The shipping route between Hong Kong and Hamburg is one of the busiest in the world. Every year, thousands of containers get lost, floating in the seas … 

The cross-disciplinary collaboration Contain is a multimedia experience combining live musical performance, video and installation. The Hong Kong version of this international co-production brings together new pieces by Berlin-based composer Simon James Phillips, works by artist Samson Young, and other stimulating live performances by soloists of the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble.

Developed over the course of four years, and inspired by the busy shipping routes connecting transcontinental sea ports like Hamburg and Hong Kong, the work explores shifting cultural identities and notions of in-betweenness – and draws the audience into floating states of disorientation through an interactive acoustic, visual and spatial experience. 

leaflet | programme | video | photos

Programme:

Contain

Artists

Hong Kong New Music Ensemble
, live performers

Amy Chan, Nathalie Cheung, lighting and movement

Samson Young, artist

Ensemble Resonanz, performers (remote/ recorded)

Simon James Phillips, composition

Folkert Uhde
, 
concert design and videography (remote)

Elisa Erkelenz, dramaturgy (remote)

Other credits in programme

Credits

Co-presented by Freespace and Hong Kong New Music Ensemble

Various stages of Contain have been made possible with the kind support of the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme (Hong Kong), Goethe Institute International Coproduction Fund (Germany), Radialsystem (Germany) and Kulturstiftung des Bundes (Germany).

Full credits in programme