The Hearth: Awake Awhile

General

How long has it been since you had a good night’s sleep?

Five years ago, Vanessa Choi, Director of Scentory, was inspired by Skeleton in the Closet written by Taiwanese writer Sharky Chen and curated the Dream Awhile concert. Time passed and Tai Kwun is collaborating with Scentory and a group of artists to reinterpret insomnia, through text, music, scent and lighting design to share the experience of a sleepless night.

Awake Awhile invites the audience to enter a "pseudo-sleep" state and embark on a 90-minute sleep cycle journey. Through the interaction of music and lighting, we guide everyone into a state of semi-consciousness, exploring the roots of insomnia. Musician Olivier Cong will compose a piece drawing inspiration from nighttime sounds and the calls of the night, leading us to loneliness of being wide awake in the dead of night. Lighting designer Bie Lai will respond the music and space using different lighting effects, while Vanessa Choi and Sharky Chen will guide the audience through a dreamlike journey with new texts and invite the audience to share their feelings and co-write the "Book of Sleeplessness."

The experience is a reinterpretation of the Dream Awhile concert, aiming to delve deeper into the emotions, entanglements, and triggers behind insomnia through the arts. Awake Awhile looks forward to interacting and collecting thoughts with the audience.

Date

Time

18.09.2024

8pm-9:30pm

19.09.2024

8pm-9:30pm

20.09.2024

8pm-9:30pm & 10:30pm-12am

21.09.2024

3pm-4:30pm

Text & Direction: Vanessa Choi
Text co-creation: Sharky Chen (comma BOOKS)
Music Composition & Sound Designer: Olivier Cong
Lighting Design: Bie Lai
Spatial Design: Yanki Lau

Remarks

  • Duration: approximately 90 minutes
  • Recommended for ages 10 and above
  • Please wear light, comfortable clothing suitable for sitting and lying down
  • You are required to take off your shoes before entering the performance area
  • This performance uses essential oils that are kid- and pregnancy-friendly and are mostly safe for the public. People with asthma and other allergies should proceed with caution
  • We invite you to contribute small objects related to insomnia and memories. These objects may appear in the performance area. Collection arrangements and details will be provided in the confirmation email
  • Part of the performance text is used with permission from Sharky Chen, comma BOOKS
  • Programmes are subject to change without prior notice. Tai Kwun reserves the right to make the final decision regarding the arrangements

Biography

Vanessa Choi
Sharky Chen
Olivier Cong
Bie Lai Wing-shan
Yanki Lau

Vanessa is a director, curator and the founder of Scentory, which connects people through multi-sensorial art performances and visual exhibitions.

In 2022, she created Violet, a physical, music and visual performance that explores familial ties and memories at Soho House, Hong Kong. This was followed by the In Search of Palm Leaves series for Hong Kong Arts Centre, which marked the first of her walk-performance series that transformed the urbanscape into a mobile stage with multi-disciplinary elements. In 2023, Vanessa co-directed The Dreaming with Olivier Cong at The Box, West Kowloon. In January 2024, Vanessa presented a new walk-performance, Remember that we all are, at the Hong Kong Museum of Art to invite the audience to experience new ways of seeing in a museum. Vanessa debuted as a visual artist in the same year at the Festival of Decay exhibition, showcasing her scented installation piece Room of M.

Throughout the years, Vanessa has also collaborated with Singaporean author Daryl Qilin Yam, local author Hon Lai Chu and Taiwanese author Sharky Chen to create aromatic reading kits. Her latest reading kit is inspired by Teacher Thich Nhat Hanh's Fragrant Palm Leaves, acknowledged by Plum Village (Vietnam).

Sharky Chen is the founder of comma BOOKS, an independent publishing house in Taiwan. Known for his creativity and efficiency in the publishing industry, Sharky is currently the chairperson of the Indie Publishers Association of Taiwan, programme consultant of Da Ai Television’s Youth loves books, and the co-host of his podcast show “Reading Shalala” with Ariel Sha.

Sharky has written seven books, including Flying Kicks, Ugly Cries, White Nose Hair: First-Time Publisher Hits Big (Just kidding), Now and Then, Here and There and Skeleton in the Closet, which inspired Scentory’s show Awake Awhile. He has also translated the masterpieces of Ernest Hemingway and Carlos Bulosan.

Hong Kong-based singer-song writer and composer. After finishing his college studies in psychology, Cong has been working with varied forms of music and sound art, exploring the texture of sounds and often experiments with the use of minimal musical structures.

He has composed for the Hong Kong Ballet, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Shanghai Opera House, and has served as the music director for productions for West Kowloon Cultural district and Le French May Arts Festival. Cong has worked with the K11 Art Foundation on art installations, and collaborated on feature film works with directors such as Tian Zhuangzhuang and Ann Hui.

Lai participated in different art festivals including Theaterfestival Spielart 2023, Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023, Hong Kong Dance Exchange 2022, TPAM 2020, Supercell 2019: Festival of Contemporary Dance Brisbane, Gothenburg Fringe Festival 2018, Stockholm Fringe Festival 2018 and Weiwuying Taiwan Dance Platform 2018. Lai Holds a BFA in Lighting Design from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. She designed numerous shows for dance and theatre.

Yanki Tsz-long Lau graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with an MFA in Theatre and Entertainment Arts, majoring in contemporary design and technologies (specialising in spatial design). Previously, she graduated from Hong Kong Polytechnic University with a BA in Fashion and Textiles (specialising in intimate apparel).

She actively explores the possibilities of theatre arts, especially environmental theatre and experimental theatre. Her work covers drama, dance, multimedia art, installation art and exhibitions. Her major works include the set design for Lullaby, the spatial design for Stream of Béthanie, and the assistant set design for Out of Thin Air: Hong Kong Film Arts & Costumes Exhibition.

She loves the humanities, art, nature and storytelling.

About “The Hearth”

We believe everything in life can be an inspiration of arts, and everyone can unlock their artistic potential through participation and appreciation. By bringing people together to share a time and a space, performing arts can create bonding and memories that are unique and relevant to those on and off the stage.

“The Hearth” is a regular thematic programme to explore how performing arts can connect people from different communities and create synergy. By integrating music, dance, theatre, films, literature and more, each programme is designed to look into how performing arts can nurture creativity, establish identity and care for wellbeing. These programmes are curated and led by creative and academic professionals across various sectors, presented in a range of performances, workshops, screenings, games, talks and more to encourage participation, evoke thinking and stimulate discussion around topics that concern us.