With heightened attention and the pouring of resources from public and private sectors into fostering the arts and technology in Hong Kong, time is ripe to plot the road map to become a cultural metropolis both regionally and internationally. This symposium gathers leading scholars and practitioners from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to respond to these key prompts:
1.What defines a meaningful engagement between art and technology?
2.How can we effectively nurture talent from education into production?
3.What are the key elements of an impactful art-tech ecology in research institutions and beyond?
Format: Hybrid, live-streaming of zoom presentations from international speakers, with in-person local speakers, moderators, and audiences.
Entry Requirement: The event is free-of-charge and welcomes all. Priority will be given to practitioners and students related to Art & Tech industries.
Organizers: MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node, Zuni Icosahedron and Our Hong Kong Foundation
Supporting organizers: Hong Kong Baptist University, HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, Hong Kong Association of Theatre Technicians & Scenographers, MIT Club of Hong Kong, Vobile Group, and Department of Information Technology, IVE (Tuen Mun)
09:15 – 09:45 (GMT+8)
09:45 – 10:45 (GMT+8)
What is the new potential of narrative unleashed by the coverage of art and technology? In this panel, composer/clarinetist Evan Ziporyn and his team will dissect the interdisciplinary, interspecies art that his team developed with visiting artist Tomàs Saraceno on spider/webs.
Evan Ziporyn directs the Center for Art, Science & Technology at MIT, where he is Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Music. He has composed for and collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Brooklyn Rider, Maya Beiser, Ethel, Anna Sofie Von Otter, the American Composers Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Iva Bittova, Terry Riley, Don Byron, Wu Man, and Bang on a Can. In 2017, his arrangements were featured on Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s The Vietnam War, and on Silkroad’s Grammy-winning album Sing Me Home. He has conducted his orchestral reimagining of David Bowie’s final album, Blackstar, in Boston, Barcelona, New York Central Park Summerstage, Australia’s Adelaide Fringe Festival, Strathmore Hall, and numerous other national and international venues. He debuted Philip Glass’ long-lost Best Out of Three at this year’s Big Ears Festival; in November he’ll premiere a new collaboration with Terry Riley, Ki. Other recent works include music for Caveh Zahedi’s 365 Stories podcast, and the soundtrack to Matthew Ritchie’s film Color Confinement.
Ian Hattwick is an artist, researcher, and technology developer whose work focuses on the creation and use of digital systems for professional artistic performance. He is particularly interested in collaborative performance and the creation of multimodal hardware systems to explore and facilitate social and embodied interaction. He teaches music technology at MIT, directs FaMLE, the MIT Laptop Ensemble, and is CTO for Heather Interactive, a music experience design startup.
Christine Southworth (b. 1978) is a multimedia composer based in Lexington, Massachusetts, dedicated to creating art born from a cross-pollination of sonic and visual ideas. Inspired by intersections of technology and art, nature and machines, and musics from cultures around the world, her music employs sounds from man and nature, from Van de Graaff Generators to honeybees, Balinese gamelan to seismic data from volcanoes. Her works have been performed internationally by ensembles including Kronos Quartet, Calder Quartet, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Gamelan Galak Tika and Ensemble Robot, and her works have been featured in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, the OFF Festival in Katowice Poland, Paris’s Palais de Tokyo, to the Cre8 Summit in Shenzhen China and Wired Magazine’s NextFest. www.kotekan.com
Isabelle Su received her PhD in Structures and Materials from MIT in 2021. Her research aims to understand the interplay between silk material and structural mechanics of complex 3D spider webs and its role for completing their natural functions. She also used sonification, a visualization method through sound, as a novel method for visualizing the intricate architecture and mechanics of 3D spider webs. Isabelle previously received a Master’s degree in Building Engineering at ESTP as well as a M.Eng. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT in 2015. She is now a full-stack applications developer.
