A few years ago, Hong Kong artist Andrew Luk stumbled across Abney Park Cemetery during a visit to London. He was immediately drawn to its sense of autonomy, as though detached from the surrounding city life. Shrouded by lofty trees and brick walls, the cemetery embraces a different temporal experience, embodied by a curious mixture of tipping gravestones, decaying statues and a profusion of organic growth.
Originally built to alleviate the overcrowding of graveyards during the Victorian era, the garden cemetery became defunct in the 1970s after its management went bankrupt. Further neglect in the years since has led to its evolution into the ecological sanctuary that it is today. Over the course of his two-month residency at London’s Delfina Foundation this summer, Luk returned to the cemetery and continued his exploration. Reflecting on this quality of otherness, he draws on Michel Foucault’s concept of “heterotopia” and disciplines such as garden studies and cemetery management to further understand the cemetery’s historical significance and present circumstances.
Tiffany Leung: You first came across Abney Park Cemetery a few years ago: what were your first impressions? Andrew Luk: Abney Park Cemetery has the quality of feeling as though it never changes against the constant agitation associated with city life. It’s as though time passes more slowly inside.
TL: How did it become a central focus for your research? AL: After visiting a few times, it became obvious I was drawn to the different elements of the cemetery but couldn’t see how they were connected. This invisible network of entanglement is what I set out to learn about.
TL: Can you give us an insight into these elements and networks? AL: I was drawn to how its abandonment and rewilding were embraced as part of the current conservation programme by the Abney Park Trust, which is in charge of the cemetery. This means it’s not only the statuesque graves of historical figures and war memorials that are deemed significant but also the unique wildlife that would otherwise be considered detrimental to the graves. Although it may seem counterintuitive to conserve two phenomena that are at odds with each other, it has actually been incredibly advantageous for the trust to promote the cemetery with this duality in mind. It forces these temporal shifts where the 20 grade II historically listed gravestones and memorials are actually younger than 180-year-old veteran trees that were planted at the cemetery’s founding, or when you consider the lone tawny owl that calls the cemetery home, compared to the rigid grid of marble, granite and Portland stone gravestones. The differing timelines of plants, of animals, of fungi, of corpses, of stone, forming networks – interdependently activating connections within the cemetery. Meanwhile a holistic managerial style allows the cemetery to appeal to a more diverse range of people, thereby supporting the trust in the upkeep of the cemetery as well as generating value, allowing the site to retain a sense of autonomy.
TL: Can you elaborate on the idea of heterotopia and how it connects to your practice? AL: A heterotopia is a specific term coined by Michel Foucault to describe spaces that are incompatible with the logic of the space around them, cultivating a sense of otherness – a quality that reflects and disrupts the dominant culture. In the context of my practice, which often does deal with the incompatibilities between belief and perception, the heterotopia is a tool with which to gather and weave the narratives of the cemetery – or a lens through which one can try to see all the timelines simultaneously.
TL: How has your thinking developed during the research process? AL: The change in my work has been in better developing the narratives I am working with to be more sophisticated. I realised my work is much more interested in systems, progressions and trends over time – the intentions and effects of humankind as well as its residues. Deep time is also a concept I am trying to better negotiate.
TL: Did you spend a lot of time at the cemetery? How did you approach your research? AL: I visited Abney Park Cemetery several times as well as some other cemeteries from the Magnificent Seven [an informal name given to seven Victorian private cemeteries in London]. I supplemented my visits with research on the history of cemeteries, cemeteries as heterotopian sites, cemeteries as ecological sanctuaries, garden studies, as well as the history of and trends in cemetery management. The range of disciplines concerned with cemeteries is what defined my multidisciplinary approach.
TL: I’m also curious about the residency arrangement, where you lived together with five other artists at the Delfina Foundation in the same house. What was that like? AL: It was a blessing to spend time with a diverse group of artists from all over the world. The foundation takes a lot of care in selecting artists who have similar themes and ideas in their work and placing them in the house together, knowing that the interactions and the sharing among artists will lead to mutual growth. Being in the house with everyone was a pleasure and an honour; there was a lot of good food, great conversations and a lot of laughs.
TL: When we met up in London, you mentioned that you were trying to visit as many museums and exhibitions as you could. What were some of your favourite places? AL: Sir John Soane’s Museum is by far the best museum in London, despite its size [the museum fits into a single house]. Beyond the collection, the house itself is designed and agonised over so that each square centimetre is so sincerely at the service of the items collected inside of it – an entirely different approach from most museums. The people who work there are also passionately knowledgeable. Another favourite was the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archeology at UCL, which has an impressively diverse assortment of objects, with an emphasis on beads. It has these fantastic antique cabinets and vitrines with functioning drawers that pull out to show small, delicate displays inside them.
TL: You’re back in Hong Kong now – what have you been doing? AL: Today is day 18 of 21 days of government-mandated quarantine. So far I have been further developing the research that I began on Abney Park Cemetery and working on several other projects as well to keep myself preoccupied, but mostly I’m focused on being released and getting a decent meal.
