Co-creator: WARE
Here, the invisible heterogeneity gives rise to vibrance.
Light largely determines our perception of the world. It brightens up the world and brings us the full spectrum of colors, revealing the textural qualities of all matters. Omnipresent, but often disregarded. The study of quantum physics suggests that light behaves in a different way when we look at it, almost intelligently. If light does think, what does it think about?
During our research on polarizing filters, we are inspired by how light interacts with matter. It’s almost like magic: while light is completely blocked by two perpendicular filters, it can pass through when a third filter is added. Do filters always reduce light? Yet, iridescence is generated when a fully or semi-transparent filter is added. It makes us realize sunlight, as simple as it may seem, somehow resembles the elusive moonlight cereus, which blooms out of the blue. There are rainbows all around us, hidden in plain sight.
To share the joy, we orchestrated this performance of colors. Through each of the modules, the timbres of light are amplified and sublimed, meticulously forming a harmonic instrument that paints with light. The act of seeing and being seen will then become an intimate conversation between light and us.

Co-creator: Morag Myerscough
"MAKE HAPPY THOSE WHO ARE NEAR AND THOSE WHO ARE FAR WILL COME." An old Chinese proverb that has been my mantra for many years since the first time I came across it in 2007, it resonated with why I make my work — Morag Myerscough
In response to these worldwide times of turbulence, heightened anxiety and negativity, we need to find ways of coming together and at the same time understanding people's differences. 'One fits all' does not work.
It was important to make a piece of work that is full of positivity, hope and strength, and produces a genuine 'smile on your face' ideally becomes contagious. Studies have shown that smiling releases endorphins, natural painkillers, and serotonin, changing the mood for the better.
Feeling ‘happy' cannot be quantified — from a one-to-one simple heartfelt gesture to a massive collective response and lots in between. Our structure reflects this in its wild maximalist celebration of joy to the world around, drawing you into an intimate pale pink glowing space.

Co-creator: Studio Swine
Dawn Particles is part of a larger body of work which we call “Ephemeral Tech”. Using real materials that engages all your senses beyond the standard visual stimuli of flat screens, projections and LED arrays, it looks to a future where technology transcends the familiar interfaces and becomes inseparable from both our built and natural environments.
The work follows the tradition of emulating nature, in the same way ancient civilizations made structures to chart the passage of the Sun or early cave paintings that depict the natural world. There is an innate human desire to use art to connect and to revere the natural systems on which our existence depends. Ephemeral Tech explores this intrinsic driver of creation using technology to evoke both primordial origins and future worlds.

Co-creator: Mun Wong
New and old co-exist in the flux of time, where ideas from the present moment emerge and evolve. Through observing the confluence of the two, we see meanings of the signs as well as connections in between, and present them using our subjective experience and sensitivity. Everything we look for is already there, just waiting to be discovered.

Co-creator: Lio Yeung
City, prosperity, indifference.
Woods, wilderness, nature.
Light let us see what we believe; only in the dark can we see the truth.
The darker the night, the closer the dawn.

Co-creator: Lau Chi Chung
What has been left behind in the transition from the old to the new? How do we define “old” and “new”? History lays the foundation for the future, yet history repeats itself. So what is the future? Is “new” always better? People constantly ponder the past as well as the future, which will eventually become the present. The future is now, and it needs our imagination.

Co-creator: Katol
A big shop sign that was made using different techniques and materials. It illustrates the history of the sign making industry during its transition from hand painting to digital printing. The street signs, each possessing unique aesthetics, not only decorate the city but also display its energy and spirit.
“Wet Paint” is from a joke among the gang living along Hollywood Road together with dogs and cats.

Co-creator: Adonian Chan
In Chinese calligraphy and type design, everything is derived from the continuous development of the form of Chinese characters, and under the influence from other cultures. This work is my interpretation of “NEW OLD. OLD NEW.” in the context of type design: “old” is the continuum of the ever-evolving Chinese characters while “new” is the way I interpret with the knowledge in contemporary society.
Dark Light is a neon light installation in the form of distorted “Hong Kong Beiwei Zansyu”, one of the most recognizable calligraphy styles in the streets of Hong Kong. Its concept is based on an introspection of the current situation of the society. Contrary to its literal meaning, the Chinese word “闇” (which means darkness) is turned into a glowing installation. To highlight the paradoxical coexistence of light and dark, the form of the character is distorted and morphs into a three-dimensional shape.

Co-creators: Studio Florian and Christine x Studio Alison Chan
Paper craft holds a cultural significance to Hong Kong, as many celebrations and ceremonies involve paper lanterns and the burning of paper offerings.
Using waste paper and collaborating with traditional paper lantern makers in Hong Kong, the designers incorporate craftsmanship into this modern installation. Paper comes in different qualities, textures and colors. A range of techniques are employed: weaving, layering and interlocking (mimicking the traditional techniques of bamboo scaffolding. This work demonstrates the beauty and simplicity of the Hong Kong heritage craft.

