‘RE: Tai Kok Tsui’ – Public Art: Art, Place, and People: A Journey of Revitalization in Tai Kok Tsui

Date: 2025.01.06 - 2025.12.31

Stop 1: The Pavilion | It All Started with a Neighbour’s Remark

"There’s too much sun in this area… it’d be nice to have some shade."

This seemingly casual remark from a local resident became the starting point for what would later become the ‘RE: Tai Kok Tsui’ Pavilion. Rather than being the result of a formal urban master plan, the Pavilion emerged from a small but meaningful everyday observation — a reminder that public spaces can be shaped by those who live among them.🧭

In October 2023, the project launched an open call, inviting a new generation of architects, designers, and artists to submit proposals that combine creative thinking with environmental responsibility in proposals that explore possibilities for sustainability and future urban living.

The selected proposal features a modular, removable structure that adapts to the constraints of dense city environments , while reflecting the character of the Tai Kok Tsui neighbourhood. Officially opened to the public on 6 January 2025, the Pavilion now acts as a space for rest, interaction, and shared imagination.

Perhaps the ‘RE: Tai Kok Tsui’ Pavilion is not the result of an official blueprint, but a response that began with a neighbour’s words and an absence in the urban fabric — shaped through art and design into a space that belongs to the city.

Stop 2: “Tidal Stories “｜Stories from the Shoreline, Tracing Community Change

Tidal Stories is a public art installation in the form of urban furniture, presenting the transformation of the Tai Kok Tsui coastline. By integrating local historical heritage and interactive elements, the artist team documents and reflects the changes and continuities between the community’s past and present, inspiring the public to imagine the future development of Tai Kok Tsui.

The installation not only recreates scenes from the shoreline but also fosters greater public understanding of the district’s history and culture. Through this installation, the project hope to encourage the community to rediscover the stories of Tai Kok Tsui and to collectively envision a sustainable future for the neighbourhood.

The installation utilises blue surgical masks and yellow protective gowns as the main materials for its creation, combined with poetry composed using Tai Kok Tsui letterpress type. Together, these elements delicately depict the transformations and contours of the local shoreline over the past century. These everyday yet distinctive materials carry the collective memory of recent years and serve as symbols of the spirit of our times. The use of local letterpress type embodies the area’s rich cultural heritage, allowing the poetry of history to quietly echo on the street corner.

Through Tidal Stories, the ‘RE: Tai Kok Tsui’ project aims to inspire public awareness of urban development and land history, bringing the past and present together and fostering the ongoing growth of community culture at this very intersection.

Stop 3: “Nobody is Somebody”｜Art Blossoms in the City’s Hidden Spaces

In the dense urban fabric of Hong Kong, the narrow voids that exist between buildings are so often passed by, hidden in plain sight—yet within these overlooked spaces lies a world of untapped possibility. As part of the ‘RE: Tai Kok Tsui’ Public and Community Art Project, the installation Nobody is Somebody transforms an architectural crevice beside 75 Bedford Road, Two Bedford Place into a stage for artistic intervention and a fresh vision of urban renewal.

The SOFT SPACE team has transformed one such space with an innovative inflatable artwork—a giant flower that fills the stairwell with gentle presence and local neon design elements, infusing it with Hong Kong’s unique urban memories and cultural vibrancy. The creation of this piece was itself a journey of thoughtful exploration—from site selection and conceptual sketches to installation, every step reflecting the artists’ keen spatial awareness and imaginative thinking. This flower is more than an experiment in spatial reinvention; it stands as a symbol of the contradictions and vitality of urban development, as well as Hongkongers’ creativity and resilience in the face of constraints.

Location: Beside 75 Bedford Road, TWO BEDFORD PLACE, Tai Kok Tsui

Exhibition period: From April 2025 (limited-time installation)