Sound Forms 2020

CMHK (Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong)
Hong Kong Arts Development Council

In between breaths, the world became still. Time once again was measured in sunrises and sunsets, shadows that grew to their terminal length in the confines of our homes. In its third year, this edition of Sound Forms has mutated and grown with the seismic shifts that have affected forms of mutual aid, care, and turmoil. Hong Kong, an international airport hub and transfer node, now finds itself physically isolated. Yet the project of world-building endures. The sound artists we have invited for this first collaboration with Tai Kwun Contemporary reflect those who have superseded the usual confines of their medium. What they have to offer is a sensorium of experience created in collaboration with video artists, composers, and choreographers. Curated by Remy Siu of CMHK (Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong) and Hera Chan, Sound Forms 2020 (TKC Edition) is a series of transmissions that celebrate the world that can be found in the local.

Curators: Remy Siu and Hera Chan
CMHK Company Manager: Him Cheung
Design: MAJO

Jasper Fung is an artist-researcher based in Hong Kong. Ranging from live-electronics, electroacoustic compositions, and sound installations, Fung’s unusual approach toward the performative navigates the relationship between the real and imagined. His use of everyday objects—including manipulating loudspeakers as musical instruments—delves into how experiences are constructed through listening and what constitutes musical ‘liveness’ in the post-digital era. Fung has exhibited and performed internationally, including at Ars Electronica, and The International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression.
http://jasperfungty.com/

Karen Yu is a percussionist, performance artist, and interdisciplinary arts researcher who uses sound-making as a medium to question and subvert the relationship between audience and performer. In exploring possibilities of merging performing arts and concert culture, she has collaborated with numerous artists and musicians, including Ken Ueno, Philippe Leroux, Michael Pisaro, Zihua Tan, Vinko Globokar, and Jean-Pierre Drouet. Based in Hong Kong, Yu is a co-founder and co-director of the chamber percussion group The Up:Strike Project, a member of NOVA Ensemble, and co-founder of EXORDIUM Collective.
http://www.karenyu.net/

Joseph Lee began his dance training at the age of seventeen. Through the reading, transfer, and re-enactment of bodily experience, Lee questions the performative nature of everyday life in contemporary society. His work is focussed on expanding the audience's imaginary horizons of choreography by creating and performing with the body and other alternatives. Lee graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and The Place, London Contemporary Dance School in the United Kingdom. Lee joined the Unlock Dancing Plaza as resident artist until 2020, and then began his tenure as Associate Art Director. His participation in Sound Forms 2020 at Tai Kwun Contemporary is enabled by the kind permission of the Unlock Dancing Plaza.

Lawrence Lau graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Composition and Electronic Music from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and obtained a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Media from the City University of Hong Kong. Lau’s works span composition, live performance, and audiovisual art. Lau has performed in Hong Kong and internationally including at the Asian Composer League Conference and Festival (Japan), Hong Kong Arts Festival, highSCORE Festival (Italy), and Musicus Fest. His recent theatre compositions include Faust, Das Prinzip Meese, and The World Was Once Flat. Lau’s media-based works have been exhibited in the Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing Time Art Museum, Today Art Museum (Beijing), 3LD Art & Technology Centre (New York), and Artechouse (Washington).

Ma Wai is a visual artist who works primarily in concert venues through her work with installation and event production. Her work explores the psychic aspect of colour and shape-making by entertainment technology and multimodal systems. These systems are integrated to rebuild our daily visual perception in different form. As a graduate from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with a degree in Lighting Technology and studied Creative Media and Entertainment Technology in Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education, Ma Wai is active as a lighting and audiovisual designer. Ma Wai has designed concert lighting for RubberBand, Candy Lo, Vicky Fung, Tonick, Siu Fay, Vivian Chan Wai Man, and NiLiu.