10:45 – 11:45 (GMT+8)
How are the newest technologies propelling research and enriching learning experiences? Apart from technical hardware, what is needed to empower academic work from conceptualization to implementation? This panel will share best practices from The MIT.nano Immersion Lab, an advanced facility that connects scientists, engineers, artists, and performers in research and creative production of immersive technologies – connecting the physical to the digital – visualizing data, virtualizing objects and spaces, developing new software and hardware concepts for immersive experiences, motion capture, and prototyping advanced tools for augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR).
Brian Anthony has over 25 years of commercial, research, and teaching experience in product realization and information enabled manufacturing. He has extensive experience in market driven technology innovation, product realization, and business entrepreneurship and commercialization at the intersection between information technology and advanced manufacturing. Dr. Anthony spent the first part of his career as an entrepreneur. He developed and directed the development of products and solutions for the industrial and scientific video markets. His products fueled corporate growth from startup to dominant market leader. He has been awarded 20 patents, published over 100 peer reviewed articles, and won an Emmy from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for in sports broadcast technical innovation.
Praneeth Namburi is a Research Scientist at the MIT.nano Immersion Lab and the Institute for Medical Engineering and Sciences at MIT working on movement research and education. He received a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He got his Ph.D. in experimental neuroscience from MIT studying neural circuit mechanisms for dissociating positive and negative associative memories. Namburi’s current research is focused on the biomechanics of efficient, stable, and coordinated movement. He draws inspiration from artists and athletes in specialized movement disciplines such as dancing and fencing to investigate skilled movement.
Talis Reks is the VR/AR/Gaming/Big Data Technologist at MIT.nano’s Immersion Lab. Talis graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a focus in Neuroscience from Northeastern University. Talis started working in the virtual and immersive technology space during his time at Pfizer Inc where he worked within the Optical Microscopy Core exploring ways of using VR and AR for scientific research and development. After Pfizer, he became the Operations Manager and Lead Service Technician for the world’s largest Virtual Reality Arena, MindTrek VR, where he brought VR gaming to the masses and built the facilities own ESports Arena for competitive e-sport game play. Before his role at MIT, Talis also spent time at Harvard Universities’ School of Public Health where he led a variety of VR/AR projects involving scientific computing, data analysis, and interactive game development.
11:50 – 12:30 (GMT+8)
MIT established the Hong Kong Innovation Node in 2016 to bring Hong Kong to MIT and MIT to Hong Kong. The MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node carries out numerous smart city activities to boost the Inclusivity, Innovation and Growth of Hong Kong communities. These activities have been facilitating the capabilities of MIT students, faculty, researchers, and alumni, as well as their collaboration with Hong Kong local communities. In 2019, MIT Node has put together a participatory template for the yearlong activity that put diversified stakeholders to work together for the first time– the Kowloon East Inclusive Innovation and Growth Project. Through active engagement, the project provides a platform for communication and collaboration among stakeholders for a common goal – a smart city which is highly inclusive, adaptive, flexible, resilient and with equal opportunity – a better city.
Sunnie S.Y. Lau graduated with a B.A in Architecture from University of California, Berkeley; and later on, obtained her Master of Architecture, and Certificate in Urban Design from M.I.T. Sunnie believes that human-centric design promotes inclusive communities with innovative sustainable design strategies and urban designers & architects play important roles within the built environment. By taking up the roles of both practitioner and educator, she has been focuses on topic such as smart city – Inclusive innovation for communities, urban design and technology, urban mobility and smart infrastructure etc. Sunnie has a strong interest in bridging the gap between creative and innovative sustainable design strategies into the design industry and underprivileged communities. The endeavors included publicizing ongoing research topic on Kowloon East Inclusive Innovation & Growth in 2020; design seminars & design thinking workshops for university & secondary students; facilitating dialogue between professionals, academia and young members at various cross disciplinary platforms and institutions.
