Title: Stop/Walk

Artist: YANG Cheng

Form: Audiovisual installation

As an international metropolis, the central streets of Hong Kong are always bustling with hurried pedestrians. The pedestrian traffic signal sounds highlight the unique characteristics of Hong Kong’s urban soundscape, creating a sensory map that resonates with these pedestrians. The rapid pace, unfamiliar languages, and humid smells amplify a sense of alienation, making the dense crowd feel as vast and isolating as a desert. To navigate this inner conflict, I envisioned myself as a cactus—an organism thriving in harsh, arid environments by conserving energy and adapting to its surroundings. The cactus, with its self-sustaining nature, becomes a metaphor for resilience and independence, offering a model for how we might reconnect with ourselves amid the bustling chaos. In life’s journey, we can still pause to recalibrate, letting external noise dissipate like wind across a desert. In this installation, the sounds and visuals initially appear agitated but gradually calm down over time, which reminds us to attune to our internal rhythms and seek harmony, through deliberate pauses that reconnect us to the essence of life—both urban and natural.

香港作為一個國際大都會, 街道上總是熙來攘往。行人交通信號的聲音凸顯了香港城市聲景的獨特特徵，形成了一幅與行人產生共鳴的感官地圖。然而，快速的節奏、不熟悉的語言以及潮濕的氣味，增添了一種疏離感，即使身處擁擠的人群也彷彿置身與廣闊而孤立的沙漠。

為了解決這種內心的矛盾，我將自己想像成一棵仙人球——一種能在乾旱惡劣環境中適應生存的生物。仙人球的自給自足特性成為一種韌性和獨立的象徵，啟示我們如何在喧囂中重新與自己建立聯繫。在生命的旅程中，我們不需要一直忙於追趕，可以暫時停下來調整自我，讓外界的噪音如沙漠中的風般逐漸消散。在這個裝置中，聲音和視覺效果最初顯得焦躁，但隨著時間的推移逐漸平靜，提醒我們去嘗試調節內在的節奏，通過有意識的停頓找到與城市和自然本質的連結。