manτεία (meaning prophecy or divination) is a new performance written and produced by MBow (Roberto Alonso Trillo and Peter Nelson) that examines how ancient practices of geomancy and divination relate to our desire to find meaning in AI. Apophenia is the human tendency to look for meaningful patterns in random patterns, from the shapes of clouds to the scratches in oracle bones, to the outputs of AI generators. As our cultures grapple with the rapid evolution of AI, manτεία returns us to the ancient quest to communicate with the transcendent, by looking for messages in clouds and melodies in noise. Premiering at Freespace West Kowloon on the 22nd of December 2024, manτεία uses a unique approach to artistic collaboration, where artists produce sculptures, compositions and virtual worlds that send signals to one another, linking them together into a chain of creation via a technical process known as "multimodal mapping". A giant mechanical sculpture will create an irregular heartbeat that drives a sculpture made of smoke. A costume provides a digital portal into another world, and an AI trained on classical texts of Chinese and European mythology tries to find meaning in these heartfelt gestures from young contemporary artists.

Ching Chu, Joseph Chan, Lazarus Chan Long Fung, Current.cam, Keung Hoi Ling, Vvzela Kook, Kin Lam, Peter A C Nelson, Samuel Swope, Roberto Alonso Trillo, Karen Yu, Davor Vincze

Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme

“Luminous Reverberations” is a visual spectacle and a multisensory journey that invites audiences to intimately engage with their surroundings.

Chen Yu-Jung, Lazarus Chan, Stephanie Castonguay

The hidden-manifest dichotomy is one of the most important dualistic concepts in Chinese martial arts. It encapsulates the totality of tactical combinations of feinting and striking, the opposition of lightness and solidity, which may materialise in space and time as different movement forms, whether as stances and footwork, techniques in attack and defence or, imperceptible to the eye, in how one distributes weight his / her weight or force as you grapple or bind your arms / weapon with those of your opponent’s. This dichotomy is also highly appropriate in the context of the exploration we make between what is real and what is virtual. “Transforming Lingnan Martial Arts as a Movement and Performing Art through Digital Pedagogy, Interpretation and Performance” organised by Institute of Chinese Martial Studies (ICMS), is financially supported by the Springboard Grant under the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme of Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau. “Lingnan Martial Arts Elite Training Program” (MAETP) is the core of this project, focused on training a group of young instructors, choreographers, and performers, who would integrate Chinese martial arts and performing arts into a new system for training, practice, and artistic creation. The participants will have a final performance “Hidden / Manifest” together with renowned celloist and percussionists to summarise the project by showing the synergies of martial arts, performing art and art tech. The performance also invited accomplished composers, choreographers and new media artists to create this original piece.

Alongside, the movements of Lingnan martial arts have been recorded by motion capture and extensively analysed. A new media installation showcase will be held at Singing Waves Gallery, L3, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre at the same time. We have designed a navigational interface through its interactive feature, the annotated animations generated are adapted to the Linear Navigator and allows the audience to explore the technical structure of the LMA system and its core principles therein. Also, with its four-metre-high and hemispherical design, iDome will showcase an excerpt from Act 2 of the Final Performance “Hidden / Manifest”, providing an immersive and visually stunning experience to the audience.

Act One – The Art & Science of Martial Arts

Concept and Director: Hing Chao

Choreographer: Ho Ho Fei

Composer: Mui Kwong Chiu

Shakuhachi Artist: Sunny Yeung

Artist: Sunny Yeung

Percussionists: Leung Ching Kit, Lo Hok Chun, Sylvia Tam

New Media Artist: Lazarus Chan

Performers: Kwan Ning Wai, Chow Man Hon, Lee Wai Kit, Ho Ho Fei*, Ong Tze Shen*, Liu Wai Yee*, Zhan Qian*, Ng Ka Ling*, Chou Jo Yun*, Huang Hai Yun*, Tai Chon U*, Lee Chia Ming*

Presented and Organised by Institute of Chinese Martial Studies

Financially supported by Springboard Grant under the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme, HKSAR Government

Sponsored by Jason James Magnus, Julius Group

Supporting Organisations: PaymentAsia, Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings Limited, Hong Kong Dance Company

Venue Support: School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong

Sound surrounds us in every way: in the air, through the ground, and within our bodies, totally unconfined. How do we embrace and adapt to an unfamiliar space through sound?

