LEE HIU YI JOYCE
Composer, Sound Designer & Artist in HK
About the project:
A Date with Dogs (organized by MaD Asia)
Tertiary students from various institutions join hands in interdisciplinary co-creation, reflecting on a range of animal issues with authentic interactive installations and sound compositions.
All works will be presented in a finale at Kai Tak Runway Park for dogs and humans. A series of tours in public gardens will continue to raise concern for interspecies coexistence.
About the idea of ‘Goodbye’:
Sundial is a clock that represents the passage of time, as well as the time that humans spend with their pets.
In the crowded cities, pets are like the ‘chicken soup for soul’ to heal human souls. It is undeniable that many people longing for the companionship to fill up the gaps of loneliness, pain and wounds, deep in their hearts.
Over the past year, there has been a new wave of emigration, in which many Hongkongers with such thoughts keep the dogs as pets. We may first assume that ‘kind-hearted’ Hong Kong people will try their best to take them away, even if they decided to immigrate. However, we have heard many cases of pet abandonment. We also heard from a new owner that his puppy has psychological problems due to the owner’s emigration and abandonment. This experience often makes the puppy feels uneasy and anxious.
We always thought that people always think of their pets as family members, but still, some people are regarding the animals as foils, and there is no problem in discarding them casually. Not everyone can bear the weight of life, and will treat lives as a trifling matter. The idea of our group‘s creation comes from the owner-pet relationship under the emigration wave. We hope this work could become a place where the owners and pets can stay together quietly.
Having a date with dogs before saying ‘goodbye’. As a human being, we unconsciously had an inexplicably optimistic expectation: Farewell and goodbye, even if we are separated in different places, we will meet again someday and somehow.