Dorothy: Room of Silence

Room of Silence / 17 Jan 2018 / Dorothy

1 // These days I have seen my previous work being uploaded with my knowing. And with a lot of other things happening before and after being here I feel the urge of stronger sense of ownership of things – time, work, decisions and writing etc. And to be less focus on single task but the reason and meaning in the bigger picture. I don’t feel like to name a specific thing or book, but something more conceptual …

2 // I don’t feel like there is anything that can sum up what orders my life. It changes over time in different situation. I would say especially the way I am living now is rather new… I have been working full time since 6 years ago and I never had time for myself. Work ordered my life, task ordered my life. Now maybe I am seeking for something else.

3 // I am currently working on a short film of 6 minutes on my personal thoughts on the notion of imprisonment, through investigation on repurposed prisons in the Netherlands.

Having been studying and visiting 3 prisons that are now repurposed in the Netherlands, I have made footages and written a text. The text is in form of letter, expressing my experience of being inside and outside of the prison – also of a country, home, situation etc. With the metaphor of being inside/outside I would like to illustrate a diasporic experience.

The idea started from a screenplay I worked on 5 years ago, and in last year, having politic prisoners in Hong Kong is no longer fictional – it became reality when more than 30 young protestors and activists being sent to jail. Now it seems to me that I would as well have a chance to be jailed in the future. Even so, imprisonment in a way is unimaginable, as well as the notion of freedom and power control inside these prisons. At the same time, repurposing these buildings are in fact posing a challenge these notions. Therefore I would like to put the footages and the text together, to illustrate this un/imaginable situation.

4 // Trimming the length of this short film from 9’ to 6’

5 // I realised that the longer time I get, doesn’t mean that better it would communicate. I have the tendency to write a lot of long sentences, and therefore I would like to see what I can achieve in a shorter timeframe, and with less words. It also pushes me to make a better selection of material.

6 // Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (Recommended by my previous boss, who read that book on a flight)

7 // This is a book on the notion of ‘creative living’, rather than only about art or literature. The writer looks into notions of creativity.

She suggests that creativity is an ability that everyone have, and readers should lead a creative life without being overwhelmed by fears. To achieve that, there are certain strategies to work with ideas and ways to overcome the fears.

(This is a popular read so I feel many ideas are being simplified, it is almost like a chicken soup for the soul self-help book on creativity, with lots of real stories or name-dropping parts.)

8 // (Disclaimer: I do not agree with many things in this book)

It reminds me of being genuine in the work (which she might also fail in some parts of it), and the importance to finish the work, or simply to work on something, to make something happen – by detaching from the fear of the possible consequences or feedbacks.

9 // Agnes Varda: Though I have always liked her work, now I realise I learn to watch them differently – rhythm that made possible by bringing together the narrative, the image and the editing. Her works have a poetic quality and power of being personal. Recently I am watching her earlier short film Elsa la Rose, it is about Louis Aragon, the poet and his lover (Rosa). The repetition of image, jump cut from item to item, and the poems recited by Aragon work seamlessly. To me it is one of the best visual poetry I have seen.

10 // Live stream gaming / On Yakuza 6: Song of Life

11 // Not really – but it helps me to explore the possibilities and limits in an environment created in games. How does it construct a narrative and bring people to do things in a certain way? I have stopped gaming years ago – Thus witnessing the change in gaming culture now and of course the advancement of technology is amazing. But it further makes me questioning what is the limit? What is the boundary? Is it really being pushed further now?