Three Cities

2024
two channel projection, 12 mins 48sec

Uncanny Playground
Hypha Gallery, London, UK

"Three Cities" is a multi-channel video work by artists Monty Williams and Ya Hsuan Hsiao. The piece collages audiovisual material from Sheffield, Taipei, and London. The artists gathered and curated video footage, field recordings, and text from these three cities to explore themes of belonging, reflection, and disorientation. Additionally, the video presents a blend of Chinese and English snippets, where similar and contrasting elements overlay one another. At times, the dual languages create a parallel harmony, while at other times, they clash, leading to fragmented, voiceless moments.

Overall, the imagery and language in Three Cities appear as if displayed in a sequence: mountains, architecture, and rivers are juxtaposed, clouds emerge and disappear. Sentences murmur faintly, and we might interpret the work as a "love letter" to landscapes and places—or even as a "farewell letter."

Three Cities - Text Score

Hypha Gallery, 29/9/24
Performed by Ya Hsuan Hsiao and Monty Williams

On the afternoon with mysterious clouds, on another island without volcanoes, I often received calls from the future, and after many conversations that could not be guaranteed, the prophecy would finally be fulfilled, when the day was only a third of the way through.

接近中午的時候，窗外下著暴風雨，強風呼嘯而過
遠處，奇異膨脹的雲層在烈日下湧動
含苞的不知名樹種在風中與遠方的光線中搖晃
走到工作室的道路上，低地聚集著小水窪
雨滴從樹上落下，在這個時候
南倫敦吸了一口氣卻尚未吐出
雨勢漸歇的傍晚，閘門外的鳥群在彩虹的盡頭遊蕩
幾乎像醒轉的碎片一樣分飛

夜裡，新月與星辰上升至Brockley的小丘上方
白天的暴雨使天際變得清晰
遙遠的熱帶島嶼傳來令人悲傷的消息
在New Cross看見了發著螢光橘的Sainsbury’s
這是許久以來，第一次覺得這裡如此美麗
At night, the crescent moon and stars rose above Brockley's hill.
The sky is clear from the day's storms.
I heard a sad tiding of a distant tropical island.
Seeing Sainsbury's in fluorescent orange at New Cross.
It's the first time in a long time that I've found here so beautiful.

Expansive flatlands give a sense of perspective.
As does the river, both in the city and out here.
I feel present in this liminal landscape, pausing at a transient period in my life. I am here.

Your Wilderness on the record player
Waterlink Way into Deptford Drifts
resonant edgelands
From Greenwich Peninsula to the ‘lost foothills’ of Woolwich
Erith’s atmosphere promises future projects

for now I’ll trade broken bridleway for the tirade of traffic
to descend into Dartford
and grind into Gravesend
for shade and sustenance
excellent ice cream

eyes now are to the island
the fort bears rumours of tunnels
for only the intrepid (not me, today)
I push on through an older England
till the path’s end

I dreamt that I passed through a long tunnel.
I vaguely knew that there was a city on the other side of the tunnel.
Inside the dark, sulfurous tunnel, there was another man crawling with me.
I think he noticed me, but didn't answer my call.

我夢見自己通過長長的隧道(start from Inside the dark…)
隱約知道隧道另一頭是某座城市
昏暗似硫磺的隧道裡，有另一個人與我匍匐前進
我想他注意到了我，卻沒有回應我的叫喚

In the deeper night, a plane flew from London to Asia.
In the far west of Asia, the plane lands gently.
It's still seven hours away to the distant island.

