“Passengers Back and Forth” is a six-channel video installation first exhibited in the Mass Transit Railway exhibition. The work occupies two zones: three vertically oriented and horizontally aligned front screens display a time-lapse landscape capturing high-speed movement through Hong Kong’s streets, alleys, and indoor spaces; three vertically positioned rear screens stand dispersed like train compartments, housing a virtual moving carriage populated by passengers commonly encountered in real-life public transport.

These performers—publicly recruited by the artist—collaboratively developed archetypal roles (e.g., “youth feigning sleep to avoid offering seats,” “affectionate couple,” “anxious mother glued to her phone,” “trendy youth with an unzipped backpack,” “suffocating doctor in a white shirt”). Functioning as Goffman’s “front stage,” the passengers enact urban identities through curated public personae, performing impression management as social theater.

Though lacking a fixed script, the “Passengers” engage in interaction rituals (avoiding eye contact, adjusting seating distance) whose mutual influence extends into collective behavioral patterns, refracting metropolitan traits of Hong Kong nowadays. At intervals, the virtual carriage halts; guided by chime sounds, passengers enter and exit the screens.

The soundscape, sourced from Hong Kong’s two longest MTR lines, loops a forty-minute track of train ambience through broadcast-style speakers, with vibrations transmitted to seats. This monotonous noise with the passengers’ performance operates as a time-dissolving machine. As audiences immerse themselves alongside the “Passengers” in perpetual waiting, they enact Goffman’s metaphor of “role distance”—suspended in the fissure between social discipline and self-performance, eternally awaiting a platform where masks may fall, journeying toward an unknowable destination.

Visual Effects Artist: Kong Yiu Wing
Project Assistant: Janet Keung

《去來往返程步禮們》 為六屏錄像裝置，首展於《地下鐵》展覽。作品分置於展場前後兩區：前三屏垂直橫向並列，呈現高速穿梭香港街巷以至室內進出的縮時景觀；後區三屏豎立散置如車廂隔間，承載著虛擬行進中的列車，當中出現形式各種在現實生活中公共交通常見的乘客們。這些由藝術家公開招募的扮演者，與藝術家共同建構角色原型（如「裝睡不讓座青年」、「親熱的情侶」、「一直看手機的焦慮母親」、背包未拉好的潮青」、「車廂中感到窒息的醫生」）。有如戈夫曼 (Erving Goffman) 理論的前台（front stage），乘客們透過精心設計的「公共人設」（public persona）展演出一種都市身份，實踐著印象管理（impression management） 的社會表演。

「程步禮們」雖無固定劇本，但陌生人於車廂中的互動儀式（如避開眼神接觸、調整坐姿距離），卻在彼此牽引下延伸出集體行為模式，便折射現世代香港的都會人格特質。每隔一段時間，虛擬行走的車廂便會停下，在提示音的引領下乘客進出屏幕。

裝置聲景採集自港鐵兩條最長路線，四十分鐘的循環行駛音軌在廣播式喇叭播出，同時藉震動傳至座椅。這單調噪音與乘客表演成為消解真實的時間機器；而觀眾沉浸於此，伴隨「程步禮們」一直等待，恰是戈夫曼的「角色距離」（role distance） 隱喻——我們在社會規訓與自我表演的裂隙間，永恆等待著卸下面具的月台，前往一個不知所向的終點。

視覺效果：江耀榮
項目助理：姜曉慧

Sing Jantzen Tse received his Master of Fine Art at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Sing’s artworks focus on the topics of language and conversation, sound and visuals of daily objects and city landscapes. Delighted in reconstructing scenes using diverse materials to document and re-present various pure experiences, his artworks explore the inextricable and entangled relationships between people, time, the urban environment, and objects of daily life. Tse’s creative practice is primarily led by sound and video installations, as well as sound performances. Tse is active in varied kinds of music and multimedia theatre performances. He also engages in Artistic education. The latest solo exhibition is “Mass Transit Railway” (2024). Tse was supported by soundpocket’s Artist Support Programme 2011–12.