Context:
Arts Electronica 2020 is being crystalized as an experimental, de-centralized global affair, in response to the contingencies arising from the Covid-19 pandemic. Envisioning a journey toward measuring the ‘new’ world being realized today, this year’s festival extends beyond the customary venue in Linz, Austria, by opening up to additional 120 locations around the world under the theme Kepler’s Gardens.(https://ars.electronica.art/keplersgardens/en/)
For the Ars Electronica Garden Hong Kong segment, which is one of the largest ‘Kepler’s garden’ projects around the world, we feature programs that are made specifically for the event as well as showcasing various creative forays taken up by the host institution, School of Creative Media at City University Hong Kong. The event will take place mostly online, from Wednesday 9th to Sunday 13th September 2020.
Curatorial Concept:
Hong Kong Garden – City in Fusion
Hong Kong stands at a particularly critical juncture today, poised upon ever-shifting tectonic activities effectuated by historical, socio-cultural, political and economic factors that are unfolding in the present tense. Such dynamism and volatility impel a sense of urgency, to nurture a multifarious array of creative engagements toward engendering meaningful reflections, which can then become a means to intuit, navigate and influence the future as it emerges into reality.
It is in this tumultuous and indeterminate flux of things that both potency and dangers lurk, and thus artists and faculty at SCM strive to draw new perspectives emerging from the intersections of life, art, science and technology to better understand our time and its wanderings. The Kepler’s Garden in Hong Kong includes eight programs wherein which the artworks, exhibitions, interviews, a workshop, and a seminar we put together in this framework can be seen as magnifying glasses, distorting mirrors, or time telescopes, that are geared toward re-thinking the World we find ourselves in.
PROGRAM
PRESS KIT & PROGRAM IN A GLACE All the programs are available for viewing on this website.
LIVE SESSIONS
Director: Maurice BENAYOUN and Refik ANADOL
Project manager: Moben and Analog Native
Contributors: partners of the MindSpaces EU research project and the MindSpaces HK project
HK Production: Charlie YIP, ZHANG Tianyi, Tony, CHAN Hin Chung, Sam, LEUNG Kin Lok, Tim, NeuroDesign Lab, ACIM, SCM, CityU HK
Location: Los Angeles, Hong Kong
Lecture by Maurice BENAYOUN
Coordinator: Ann MAK
Production: Charlie YIP, NeuroDesign Lab, ACIM, SCM, CityU HK
Venue: NeuroDesign lab, SCM, CityU HK
Host: osagė@osage
Moderator: Maurice BENAYOUN
Coordinator: Ann MAK, Lisa PARK SoYoung
Production: Osage Art Foundation, NeuroDesign Lab, ACIM, SCM, CityU HK
Production Team:
Charlie YIP, ZHANG Tianyi, Tony, CHAN Hin Chung, Sam, LEUNG Kin Lok, Tim, NeuroDesign Lab, ACIM, SCM, CityU HK
Venue: Osage Gallery Hong Kong
ARTWORKS PREMIERE
Director: Maurice BENAYOUN
Curators: Jeffrey SHAW, Richard W. ALLEN
Cast: Natis Le RENARD
Project Manager: Ann MAK
Production Team: Sam CHAN, Charlie YIP, Eleanor BENAYOUN
Virtual Reality experience design: Sam CHAN
360 video shooting, editing and special effects: Eleanor BENAYOUN, Charlie YIP
Technical Team: ZHANG Tianyi, Tony, LEUNG Kin Lok, Tim
Production: NeuroDesign Lab, ACIM, SCM, CityU HK
Location: Hong Kong
By Refik ANADOL and MoBen
MindSpaces, Analog Native / CityU HK, SCM, Neuro Design Lab
Generative Streaming Performance
Director: Maurice BENAYOUN and Refik ANADOL
Project manager: Moben and Analog Native
Contributors: partners of the MindSpaces EU research project and the MindSpaces HK project
HK Production: Charlie YIP, ZHANG Tianyi, Tony, CHAN Hin Chung, Sam, LEUNG Kin Lok, Tim, NeuroDesign Lab, ACIM, SCM, CityU HK
