Microwave International New Media Arts Festival 2010
Two years ago Curator Joel Kwong noticed something strange on the MTR. The train was completely silent. Gazing around, every face she saw was glued to a screen -- NDS, PSP, iPod or mobile phone.
"I realized people stopped talking because of these gadgets. On the MTR, buses, taxis and even the streets, there are so many screens invading our space."
The experience stuck in Kwong’s mind spawning this year's theme for the Microwave International New Media Arts Festival: Screenarcadia.
Breathing new life into the local art scene, this thoughtfully curated festival explores our obsession with screens. Now in its 14th year of existence, Microwave is devoted to bringing cutting-edge new media art -- video, interactive installations, bio art and technology-based work -- to Hong Kong.
Over the span of 10 days, Microwave will convert the drab City Hall into a sensory playground of screens, sounds and sprawling installations. Several big name artists from South Korea, Sweden, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom and the United States will be flying in for the occasion. Here are some of the must-see exhibitions, artworks, performances and lectures on show.
Exhibition highlights
Not to be missed is New York-based filmmaker and artist Geoffrey Alan Rhodes's installation "52 Card Cinema: '52 Card Psycho' & 'ARambo'."
In a surreal technological feat, Rhodes renders film footage onto a stack of playing cards. Using augmented reality, 52 cards come alive with stills from the iconic shower scene of Alfred Hitchcock’s film "Psycho."
What looks like mini flatscreen TVs with quivering video footage are cards that can be stacked, dealt and shuffled like a regular deck.
“Faces and body parts writhe in unison, seamlessly looping scream after scream as the images patiently wait to be re-articulated by a simple hand shuffle or shift,” the artist explains.
By fragmenting this classic horror scene, viewers are given the chance to re-imagine cinema. Rhodes will also host a workshop revealing the techniques used to create 52-card installation. He invites participants to bring in video clips to learn how to create their own cinema mash-ups.
Talk: 27 November 2010, 5-7:30 p.m. Location: Exhibition Hall, Low Block, Hong Kong City Hall
In this work, Sengmüller imagines what it would be like if we didn’t have television or the technology to transmit moving images electronically. He creates his own machine that is ridiculously inefficient yet fully functional.
Using about 2,500 copper wires, he connects a large grid that serves as the "camera" to another large grid consisting of several small light bulbs that functions as the "monitor." Wire by wire, the sculpture transmits pixels one at a time from camera to monitor. The delicate mass of entangled wires is a stunning installation.
Viewers can stand in front of "camera" side of the installation and their shadows and movements are transmitted through the wires to appear on the "monitor" side. It is a sensual display that makes transparent the inner workings of a device so integral to our society.
At Exhibition Hall, Low Block, Hong Kong City Hall, Central
Invisible cinema
Some participants broke out into dance, some merely stood smiling, while others tilted their heads back gazing at the sky.
It was difficult to distinguish between performers and regular passers-by.
The mob was listening to an MP3 created by artist Duncan Speakman and composer Sarah Anderson. This was the first of many "subtle mob" performances Speakman organized in the streets of Tokyo, Ghent, Sydney, Seoul, Los Angeles and Sao Paulo, and other cities.
To create what he calls a subtle mob, Speakman invites people to sign up on his website. Hours before the performance, he discloses the secret location and sends an MP3 to participants. His only instructions are to arrive on time with a partner (a friend, a lover, or just someone you want to get to know better) and to try to remain invisible.
The artist created this work when he learned his brother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer. He wanted to celebrate fleeting moments in life and inspire people to see the world with new eyes.
Speakman explains, “Imagine walking through a film, but it’s happening on the streets you live in. This is about trying to make films without cameras. It’s about integrating with a social or physical space, not taking it over.”
Speakman spent hours roaming the streets of Hong Kong to find the perfect location for his next subtle mob (December 4). He settled on a secret spot in the Tusen Wan area.
The day after the mob gathering/performance, the artist and composer will also be hosting a talk discussing how they orchestrate these performances, “as if it were the last time.”
Subtle Mob Performance on December 4, 6:30-7 p.m. at a secret location in Tsuen Wan. Register at www.subtlemob.com. Talk by Duncan Speakman and Sarah Anderson 5 December, 5–6 p.m. Exhibition Hall, Low Block, Hong Kong City Hall, Central
Audiovisual remix
As Barak Obama took to the podium for the presidential debate in 2008, three media artists named Sosolimited also took to a stage. Clad in suits and sunglasses the trio devised complex software to remix and tear apart the debates -- in real time.
As Obama and Senator John McCain spoke, Sosolimited aired their own live broadcast fundamentally altering the content of the debate. Using complex graphics, the artists distorted the senators’ voices; cheekily highlighted the number of times they used words like "right," "tax" and "Afghanistan" amongst various other antics.
Sosolimited are among the biggest names participating in this year’s festival. Curator Kwong says, "I first saw Sosolimited at the Transmediale festival in Berlin which is like the Oscars for new media art."
Flying in especially for Microwave, the trio will be doing a hybrid lecture and performance adding a twist to the festival’s Keynote Conference. Not only will they reveal how they manipulate videos in real time but they will also do a live performance. Turning the camera onto the keynote speakers, they will simultaneously remix their lectures and rebroadcast them to the audience.
To be held at 3–4 p.m., December 5 at Lecture Hall, Hong Kong Science Museum, Tsim Sha Tsui East
Hacking public space
An experimental offshoot of Microwave’s Main Exhibition, the Project Room gives young local artists a chance to showcase their work. This year’s Project Room is inspired by an exhibition in Ghent, Belgium about hacking into public spaces through performances and guerrilla-like acts. The show features video footage and photographs documenting artists’ interventions in the city.
Microwave invited the Vooruit Arts Centre and SMAK museum for contemporary art in Ghent to bring this exhibition to Hong Kong. Creating a dialog, six local artists will do an echo installation to react to the artists from Belgium.
"Hong Kong is so small, a lot of artists don't have space to create artworks. To deliver their message to the public, they are being forced to go out to the street and perform," Kwong explains.
Each local artist will show videos or photographs documenting their previous acts of hacking into Hong Kong’s public space. The artists will also have a 1.5 x 1.5 square meter block island to display artwork or do an intervention into the venue.
Meanwhile the Belgian contingent will bring 30 artworks including videos and photographs. They will also install three television screens into the space. Together the show forms a timeline of sorts looking at how artists use various media over time and the journey from camera to super 8 to mobile phone.
Microwave International New Media Arts Festival: Screenarcadia. November 26 to December 12, 2010 www.microwavefest.net