Presented by Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong in collaboration with Tai Kwun Contemporary, the fifth edition of Sound Forms will take place 12–19 November 2022 at Tai Kwun, presenting 3 programmes of sound performance with a focus on collaborative works that attempt to create sonic bridges between different art forms.

Artist duo Amy Chan and Lam Kin Lam will dive into the vibrating particles and electromagnetic waves, exploring the intra-action instead of interaction between light and sound. Another pair of artists, Michele Chu and Sudhee Liao, will examine the everyday “glitches” that result from the gaps in expectation for human touch, spatial relationships, and social cues during the pandemic. The festival will also feature Lam Yip and Law Yuk Mui’s performances of I Talk Like River and Lazarus Chan’s installation-performance Poplar Yuddha, which incorporates Chan’s field-collected infrasound data.

Amy Chan, Kin Lam, Lam Yip, Lazarus Chan, Law Yuk Mui, Michele Chu, Sudhee Liao

Peer to Peer: UK/HK 2022 is a collaborative programme connecting visual artists and arts organisations across the UK and Hong Kong.

Peer to Peer: UK/HK 2022 aims to encourage meaningful cultural exchange and forge enduring partnerships between the UK and Hong Kong's visual arts sectors.

To celebrate the culmination of the programme of international exchange and collaboration, we invite you to join us in an online festival from 26th September - 9th October 2022.

Kelly Jayne Jones and Lazarus Chan have been creating digital avatars exploring the possibilities of connecting people with new technologies and shared digital spaces. At HKAC, Chan presents a performance in dialogue with these avatars. At Castlefield Gallery, Jones delivers an immersive performance with sonic elements; considering morphic resonance theory and the potential for actions, no matter how small, to have repercussions and connect us across the globe.

Kelly Jayne Jones, Lazarus Chan

“Beyond the Firmament” challenges the environmental limits by creating a space differs from the conventional forms of performing arts through the interactivity between human and technology. Co-creating with digital technology, the artists explore the boundaries and the unknown possibilities of inter-disciplinary performances.

Lazarus CHAN, Wing Lam FUNG, Seth HON, Yan CHENG, Ian TANG

n.a.

Hong Kong Arts Festival and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust

Organised by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC), the 13th Arts Ambassadors-in-School Scheme will present its first “Youth Arts Week” this August. Themed on “Arts x Technology”, the Youth Arts Week features a series of arts activities to allow participants to immerse in real and virtual spaces to experience the endless possibilities in the world of “Arts Tech”.

Opening the Youth Arts Week is the ARCH@Youth Square “Arts x Technology” Interactive Exhibition (7-10 August). Themed on “Rural Art and Symbiosis”, artists Hao Lap-yan, Benjamin, Lazarus Chan, Hui Gi-wai, Echo and Lo Lai-lai, Natalie create the “NATURE” at Y Platform of Youth Square. Through innovative technology, the audience can relax in the world of flora and experience the nuanced changes of the plant cycle. Guided by docents, the audience can scan the physical artworks with mobile phones and observe nature’s fine details from the planting of paddy and the tillering of its shoots to the falling of its flowers. They can use their imagination to create their artworks and share with friends through online platforms. (Trailer: https://youtu.be/z8sGJG0yrY8). The exhibition is open for public participation.

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Hao Lap-yan, Benjamin, Lazarus Chan, Hui Gi-wai, Echo and Lo Lai-lai

Hong Kong Arts Development Council

Art After Hours spans multiple areas in Tai Kwun. Visitors are invited to wander through different areas — “City”, “Woods”, “Greenhouse” — and become submerged into the ever morphing, challenging sights and sounds around them. Without relying on words, the works in Art After Hours strike at immediacy, provoking layers from the nostalgic, historical, and humorous, to the experimental and technological.

Annisa Cheung, Jeffery, Jess Lau, Karen Yu, Kung Chi Shing, Lazarus Chan, manvsmachine, Nerve, Simon Liu, Teeda Lee, VON3, Yarli Allison