(7 May 2013, Hong Kong) As one of Hong Kong’s most dynamic incubating art platform, K11 Art Foundation is at the forefront of supporting and promoting the growth of this experimental art form. By leading the way and staging exciting exhibitions and event at K11 Art Mall, the Foundation aims to create opportunities for budding artists in this field to interact and collaborate, while fostering curiosity and further awareness among the public. This season, K11 brings two spectacular new media exhibitions – The Innovationists in Hong Kong and Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Money in Shanghai.
Hong Kong’s K11 Art Mall, from 22 May to 2 July 2013, will explore the realms of new media arts with The Innovationists, featuring cutting edge multimedia, interactive art works by renowned artists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and the United States whose works challenge and question the way we look at art and its relation to people and space. Over at Shanghai, the newly opened K11 Art Mall plays host to Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Money celebrating the 26 art pieces – half of which are commissioned works – by 28 Chinese and international artists from 25 May to 28 July 2013. The exhibition seeks a more intimate interpretation of how different fields, cultures and media can co-exist, and how technology, science and aesthetics can better integrate with concurrent social processes. The exhibition has attracted top-tier artists both at home and abroad, including award-winning visual artist Liu Zhenchen, Dutch installation artist Marnix de Nijs, and Ryoji Ikeda, one of the most important micro electro-acoustic artists, who will premiere a live waterfall performance in the mall.
The Innovationists at K11 Art Mall, Hong Kong – 22 May to 2 July 2013
The Innovationists opens up a multi-faceted discussion about our lives and the environment that surrounds us. Non-conforming to traditional museum pieces, the works and installations showcased here come to life only through dialogues and interactions between the space, the media and the public. Rebellious and revolutionary, The Innovationists challenges the way we look at art and how art reveals itself; it questions how different media can intervene and examine the partiality between art and its space, between art and the record of art. Totally diverse in terms of content, the exhibition interweaves different topics against different forms of exhibition with both artists and audiences playing different roles. Once this Pandora’s Box is opened, all the wonders and magic will be revealed.
Scott Hessels (United States)
Scott Hessels creates across a diverse range of media from film, video to music and the Internet. Specializing in mixing image elements into technological devices to create new forms of viewing experience, Scott has shown his works at New York City’s MoMA , Austria’s Art Electronica as well as Japan’s New Media Art Festival.
Combining industrial design with animation principal in the Sustainable Cinema series, Praxinoscope Windmill merges windmill kinetics with 19th Century Praxinoscope mechanism to create moving images controlled by wind speed and direction, whereas Dual Windmill rotates two disks in opposite directions to create optical illusion between two fans’ intersections.
Akibo Lee (Taiwan)
Specializing in digital art creation, Akibo Lee created a series of robots in recent years and has since extended the life of his artistic creations to the realms of commerce, public as well as performance arts. Steeped in futurism, local flavours and aesthetic complexity, his works embody a distinct personal style and are widely exhibited in Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, New York and more.
Chris Honhim Cheung + XEX GRP (Hong Kong)
Interactive new media is Chris Honhim Cheung’s main focus in art. In 2007, Chris founded XEX GRP, a five-member creative ensemble with a pool of diverse skills set including film, music, performance, advertising and animation. The works of XEX GRP have been widely exhibited in Italy, Russia, Japan, Taiwan and many other places.
An inverted triangular structure, Anadelta is an interactive instrument which uses sensors to transform human touches into endless combinations of music, sound and light. The interactive mechanism not only aspires to the noble ideal of sharing, it gives everybody a chance to experience what it’s like to be an artist or a performer.
Dimension+ (Hong Kong / Taiwan)
Founded by Escher Tsai (Taiwan) and Keith Lam (Hong Kong) in 2009, Dimension+ specializes in new media-embedded space and cross-discipline interactive design. Based in Taiwan, Escher is an experienced curator in this experimental art form and a creative media lecturer. Keith is from Hong Kong and has strong background in computer science and animation. He too is a lecturer and teaches at City University's School of Creative Media.
Vertebra Series is a set of three groups of work. In this series, alternative life forms have been created according to the concepts of “bionic-archaeology”, which leads the audience back to the starting point of the development of life. The pieces are made from industrial plastic components, which are shaped to resemble either in the forms of leaf or feather, and then assembled to mold into spine structures of unknown creatures which are a kind of hybrid with animal backbones and the explicit features of plants. They combine the features of flexibility and strength, with stable structure and various physical forms, which convey a sense of rational order, cadence of perception and of all-rounded beauty.
Eric Siu (Hong Kong / Japan)
Educated in media arts in the United States, Eric has a broad interest in device, interaction, installation, video and animation. His recent works combine designed objects and human interactive experiments to further explore media art’s potential. His works have been shown in major exhibitions and art festivals around the world, including FILE, Transmediale, EMAF, WRO and SIGGRAPH Asia.
