Foreign Helpers: Domestic Labor and the Spatial Infrastructure of Hong Kong

Abstract

This article revisits Foreign Helpers, a 2015 Hong Kong installation about migrant domestic labour and the city's dependence on it. Four projectors, four audio channels and infrared tracking respond to a handheld screen through which visitors explore city footage and workers' recorded accounts. The article analyses how bodily effort and audiovisual navigation shape the encounter, without claiming that visitors experienced the represented labour or that the work measured their understanding.