day, one single beach and one group of motivated people to collect all the rubbish you see in this hawker-stall. It was collected on a beach in South Country Park on Lantau Island, Hong Kong. Every single piece you see here has been in the ocean, sometimes for years, before it got washed ashore. The colours are neither altered manually nor digitally. 
Plastic lasts forever! Day by day, year by year, decade by decade plastic is accumulating in the oceans. All sea creatures, from tiny plankton to gigantic whales, are suffering the consequences. They get trapped, strangeled, poisoned and suffer fatal injuries internally as well as externally. These creatures pay for our convenience. Please be aware that plastic lasts forever when you buy your next plastic bottle. 
You are responsible for the choices you make! 
You can make a difference right now by refilling your water-bottle at one of our drinking-water-fountains! Please refer to the guide-map for locations.
Renowned German-born Hong Kong artist liina klauss adopts her signature style of using local beach rubbish and found natural materials to create environmental installations. Gathering a community of volunteers she creates temporary installation on beaches worldwide. Her installations raise awareness for the beauty of nature, for the impact we humans have on it and for the human potential to turn something ugly into something beautiful. 
Through her art liina redefines the value we give waste on an aesthetic as well as on an intrinsic level."

p.s. more recent pictures of lost'n'found in ocean park on facebook.com/artofliinaklauss

last weekend for lost'n'found at stanley!

lost'n'found opens its colours for the last time this weekend, 3rd & 4th of may at the waterfront promenade in stanley. i will be there saturday and sunday from 11am - 5pm to sign your personal piece of lost'n'found. it would be lovely to see you there...

 published in the column 《優哉游Joy》 by "Joyce Yau" in the feature page of Sing Tao Daily 星島日報 on Apr. 19th 2014

here is a little read from sing tao daily 星島日報, published last week (translation might be a bit awkward, but hopefully better than google translate): 

Stanley is a great place to visit during your holidays: Families with their kids and dogs stroll around and the atmosphere is warm and relaxed.

Stanley Promenade has always been a good place to display art. Currently Ocean Art Walk is showcased along the promenade, an extremely attractive exhibition.

The six installations are outstanding in terms of their visual and conceptual message.  When I approached the exhibition space, the first installation that caught my eye was the “garbage booth”. At first glance it looks like some beautifully decorated hawker stall. Paying closer attention to details, I discovered that these pretty decorations are plastic slippers, old toys and flattened plastic bottles, each labeled with a price tag saying "awareness” or “responsibility”. German artist Liina Klauss passionately shares her concept to raise awareness about pollution of our oceans, about non-degradable plastic waste, about reflecting upon our modern-day lifestyle and habits and their impact on mother nature.

Living on Lantau Island, Liina loves nature and has never averted her eyes from the massive loads of rubbish washed ashore.  She "curates" the beach and turns waste into art. For this current installation she first cleaned all the rubbish she collected, then organized it into a colour sequence, and finally put it into a traditional hawker stall. The audience is first captured by the colourful appearance and only later realizes the sad message behind her work. By singing your promise to love the ocean you may take a piece of the installation home, complete with the signature of the artist.

Other artists use old plastic bottles, CDs and plastic objects to make art installations.  Visitors capture all these in their lens, appreciating and reflecting upon the artists different methods of transferring an environmental messages. I hope that everyone will take home some food for thought about our oceans and our daily life connection to it.

On that opening day I also enjoyed young dancers under the guide of HK Youth Arts Foundation, expressing endangered ocean life through dance and choreography. So with the Easter Holiday ahead, please take the time to enjoy the art installations and performances at Stanley and don’t forget to make an effort to save our beautiful ocean!

lost'n'found / 垃圾排檔

lost'n'found / 垃圾排檔 at stanley plaza, hongkong, 2014

lost'n'found / 垃圾排檔 (detail) at stanley plaza, hongkong, 2014 

interactivity between visitors and waste. at lost'n'found / 垃圾排檔 hongkong, 2014