Touchy is a wearable device. Through the real-time interaction between the audience and the work/the artist, it casts light on contemporary cultural phenomena and social issues. The piece was inspired by the artist’s observation and exploration of the otaku culture in Japan. Through the mechanism of the interactive performance, it attempts to encourage people to have physical contact with and communicate with others through the device. This piece begins with the transformation of a person into a human camera, but the emphasis is very much on its interactive nature – the “machine” and the audience must first “look at each other” in order to take a picture. This echoes the norms that interaction could only take place when real contact with each other occurs. Through human interaction, it recalls the delighted memory of our in-born body and mind synchronization.
COGOO × SEMITRANSPARENT DESIGN × TBWA \ HAKUHODO (Japan)
The collaboration by “bicycle sharing service unit” COGOO, digital multimedia design collective SEMITRANSPARENT DESIGN and an international advertising agency TBWA \ HAKUHODO is all about sharing, challenging society norms and spotlighting global environmental issues via new-media art social projects.
Turntable Rider is a DJ and BMX rider unit combined as one as the music synthesizer reacts to every move – turns, brakes and spins – of the rider, transforming the youngsters-only street sports talent show into an improvised music performance enjoyed by all.
Samson Young (Hong Kong)
Composer, sound artist and media artist Samson Young was trained in composition at Princeton University under computer music pioneer Paul Lansky. He received the inaugural Bloomberg Emerging Artist award in 2007 and was named the best media artist of the year by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2013. Samson is currently an assistant professor at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, as well as the artistic director of experimental sound advocacy Contemporary Musiking.
The Machines for Making Nothing is a series of small electronic objects that provide no actual function but non-stop positive feedbacks. From simple vibration to a replay of hypnotic images or self-muttering sound, these seductive interactive tricks examine modern people’s dependence on tapping little machines as well as their infatuation with smart phones and staying sociable.
Alongside the works by the above artists, The Innovationists will also present workshops, performance and artist talk for the public to make and interact with new media arts as well as to get insights from the artists.
Touchy Workshop
Instructor: Eric Siu
Date: 25 May 2013
Venue: K11 Art Space (L107)
Ever thought of transforming into a human camera? Artist Eric Siu will share his creative process in making Touchy and guide participants to make their own Touchy prototype with cardboard. They will also be shown the mechanisms involved and learn how to make their own sensor. Participants can also wear the Touchy camera and become Touchy themselves.
Touchy Performance
Artist: Eric Siu
Date: 25 May 2013
Venue: K11 Atrium (G/F)
Touchy will wander about the art mall, awaiting interaction with passers-by. He holds the Touchy bulb that plays an audio instruction to provide guidance and attract bystanders. A potential Toucha (people touching Touchy) would grab the bulb and touch Touchy however they like to open Touchy’s shutters. Once the ice is broken, the Toucha can take Touch-snaps every 10 seconds of continuous touch. Once their collaboration is over, the Toucha leaves Touchy, and a new journey begins.
The Toucha will be informed of a website to download the Touch-snaps later on.
FoldMe Workshop
Instructor: Dimension+
Date: 8 June 2013
Time: 2pm-4pm
Venue: K11 Art Space (L107)
Contemporary origami has become a new way of stimulating creative ideas nowadays. Among its various applications, design, fashion, sculpture, architecture, biotechnology, interaction, engineering, and religion are some of the more profound fields that have been broadened.
Dimension+ tends to extend the possibility in exchanging technology / art ideology. FoldMe workshop introduces basic contemporary folding techniques, folding knowledge from Eastern culture and the concept of reflecting local cultural background.
In addition to The Innovationists’ exciting programme K11 also presents another new media workshop at K11 Art Space in May.
Undo Facebook Workshop
Instructor: Winnie Soon
Date: 18 May 2013
Time: 2pm-4pm
Venue: K11 Art Space (L107)
Conducted by Winnie Soon, Hong Kong-based artist and researcher in the area of network culture and data aesthetics whose project explores the performativity of networked data through computation art, the workshop will introduce an experimental project – Undo Facebook which aims to open up the politics of knowledge, allowing the participants to experience the process of knowledge production and circulation without authoritative control by institutions.
The first part of the workshop will showcase some of the marginalized knowledge and will explore how knowledge is being shaped through different agencies. The second part of the workshop will experience the possibility of changing the current Facebook interface, such as adding a dislike button or hiding the number of likes through experimenting various web browser add-ons. It stimulates the participants to rethink the process of knowledge creation and circulation.
Note: Participants will need to bring their own computer (Mac or Windows) with WIFI connection and Firefox browser installed.
For enrolment and enquiries of the workshops, please email k11art@k11concepts.com or call +852 3118 8070.
For enquiries, please contact K11’s Customer Service Hotline (852) 3118 8070, refer to the posters in K11 or visit K11’s official website: http://www.k11concepts.com.
The latest happenings at K11 Art Mall will also be publicised at K11 TV (www.K11TV.com).
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