14:30 – 15:30 (GMT+8)
In what Bruno Latour coined the New Climatic Regime, new lexicon and representations are direly needed to contextualize and comprehend the unprecedented challenges brought by changing climatic conditions. With a great passion for emerging media and technology such as gaming, AR, and machine learning, Urbonas Studio has been interrogating the idea of “swamp” as a rich source of symbiotic relationships that propel co-existence of varied living forms as co-creation. In this panel, Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas will shed light on their Swamp Observatory project, and their latest AR storytelling project collaborated with Baltic Art Center and Public Art Agency in Sweden, to demonstrate how their complex participatory artworks investigate urban environments, in addition to cultural and technological spheres.
Founded by Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas (artists and educators, born in Lithuania) Urbonas Studio is an interdisciplinary research practice that facilitates exchange amongst diverse nodes of knowledge production and artistic practice in pursuit of projects that transform civic spaces and collective imaginaries. In collaboration with experts from different cultural and professional fields Urbonas Studio develops practice-based research models merging a variety of materials and techniques from new media, urbanism, social science, pedagogy and ecology.
Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas have exhibited internationally including the Venice, San Paulo, Berlin, Moscow, Lyon, Busan, Gwangju, Taipei Biennales and Manifesta and Documenta exhibitions among numerous other international shows, including a solo shows at the Venice Biennale and MACBA in Barcelona. Their work was awarded a number of high level grants and awards, including the Lithuanian National Prize (2007); a Prize for the Best International Artist at the Gwangju Biennale (2006) and the Honorable mention for the best national pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2007). They were nominated for the Nam June Paik Award in 2012.In 2018 Urbonas curated the Swamp School – Lithuanian participation at 16th Venice Architecture Biennale. Their book Swamps and the New Imagination. On the Future of Cohabitation in Art, Architecture and Philosophy (edited by Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas and Kristupas Sabolius) is published by Sternberg Press and distributed by MIT Press in 2022.
15:30 – 16:30 (GMT+8)
In this panel, local leaders and practitioners will discuss technology, research, and industry applications related to art tech in Hong Kong. This conversation hopes to offer strategic and tactical insights into Hong Kong’s future development of becoming a regional hub for art-tech research, innovation, and talent development.
Helen So leads the Arts Innovation team in policy research and advocacy at Our Hong Kong Foundation, the largest public policy thinktank in Hong Kong. Her team’s policy recommendation proposal on the topic of Arts Tech was Hong Kong’s first-of-the-kind to actively call to action the arts and technology sectors to work together. Helen’s public service includes various advisory roles appointed by the Hong Kong Government: she currently serves as Member of the Advisory Committee on Arts Development, and Member of the Museum Advisory Committee. She is also Director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum Board under the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority. Ms So holds a Master of Studies (MSt) in Musicology & Ethnomusicology at St. Catherine’s College, University of Oxford. She is a cellist and continues to perform today.
Dr Joshua Abrams is Deputy Director (Academic) at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. With degrees in Theatre, Performance studies, and Management Science, his academic career spans a range of areas and countries. He is an active researcher across disciplines and interdisciplinary intersections, as well as having supervised over 10 doctoral projects.
Dr Abrams has served in a range of disciplinary leadership roles, most recently President (2019-2021) of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). Previously, he served as Conference Co-Organiser for the American Society for Theatre Research’s 2016 conference and was elected as Vice President for Conference for ATHE, 2010-2011. He Chaired ATHE’s Performance Studies Focus Group and co-founded the annual ATHE Performance Studies Focus Group Preconference in 2003.
He is a member of the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Peer Review College, a Senior Fellow of Advance HE and a reviewer for QAA. He currently sits on the Editorial Boards of four journals, reviewing submissions for a range of presses and journals and is regularly invited to speak globally across theatre and performance, food studies and higher education policy, giving keynotes at events as wide-ranging as the Performance Studies international conference and the Culinary Institute of America.