Co-creator: Stickyline
“Blowing water” is a Cantonese slang commonly used in Hong Kong, which means chit-chatting. This work adds a twist to the ordinary social activity and reinterprets it in a poetic way that invites interaction.
“Blu blu blu” is an interactive light installation. Using sensory technologies and lighting programming, it transforms the waving of water into waves of light as people blow over the water.

Co-creator: Shih Wei Chieh
Inspired by the oldest alternative photographic process “cyanotype”, laser dye is a study of applying the process on textiles. By projecting UV laser onto fabric pre-coated with photosensitive ink, it creates permanent cyanotype images on the textile or leather. As negative films are not required for the process, it is able to create relatively larger images on slightly uneven surfaces.
Incorporating the idea of “entangled designs”, the patterns generated on all garments are correlated and influence each other simultaneously. Time is a relative experience while reality lies within your observation.

Co-creator: MUSK
Music has many different roles in human history: art, expressions of emotions, reflection of social reality, therapy and even history itself. What about music in the 21st century?
Sounds were collected from different districts of Hong Kong and re-arranged into compositions which visitors can play using the keyboard of the installation. Each key represents one distinct sound. Press this to listen to one side of the city; press that to jump across to the other. As it goes on and on, participants then become the composer of the city.

Co-creator: MAGAZINE P
Inspired by a column created by Ching Siu Wai in MAGAZINE P called Object Of Use (OOU), which explores the philosophy of design and creation through the process of repairing old objects and making them useful again. Going back to the root of Modern Design, the exhibition explores how modern design has influenced our perception of everyday objects over the past century, and how revisiting the use of old objects can shed a light on discovering new meanings in our daily and future lifestyle.

Co-creators: Kikka Meucci x Francesca Gastone
Using ordinary objects in daily life, shapes and symbols in Eastern culture, and people’s collective memory, this work aims at raising people’s awareness of the ethical and ecological problems created by the wastage in the construction industry, which today’s designers feel obliged to respond to.
The base of our tiles are made of recycled materials while the color pigments of the glazed surfaces are natural. Some of the tiles have been purposely left rough and engraved with simple patterns or lines to symbolize the imperfection of our present time, instilling a resource-conscious mindset with the respect for nature.

Co-creators: KaCaMa Design Lab x Ob/ik Soundwork
In a semi-open setting with a background music system, this installation let people record their feelings, thoughts and stories that he or she would like to share onto cassette tapes, an old analog recording format.
The installation is divided into two parts: on the outside lies a cozy bench where people can take a seat, relax, and listen to others’ recordings. On the inside is a tranquil space as a recording room. People can express their feelings or respond to the others by recording onto a cassette tape. This creates intriguing conversations that keep going.

Co-creator: Francisco Daniel Cevallos Barragán
The wheelbarrow had a strong link with nature and productivity. This invention transformed the way humans live with nature. The Chinese wheelbarrow took advantage of the abiotic energy (like wind) to increase the production capacity. If, on the one hand, water, sunlight, air, and soil constitute part of the system that makes life possible; on the other hand, the wheelbarrow deals with uncertainties around balance. In this system, everything needs equilibrium.
Abiotic equilibrium proposes a way to visualize those intangible relations around the contemporary human-nature discourse by rethinking the ancient Chinese’s practice. It interacts with people through abiotic components of the place, forming a system in equilibrium of its own.

Co-creator: Felix E. Klee
The Self Aware Network (SAN) is an experiment about the future of architecture. An architectural structure is no longer passive. It has a nervous system, interacts with its environment, and gains self-awareness. With the information gathered, it can even adjust its structure to meet the needs of the people.
This installation consists of two parts, the construction area and the control panel. In the construction area, the participant builds geodesic structures using bamboo canes (edges) and coconuts (nodes); at the same time, the nodes communicate electronically with each other with the control panel, which is operated by another participant. The two sides work together collaboratively. A beautiful soundscape is created. People dance.

Co-creator: Anthony Ko
A castle or a city is established along the Frontier Closed Area in Hong Kong. It unfolds the future tactics to preserve the cultural distinctiveness and coin the constructed identities. Within the fictional informal megastructure, totems of the past are reassembled and amalgamated through the new cacophonous designs that initiate activities and dialogues. Artists in the building create artworks that serve as an indexical device of the everyday absurdities, continuously and collectively contributing to the formation of an archive of Hong Kong. Through the drawings, miniatures and simulations of architecture games, one could experience the vanished memories through the act of resurrecting the valued antiquities.