HEAVEN HELL
(2024, single channel version, stereo, B&W, Japanese)
A collaboration with and a commission by NPO Koganecho Area Management Center as part of Chong’s residency at the Koganecho Bazaar, which is located in the former red-light district of Koganecho, Yokohama, Japan. Koganecho was the conceptual reference for ‘hell’ in Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film High and Low. However, because of the district’s notoriety, shooting on location became far too dangerous for the cast and crew.
HEAVEN HELL looks to restage the past and present representations of the red-light district by shooting the slum scene on the same street that Kurosawa had initially intended but was unable to do so. Chong referred to the film scenes that Kurosawa shot in the studio in order to re-create the eerie and hyper-theatrical mood of the infamous street in both the traditional and contemporary periods; recruiting local youth in the now gentrified neighbourhood of Koganecho. HEAVEN HELL takes the point of view of the kidnapper/villain, using his entire dialogue in the film compressed into a single moment through the slums, past and present, expressing the toll it has taken on him and the class he was relegated to.
(Based on the original 6-channel work HEAVENHELL.)
Recent Exhibitions:
2025 Yokohama Museum of Art
2024 Koganecho Bazaar as part of the Yokohama Triennale