Inspired by the US’ Aids Memorial Quilt, Hong Kong art project lets visitors remember the dead by playing birdsong in a multisensory garden

Hong Kong art project Memorial Birdsongs comprises a library of songs from nearly 200 birds, which play through speakers hidden in bird boxes in a mall garden

Visitors choose a song, hear it played, and receive a memento comprising the song, their loved one’s name, and a copy of an artist’s painting of the bird

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In Hong Kong art project “Memorial Birdsongs”, visitors remember a loved one by choosing birdsong to play though a speaker in a bird box at the Nature Discovery Park in Tsim Sha Tsui. They receive a digital memento of the song and a painting of the bird. Photo: Enid Tsui

Published: 9:45am, 11 Oct 2023Updated: 8:15pm, 11 Oct 2023

Tucked away on the eighth floor of the sprawling K11 Musea shopping centre on Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, the Nature Discovery Park has been transformed into a multisensory, inclusive site for remembering the dead.

An art project, “Memorial Birdsongs” invites members of the public to commemorate loved ones with a choice of birdsong selected from an online library of nearly 200 local and international species.

The chosen song will be played through one of 52 speakers installed inside bird boxes placed around a beautifully tended garden.

Visitors can download a digital memento containing the song, the name of the person being remembered, and a copy of an exquisite, hand-drawn ink and watercolour painting of the bird in question – the work of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) graduate Li Changan.

The “Memorial Birdsongs” project designed by Scott Hessels was inspired by the Aids Memorial Quilt. Photo: Enid Tsui

The sunny weather on its opening day was befitting of an event more celebratory than mournful.