NARRATOR:
Cities Without Ground is an installation work created by Adam Snow Frampton, Cyrus Penarroyo, Jonathan D. Solomon, and Clara Wong in 2020. The work is made of aluminium plates, silver rods, and 3D–printed white plastic modules. It is about the height of an average adult’s waist, and the overall installation measures 360 centimetres wide and 260 centimetres deep.
The work consists of two parts, including a base plate and a raised network of walkways. The base plate shows the aerial map of the area from Sheung Wan to Admiralty on Hong Kong Island. Raised above the map is an interconnected assembly of 3D pedestrian walkways, escalators, staircases, and footbridges that connect different buildings. The buildings are not shown.
The base map is made of 6 square aluminium plates that are connected together. Carved on the plate surface are roads, names of the areas, and landmarks from Shun Tak Centre in Sheung Wan to Pacific Place in Admiralty. Erected on the map are thin aluminium rods of different heights, ranging from 86 to 115 centimetres, that support the 3D–printed white modules, which are in the shape of irregular walkways. With a variation of strips that are straight or curved, thick or thin, the modules resemble the actual network of walkways in the city. The comprehensive network includes countless intersections and junction points that connect private, commercial, and public spaces.
The work is set on the floor. Visitors may look down at the map and the walkway network or look from the side at the network’s configuration. The network extends outwards in different directions, with walkways layering over each other and linking different spaces, just like the human circulatory system in which there are extensive blood vessels reaching all parts of the body.