'Hong Kong is small and densely populated ' is a mantra that appears in various textbooks, newspaper articles and official reports. However, problems of dense population and land scarcity are not unique to Hong Kong. In many parts of the world, old buildings are being torn down to make way for new complexes and urban redevelopment, and during such processes, there are always somebody who are displaced, and things discarded. Yet, some objects and architectural parts have strangely escaped from their doomed fate and survived in surprising ways. Some are like ‘parasites’ that thrive on the exterior of newly established buildings, and some occupy awkward positions in streets. In the 1970s, Japanese artist Genpei Akasegawa coined the term ‘Hyperart Thomasson’, referring to those ‘useless’ relic or structure that has become a piece of art in itself. In this activity, you are invited to search for and document these urban relicts of Hong Kong and reflect on the paired concept of uselessness—usefulness, as well as on spaces and land use in Hong Kong.

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