Diversion

The 1989 events in Beijing shocked the world and amplified anxieties for Hong Kong citizens, contributing to a major wave of emigration from Hong Kong.

Against this backdrop, a collaboration between the Hong Kong Arts Centre and the Goethe-Institut Hong Kong gave artists access to valuable historical footage from the Government Information Services archives. This material became the core of a video art workshop. German filmmaker Hartmut Jahn led it, and participants included Ellen Pau, May Fung, Yau Ching, and Cheng Chi-hung. Diversion by Ellen Pau was one of the works that came out of it.

In Diversion, Pau takes scenes of popular leisure from the economically booming 1960s Hong Kong—things like the Victoria Harbour swimming contest—and turns them into these absurd, darkly humorous metaphors. Her editing process was entirely manual and linear; no special editing equipment was involved. She even created the superimposition effects by literally filming reflections off a television screen.

The video pulls together all sorts of footage: official news, educational films about swimming, even shots from a stairwell. It’s a deeply personal reflection on collective memories. And crucially, among these elements is the opening title sequence, “Hong Kong today”—a black-and-white, now faded, header from prewar Hong Kong newsreels. It’s a powerful assemblage, inviting us to really consider the layers of memory and history in the city.

Diversion is part of A City in Transmission: Five Works from Videotage, curated by Doris Poon and presented in collaboration with Videotage as the first installment of Histories of Video Art.

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