Message In A Bottle
Type
Other
Category
Activism, Conceptual, Design, Drawing, Mixed Media...
Status
Archived
Deadline
May 14, 2017
Application Fee
Not Available
Host
LEONG KA TAI
Location
Hong Kong, Hong Kong

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE to send a message to somebody you have never met, is unlikely to meet, halfway around the world but in a place unknown, and further more, the message may never get there?


This was the challenge I sent to my friends in 2013, when I embarked on a voyage on a container ship crossing the Pacific, asking them to give me messages which I put in a bottle every day and threw into the Pacific Ocean. The project was presented in an exhibition at the Hong Kong Design Institute from March to May in 2016.



www.http://camera22.com/overtheocean" target="_blank">camera22.com/overtheocean


 Nowadays, we have myriad ways to gather information on people we have never met. The internet has enabled us to connect with people thousands of miles away in a split second. But a message in a bottle is unpredictable in terms of space and time. Where it would be picked up, if it would be picked up at all, is in the hands of the gods.

But, out of 32 bottles thrown, three have been picked up and the recipients have responded. One in Canada, one in Thailand, and one in Hawaii. We have met 2 of them, and we are going to meet the third, in Hawaii, soon. The chances are like winning the lottery 3 times!


AND NOW, THE INDIAN OCEAN AND THE ATLANTIC.


In June, my wife and I will be on board a container ship crossing the Indian Ocean, from Yantian in China to Southampton in the UK, then, in September, across the Atlantic Ocean from Rotterdam to Port of Spain in Trinidad. This way, we would have covered all three major oceans on Earth.


Would you like to participate in this project and send a message to the unknown? Would you like to join this experiment in unpredictable and serendipitous communication?


Your message may be a piece of writing, an image, a drawing, or even voice or music in an USB thumbdrive. Please send by MAIL to G.P.O.Box 8427, Hong Kong. We need a hard copy*. I shall check the mailbox twice a week. The first 40 messages will be accepted and sent in the bottles during my voyages. The deadline will be 15th May 2017.


*IMPORTANT:


The diameter of a wine bottle’s neck is typically 17mm. Please make sure that your message can go into the bottle.


• Preferably written or printed on A4 paper, double sided if necessary.
• Inkjet is water-soluble. Since the interior of the bottle may be damp, please consider using laser printer.
• Drawing is great, but as above, please try to avoid water soluble colours, and watch out for the thickness of the medium it is drawn on.
• Please download and sign the cover letter so that the bottle recipient will know where to send the response
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ry1eilvc5cgtm3r/Bottle%20message%202017.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">https://www.dropbox.com/s/ry1e…/Bottle%20message%202017.pdf…


 


• Please send your message to G.P.O. Box 8427, Hong Kong.