香港藝術家陸浩明幾年前在倫敦偶然發現了阿布尼公園墓園，受墓園與周圍城市生活脫節的自主感深深吸引。墓園被高大的樹木和磚牆圍繞，擁抱一種不同的時間體驗，離奇地混合了傾斜的墓碑、腐爛的雕像和大量的生物。
公園墓園最初是為了解決維多利亞時代墓園過度擁擠的問題而建，於1970年代因管理公司破產而停止運作。後來墓園一直遭到忽視，演變成今日的生態保護區。今年夏天，陸浩明在為期兩個月的倫敦德爾菲娜基金會駐留計劃期間回到了墓園探索。他借鑒傅柯的「異托邦」概念，以及園林研究、墓園管理等學科，反思墓園的他性，進一步了解墓園的歷史意義和現狀。
梁瑋珵：幾年前你第一次接觸阿布尼公園墓園時的第一個印象是什麼？陸浩明：阿布尼公園墓園彷彿永遠不會隨著城市生活恆常的動盪而改變，置身其中感覺時間流逝放慢。
梁瑋珵：墓園為什麼會成為你研究的重點？陸浩明：參觀過幾次後，我明顯地受到墓園的不同元素所吸引，但找不到它們之間的聯繫。這種無形的牽絆就成為了我研究的開端。
梁瑋珵：可否與我們講解一下這些元素和聯繫？陸浩明：負責墓園的阿布尼公園信託基金把墓園的廢棄和再野生化列入目前保護計劃的一部分，這點非常吸引我。計劃除了重申歷史人物的墳墓和戰爭紀念碑的重要性外，亦默許了被視為對墳墓有害的獨特野生動物同樣具有重大意義。雖然保護這兩種互相矛盾的現象似乎有違常理，但事實上信託基金選擇的這種二元對立對推廣墓園非常有幫助。墓園迫使時間轉移，園內20個被列為二級歷史建築的墓碑和紀念碑實際上比墓園成立時種植的180年老樹年輕，又或可以相比居於墓園的黃啡色孤獨貓頭鷹與大理石、花崗岩和波特蘭石墓碑的剛性網格。植物、動物、真菌、屍體和石頭不同的時間線形成一個網絡，互相激活園內的聯繫。同時，墓園整體的管理風格令它能夠吸引更多元的人群，從而支持信託基金對墓園的維護並產生價值，讓墓園維持自主。
梁瑋珵：可否說明一下異托邦的概念以及它與你實踐之間的聯繫？陸浩明：異托邦是傅柯提出的一個特定術語，描述與周圍環境邏輯不同的空間，形成一種反映和破壞主流文化的他性。我的實踐經常探討信念和感知之間的不相容，而異托邦就是一個收集和編織墓園故事的工具，又或可以是一個讓人同時看到所有時間線的鏡頭。
梁瑋珵：在研究過程中，你的想法產生了什麼變化？陸浩明：作品的變化在於我更能開發正在探討的故事，令故事更加精密和複雜。我發現隨時間過去，我的作品對系統、進展和趨勢以至人類的企圖、影響以及殘留物越感興趣。深度時間亦是一個我正嘗試深入探討的概念。
梁瑋珵：你在墓園花了很多時間嗎？你是如何進行研究的？陸浩明：我到過阿布尼公園墓園以及「七大公墓」[倫敦七座維多利亞時代私人墓園的別稱]其中一些墓園很多次。除了親身到訪外，我亦對墓園歷史、墓園作為異托邦場所、墓園作為生態保護區、園林研究以及墓園管理的歷史和趨勢進行了一些研究。與墓園相關的學科範圍界定了我的多學科研究方式。
梁瑋珵：我也對你的駐留體驗十分好奇。我知道你和德爾菲娜基金會的其他五位藝術家住在同一屋簷下，那次的經驗如何？陸浩明：能夠與來自世界各地的不同藝術家群體共度時光是一件幸事。基金會非常謹慎地把作品主題和想法相似的藝術家安排一起居住，因為他們知道藝術家的互動和分享可以令雙方都有所得益。和他們共住是一種樂趣和榮幸，我們分享了很多美食，亦不時談天說地，充滿歡樂和笑聲。
梁瑋珵：在倫敦見面時，你說過想盡可能參觀最多的博物館和展覽，哪裡是你的最愛？陸浩明：索恩博物館目前為止是倫敦最佳的博物館，雖然它的規模很小[博物館只有一間屋的大小]。除了藏品之外，房子本身也經過精心設計，每平方厘米都由衷為裡面的藏品服務，與大多數博物館截然不同。館內的職員學識淵博，亦非常熱心。另一個我最喜歡的是倫敦大學學院的皮特里埃及考古博物館，館內的藏品種類繁多，其中最多的是珠子。博物館內有很多古董櫥櫃和玻璃櫥窗，備有功能齊全的抽屜，可以拉出顯示內裡精細小巧的藏品。
梁瑋珵：現在回到了香港你有什麼計劃？陸浩明：今日是我進行政府強制隔離21日中的第18日。目前為止我都在繼續進行我對阿布尼公園墓園的研究，另外亦參與了其他幾個計劃讓自己可以專注工作。不過其實大部分時間我都期待完成隔離，然後好好吃一頓。