Location: Los Angeles, Hong Kong
SYMPOSIUM
Speakers:
Maurice BENAYOUN, MoBen
Haseeb AHMED
Alexia BRIASSOULI
Luis FRAGUADA
Nefeli GEORGAKOPOULOU
Emanuel GOLLOB
Tyson HOSMER
Alejandro MARTÍN
Dr Anastasios TELLIOS
Dr Despoina ZAVARAKA
Moderator: Maurice BENAYOUN / CityU HK
Coordinator: Ann MAK
Contributors: partners of the MindSpaces EU research project and the MindSpaces HK project
Production: Charlie YIP, NeuroDesign Lab, ACIM, CityU HK
WORKSHOP
By Maurice BENAYOUN & Tobias KLEIN
Chair and moderator: Maurice BENAYOUN
co-Moderator: Tobias KLEIN
Organiser: Ann MAK
Production: Charlie YIP, ZHANG Tianyi, Tony, CHAN Hin Chung, Sam, LEUNG Kin Lok, Tim, NeuroDesign Lab, ACIM, SCM, CityU HK
Venue: NeuroDesign lab, SCM, CityU HK
EXHIBITIONS & ARTWORKS DOCUMENTATION
- Solo Exhibitions
- Collective Curated Exhibitions
- Artwork & Documentation
- Tomas LAURENZO: Smile
- PerMagnus LINDBORG: LW24
- Daniel HOWE: Veridical Fakes
Curator & Director: Maurice BENAYOUN
Coordinator: Ann MAK
Production: Charlie YIP, NeuroDesign Lab, ACIM, CityU HK
ART SURVIVAL PRACTICES
Chair: Maurice BENAYOUN
Project Director: Ann MAK
Production Team: Ringo TANG, Moon TANG, Charlie YIP, TSUI On Ho, Cathy DIU, Lik WONG
Production: agogofilm, NeuroDesign Lab, ACIM, SCM, CityU HK
Photography: Ringo TANG
- Neuro-Design Lab – Prof. Maurice BENAYOUN
- XRL – Dr. Chris SANDOR & Alvaro CASSINELLI
- The Material Lab – Dr. Tobias KLEIN
- Perceptron Lab – Dr. Hector RODRIGUEZ
- Multimodal Embodied Human-Computer Interface Research Group – meHCI – Dr. Kening ZHU
- Robotic Lab – Dr. LAM Miu Ling
Advisor: Richard William ALLEN
Shooting Director: Alex NGAN
Project Manager: Ann MAK
Logistics: Malina SIU
Production Team: Malina SIU, Charlie YIP, NeuroDesign Lab, ACIM, SCM, CityU HK
SCM, CityU HK
City University of Hong Kong’s School of Creative Media (SCM, CityU HK) is recognized to be an international centre for discovery and innovation in Asia. Here creativity is nurtured as a cornerstone of Hong Kong’s social and economic advancement in the 21st Century. Our teaching and research facilities are housed in a stunning, one-of-a-kind, building designed by the world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind. The School of Creative Media has gathered an impressive, internationally renowned, faculty of digital media artists, thinkers, and innovators, working in the fields of animation, sound design, gaming, software development, physical computing, film, digital media art, and media theory. www.scm.cityu.edu.hk
ARS ELECTRONICA
Ars ElectronicaFestivalis a major New Media Art festival that was inaugurated in 1979. Renownedfor its prestigious Prix Ars Electronica that is conferred annually, it is a pivotal entity that leads the field in the arena of electronicart.Based inthe city of Linz, Austria, it is operated from a cultural, educational and scientific institutethat is dedicated to interlinkages between art, technology and society, that is realized through various engagements including research and development in multidisciplinary media arts at its Futurelab,as well as its festivals.
Acknowledgements:
School of Creative Media / City University of Hong Kong
Program Chair: Prof. Maurice BENAYOUN
Curatorial Management: Ann MAK
Production: Charlie YIP, NeuroDesign Lab, ACIM, SCM, CityU HK
Production Assistant: Eleanor BENAYOUN
Editor-in-chief: Lisa PARK SoYoung
Thanks to all artists and researchers who contributed (names on related programs)
and especially:
Prof Richard W. ALLEN, Dean of the School of Creative Media
Prof. Jeffrey SHAW, Head of ACIM
The project is made possible thanks to the support of:
MindSpaces, S+T+Arts, Horizon2020, MindSpaces HK
The University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong
Indra and Harry Banga Gallery of City University of Hong Kong