Professor Johnny Poon is the Associate Vice-President (Interdisciplinary Research) at Hong Kong Baptist University. He oversees the establishment and development of three research clusters and six interdisciplinary research laboratories at the university. Professor Johnny Poon is also the Dr. Hung Hin Shiu Endowed Professor in Music and Founding Dean of the School of Creative Arts. In his own research, he leads projects that stand at the forefront of the arts and science nexus. He is currently the deputy project coordinator of a 5-year research project, “Building Platform Technologies for Symbiotic Creativity in Hong Kong”, funded by the Research Grants Council ($52.84M HKD) under the Theme-based Research Scheme. This project intends to harness the power of science and technology to radically advance human and AI interaction in the arts. He is the music director and co-founder of the Turing AI Orchestra – the world’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) ensemble.
Currently the Chief Manager (Performance Venues Management and Planning) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Ms Rebecca YU oversees policy formulation and management in respect of the East Kowloon Cultural Centre and other seven performance venues in the New Territories. She is also responsible for the planning of new performance venues under the LCSD.
Yangbin Wang is the founder of Vobile Group. He earned a BS degree from Zhejiang University in 1991 and an MSEE degree from the University of Florida in 1993. He is a senior technical expert, specialized in network audio and video, integrated media big data and artificial intelligence identification and other related fields for years. He is also a world-renowned business leader in the fields of film and television culture industry and digital rights management and distribution. The business model and technology application advocated by him lead transformation of video distribution and content protection in the digital economy era. In 2017, Vobile was honored as a winner of the 69th annual Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards for its innovation excellence in developing video identification technology to protect content value and copyright. Wang is the Director of Global Digital Culture Industry Research Centre of the Media and International Culture College of Zhejiang University ，the Director of the Research Center on the Application of Integrated Media Big Data Technology of the Huanan Industrial Technology Research Institute of Zhejiang University. He is the Vice Chairman of the Science and Innovation Committee of the General Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs and the Vice President of Zhejiang University (Hong Kong) Alumni Association.
Sunnie S.Y. Lau graduated with a B.A in Architecture from University of California, Berkeley; and later on, obtained her Master of Architecture, and Certificate in Urban Design from M.I.T. Sunnie believes that human-centric design promotes inclusive communities with innovative sustainable design strategies and urban designers & architects play important roles within the built environment. By taking up the roles of both practitioner and educator, she has been focuses on topic such as smart city – Inclusive innovation for communities, urban design and technology, urban mobility and smart infrastructure etc. Sunnie has a strong interest in bridging the gap between creative and innovative sustainable design strategies into the design industry and underprivileged communities. The endeavors included publicizing ongoing research topic on Kowloon East Inclusive Innovation & Growth in 2020; design seminars & design thinking workshops for university & secondary students; facilitating dialogue between professionals, academia and young members at various cross disciplinary platforms and institutions.
16:30 – 17:00 (GMT+8)
Charleston worked in Canada, Silicon Valley, and Greater China for 25 years, holding executive positions in System Engineering, Product Management, and Sales & Marketing at VMware, Cisco Systems and Nortel Networks. He has strong interest in emerging technology and key market transition trends, such as Internet/Web, Cloud Computing, Mobility, IOT, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and new business models. Currently, he is a Member of the Board of Director, Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company. From 2011 to 2017, he was appointed by the Hong Kong SAR Government as Member of Digital 21 Strategy Advisory Committee. Charleston studied Management of Technology at the University of Waterloo in Canada where he received his PhD in Management Sciences in 1997. He also completed a Master degree in Investment Management at the HKUST in 2005.
Mathias Woo is a pioneer in cross-boundary and multi-media theatre who studied architecture; he is a scriptwriter, director, designer, producer, art educationist, cultural policy critic as well as curator with a portfolio of more than seventy original theatre works, which have been invited to over twenty cities around the globe and major cities China. Since 2017, Woo curated and designed the Z Innovation Lab that focused on integrating the latest stage technology and innovative ideas. In 2020, Z Innovation Lab 2019 garnered the Red Dot Award under Brand & Communication Design Section.
11:00 – 12:45 (GMT+8)
Representatives from d&b audiotechnik, the world leading audio design and system building company, will introduce their education programmes, including workshops, seminars, and webinars, as well as how d&b provide education support to organizations and academics. The session will also introduce the Soundscape Production Engineer Certification (SPEC) programme, the first-ever official certification programme for pro-audio engineers using d&b Soundscape technology in Hong Kong. They will also share their insights on education for sound future and sustainability.
