Unfolding Images: We are Spectacle(s)

“… raise lots of interesting questions and in some parts is quite confronting about what we have come to expect and see as ‘normal’.” Edinburgh Guide

Technology has not only subverted the art of portrait photography and its transmission; it has altered people’s way of seeing and the habitual manner of body movement. As we take up the focus of other people’s camera lenses, we are also searching for the target of our next portrait. Each of us has become a spectacle in the eyes of one another.  

Choreographer Joseph Lee explores the above phenomenon in his latest offering Unfolding Images: We Are Spectacle(s). Echoing his acclaimed solo contemporary dance piece Folding Echoes, this time, rather than embarking on a one-man journey, Lee teams up with five performers to explore and examine the various body gestures as a form of experiment. Drawing references from the concept of portrait photography as a starting point, Lee and his performers probe into the delicate relations between a performer and a spectator, and the peculiar desire to see and be seen.  

In the digital age, the mass production and consumption of images in the age of social media has allowed everyone to pose in the limelight. One moment you are the centre of the attention, and the next you descend into the backdrop of another person who takes up the spotlight. The five performers participating in this experiment turn their bodies into vessels to capture and channel this fleeting spectacle that embodies the essence of this digital age phenomenon that has encroached upon us today.    

• This programme is approximately 1 hour without intermission.
• Free seating. Suitable for ages 12 or above.
• In Cantonese, without surtitles.
• Hong Kong Arts Development Council reserves the right to change the advertised programmes and artists.