Edwin Lo is an artist and researcher working across video, image, installation, sound, and video games. Since 2008, Lo’s works have been widely presented in local and international exhibitions, festivals, and residencies including HK Sound Station in Para Site (Hong Kong, 2009), Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism Architecture 2009, FILE 2010 – Electronic Language International Festival (Brazil, 2010), EMERGEANDSEE Media Art Festival (Germany, 2010), Hong Kong InDependent Film Festival 2010, White Walls Have Ears in City University of Hong Kong (2011), Braunschweig Project (Germany, 2013), RPM: Ten Years of Sound Art in China (United States, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, 2013), Around Sound Art Festival (Japan, 2014), Inside China – L’Intérieur du Geant (Palais de Tokyo, 2014), K11 Foundation (2015), Tokyo Arts and Space (2017) and Loop Barcelona (2019). Lo’s solo presentations include OBJEKT (Singuhr, Germany, 2017), Traces and Scenes (Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago, United States, 2016), and Time spent, lost and regained… (Goethe Institut, Hong Kong, 2014). He was the recipient of the Tokyo Arts and Space research residency in 2019 with a focus on the electroacoustic compositions of Jean-Claude Eloy in Tokyo. Lo lives and works in Hong Kong.
https://auditoryscenes.work/

Vunkwan Tam is a visual and sound artist who lives and works in Hong Kong. His artistic practice ranges from sculpture, image, videos, text, sound and installation. He draws inspiration from the angst of capitalist lifestyle, power dynamics and socio-political events. Selected exhibitions and performances include Play. Boredom. Worship. (Tomorrow Maybe, Hong Kong, 2019), New Babylon (Prsntprsnt, Hong Kong, 2019), and Sincerity Machine (Twenty Alpha, Hong Kong, 2019).
http://www.vunkwan.com/

Ct1993 is the stage name of Hong Kong artist and performer Chan Ting. Chan works in the fields of image-making, sound, and installation. With a focus on visual dialogue connecting the sound-image and the mental image, her practice often emerges as a stream of consciousness. In collaboration with Vunkwan Tam, ct1993 has performed at the 6th Absurd Creation showcase and at Hui Gallery at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Chan is the founder and curator of Negative Space, an independent artist-run space dedicated to the development of contemporary imaging and lens-based media. http://cargocollective.com/ct1993

Nerve is a Hong Kong based multidisciplinary artist whose practice mines the boundaries between contemporary music, sound art, multimedia theatr,e and underground subcultures. With a background in classical composition and 90s rave culture, Nerve explores the extremity of sound experience by mixing electroacoustic, beat, bass, fx, and rave samples into a new form of free improvisation performance. His high-speed finger triggering and knob twisting generates a harsh danceable noise that resists categorization. Nerve’s recent works include documentary opera Songs of Portrait, and cinematic opera 1984. He is active in the local and international underground scene, having performed at 15 Grams, HKCR, CTM (Berlin), LUFF (Lausanne), playfreely (Singapore), Sónar Hong Kong, amongst other DIY outdoor parties.
https://www.lo4nerve.com/

William Mugi is a visual artist based in Hong Kong. Working primarily in the club scene, his recent interest is in the generative aspects of visual arts. Since 2016, Mugi has participated in festivals around the world, having worked as a VJ for Kode9, Nick Warren, Tiga, Kenji Ishii, Ambivalent, Ben Kolck, Madam X, Swindle, Airmax97, Canblaster, Murlo, Truth, Goth Trad, Joe Nice, Flamingosis, DJ Paypal, and Dave Seaman. Other collaborations include Yeti Out, 15 grams, XXX, and Ecstatic Bass. Currently, Mugi is the creative director of DDDD Design & Delicious Bureau based in Shenzhen, and is a frequent VJ of Oil Club.

ASJ—abbreviated from ‘A Spiritual Journey’—is a Hong Kong-based producer and DJ. In her words: “Life is a playground. We are constantly reminded of our purpose on earth, to remain passionate and become one with the universe.” When ASJ began to respect and love herself more, every encounter doubled as a blessing. Her music was first introduced through Sonia Calico’s label UnderU in the WAREHOUSE compilation. Later, Hong Kong label Absurd TRAX released her first digital LP The Road to Become One. Drawing from introspective moments in her daily life, ASJ brings her audience on reinvigorating journeys striated with melodious compositions and organic textures. She has performed at Sónar Hong Kong, Clockenflap, OIL Club, and Berghain Säule. Her music has been played on NTS Radio, Balamii Radio, and Radar Radio.
https://weareasj.wixsite.com/aspiritualjourney    

Skene Milne is a digital 3D artist who explores sensuality and the divine by creating utopic destinations that dive into spiritual surrealism. Creating digital avatars as a form of meditation in which the self can be deconstructed and the individual parts materialized in new forms, a paradise is constructed in which the self can be realized.

“Tai Kwun Treats” are now available for this programme participants! Get the vouchers and enjoy various privileged offers at designated shops and restaurants.

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