更深的夜裡，一架飛機從倫敦飛往亞洲
在亞洲的最西邊，飛機緩緩降落
這裡離遠方的島嶼仍有七小時的航程

一位老朋友

從英國打來

問到了未來

人們說

他們的香菸

最近有了硫磺的味道

321-

罕無人至的漁港、陽光滲入植物裡的模樣、強風拂過的石堤、暗橘色光的交流道下、佈滿霓虹燈光的高架橋上、迷宮般的近郊住宅、榕樹下的咖啡店、超過身高的林投樹、只適合緩慢行進的省道、適合看星星的高橋、巨大光束閃過的珊瑚沙灘

白天溫熱的潟湖、魚群上方的寧靜海域、下大雨時粘膩的雨衣、半夜穿著便服的便利商店店員、雨後的螢火小徑、近山區的壁虎與蟲鳴、焚化爐附近的斷橋、滲著鐵砂的水田、閃閃發光的出海口、雨季時的室內紅茶、步登公寓的樓梯間、葬過貓的花圃、土地公廟上的頂樓加蓋、天亮前的港都、種火龍果的庭院、可以看見芒果樹的陽台

浪裂解前的水域

321-

Uninhabited fishing harbors, sunlight seeping into plants, rocky embankments brushed by strong winds,dark orange lighted interchanges, neon-lit viaducts, labyrinthine suburban houses, cafes under banyan trees, high bridges suitable for stargazing, coral beaches with huge beams of light

lagoons that are warm in the daytime, tranquil waters above a school of fish, sticky raincoats during a downpour, a convenience store worker in casual clothes in the middle of the night, a fluorescent trail with fireflies after rain, geckos
and insects near the mountains, a broken bridge near an incinerator, a rice field with iron sand, a glittering sea mouth, indoor black tea during the monsoon, the stairway of a stepping stone condominium, a flowerbed where cats have been buried, the roof of a temple, the port city before sunrise, the garden where dragonfruit is planted, a balcony where you can see a mango tree

the waters before the wave breaks up.

memory of the day fades from orange to blue
it’s been a while since I watched the sunset

The Thames Estuary, a somewhat liminal place, has been a kind of constant during transitional points of my own life.

I think back in particular to 2017 after graduating, unsure whether I would move back to Sheffield, a place which now seems so certain in retrospect. I’m back on the estuary, albeit a part which is new to me, in 2023, riding east to put distance between myself and London.

Streets of memory, markers of time,
rented rooms and restless feet.
Suburbs which stop and don’t fade,
a gradual ascent into expansive vistas,
reminders of past seasons,
terrain felt through rotations.

Damflask, Blindside, Strines.

Rain which makes visible the motion of the wind,
clouds which obscure views of memory.
Movement, pause, friendship.
Descending into the city.

Recently, I’ve been feeling the pull of this city and the Peak District which meets it. I reflect on a myriad of experiences that I’m grateful for in London too. On one hand, I’m excited to develop interlinked projects and friendships in London. On the other, I miss the way of life here in Sheffield. The relative peace of these hills and the rejuvenating excursions within and beyond.

‘A trip, or a move? Perhaps there’s no need to choose.’

I wrote in a lyric to a song while packing up to leave Sheffield, reflecting a letter from my friend Dougy.

Perhaps there is still no need to choose…
Pause, birdsong

In my first year as an architecture student we learnt about different ways of documenting places, from the more analytical to the emotive.
I still document the emotive. Through music, text, the audiovisual. When I look back, patterns do emerge.

I go west, when the world outside feels small
A few months in the city to ‘purposefully drift’ and (re)discover
My mental map of the city is a collage of distinct memories, when in fact the reality is ever changing

Atop of Fox Hagg
a fragmented map (y)
emerging from the city
after flowing through its periphery
Wind snakes through the trees around me
friends camp on the banks below me
The city rumbles somewhere in the distance
friends speed south on a train to London

Atop of Fox Hagg
a fragmented map
emerging from the city
after flowing through its periphery
Wind snakes through the trees around me
friends camp on the banks below me
The city rumbles somewhere in the distance
friends speed south on a train to London

Documentation ：
Ya Hsuan Hsiao, Monty Williams

HOME PAGE 🧼

Welcome to Ya Hsuan Hsiao’s Website