Joined d&b over 5 years, he is one of the Soundscape system pioneer team in Greater China who involved immersive system establishment like Zuni Icosahedron’s performances, The Originals, Symphony under the Stars, London Philharmonic Orchestra concert screening; and Soundscape installations in Yuen Long Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, University of Science & Technology, etc. He has also participated in other large scale projects for Hong Kong and Taiwan market including: Jockey Club Auditorium of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Yuan Kuang Buddhist College and Kaohsiung Music Centre.
Worked on audio system design and installation, system tuning and testing and product after-sales services in an engineering company. Participated in projects including large scale theatres: Jockey Club Auditorium of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Hong Kong City Hall, Tsuen Wan Town Hall, Studio Theatre of Hong Kong Cultural Centre; Audio system design of entertainment venues, bars, schools in Hong Kong and mainland China. Also dedicate in live audio mixing.
14:00 – 15:30 (GMT+8)
This session features three MIT alumni from Hong Kong, all of which have actively practiced in multidisciplinary fields spanning art, architecture, computation, technology, and education in the region after completing their graduate studies in MIT within the last decade. Drawn from their first-person experiences in both regions, this panel hopes to offer creative insights towards developing art-tech projects and career.
Sunnie S.Y. Lau graduated with a B.A in Architecture from University of California, Berkeley; and later on, obtained her Master of Architecture, and Certificate in Urban Design from M.I.T. Sunnie believes that human-centric design promotes inclusive communities with innovative sustainable design strategies and urban designers & architects play important roles within the built environment. By taking up the roles of both practitioner and educator, she has been focuses on topic such as smart city – Inclusive innovation for communities, urban design and technology, urban mobility and smart infrastructure etc. Sunnie has a strong interest in bridging the gap between creative and innovative sustainable design strategies into the design industry and underprivileged communities. The endeavors included publicizing ongoing research topic on Kowloon East Inclusive Innovation & Growth in 2020; design seminars & design thinking workshops for university & secondary students; facilitating dialogue between professionals, academia and young members at various cross disciplinary platforms and institutions.
Alan Kwan is an artist, game designer, and technologist. He holds a MSc. in Art, Culture and Technology from MIT. His projects, which include experimental video games, VR experiences, interactive installations, flying machines, etc. were presented at venues including Ars Electronica Center (Austria), International Bauhaus Colloquium (Germany), ZKM Centre for Art and Media (Germany), and Museum of Contemporary Art (Shanghai). He was awarded the first prize of the MIT Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Prize, Honorary Mention Award at Prix Ars Electronica in Austria, Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Award for Young Artist (Media Art). One of his experimental videogames has also been acquired by the M+ Museum into its permanent art collection. Currently, he is also part of the faculty at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts where he teaches and develops research projects that focus on the intersection between immersive technologies, virtual worlds, and performing arts.
Kwan Queenie Li’s practice coalesces lens-based media, installation, performance, and writing, in the exploration of performativity and techcnopolitics within interdisciplinary contexts. Queenie holds a BFA from Oxford University, and a SM in Art, Culture, and Technology from MIT. Queenie is the recipient of awards including a thesis prize – the Stuart Morgan Prize for Art History (Oxon.), the Enterprise Poets Prize, and the Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Prize (both MIT). Her work has been supported and exhibited internationally, including at Thresholds Journal Vol.50 (MIT Press, 2022), Venice Architecture Biennale (HK Pavilion, 2021), Art Machines 2 (HK, 2021), Ars Electronica RIXC Garden (LV, 2021), IdeasCity by the NTU CCA and the New Museum (SG/US, 2020), Design Trust (HK, 2019), and more. She received a graduate teaching fellowship at MIT between 2020 and 2022, and has taught at the Master of Arts in Creative Communications programme at HKU since fall 2022.