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Recording TV – A VHS Tape Collection Project
錄電視 : 錄影帶集藏計劃

On-going Project, presented in the exhibition, No References - A Revisit of Hong Kong Video and Media Art from 1985, in 2016 

↵  curations

It was once common in Hong Kong to record TV programmes with VHS tapes at home. This project was inspired by an extensive VHS tape collection belonging to an owner who meticulously recorded hundreds of Hong Kong TV programmes from the 80s through to the 2000s. Much to the dismay of his family, this owner has refused to discard the collection of tapes although he no longer uses a VHS machine. The contents of these tapes can in fact be seen as a negotiated archive of familial memories, media and pop culture as well as the society-at-large during the period. The collection, filtered by technical depreciation, random re-use throughout the years as well as the conscious selections of two familial generations, represent valuable access to slices of history that are now obsolete. Through digitalizing and archiving these tapes, this project regains access to their contents, such that further studies (e.g. the culture of recording TV and safekeeping technical artifacts) and curation can be conducted.


曾幾何時,不少香港人有在家中使用錄影帶錄電視節目的習慣。此項計劃起源於一位錄電視發燒友,他到今天仍然保存著近百盒,由上世紀80年代至2000年代期間,自己一絲不苟地錄製各種電視節目而集成的錄影帶。儘管今天已不再使用錄影機,他仍拒絕家人的要求,堅持保存著這些錄影帶。這些錄影帶除了要面對技術折舊的問題,也面對著這個家庭兩代人歷年來有意無意的重用和選棄。它們既是一眾家庭成員多年拉鋸戰後剩下的集體回憶,也包含了那些年代期間,電視媒體所呈現的重大事件、流行文化、社會狀況等等的資料。此項計劃正陸續把這些塵封的錄影帶轉化成數碼檔,按內容整理編錄,從而希望能作進一步的多角度研究(如錄電視的文化、存藏過時科技產品的文化等),再延伸不同可能性的新項目。

VHS tapes collection : Mr Lam and family

Digitalization and TV-film advisor: William Yuen

Display installation : Yiu Kwun-ho

 

錄影帶藏品:林先生和家人

數碼轉化、影視顧問:袁永康

展示裝置:姚君豪

solomon yu artist hong kong 余迪文 香港 藝術家 余廸文

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