Microwave International New Media Arts Festival kicked off at Hong Kong City Hall this evening. During the grand opening, visitors had fun interacting with different installations. The Value took a sneak peek of the exhibition.
Once we stepped into the exhibition area, our attention was immediately drawn to the “Perfumery Organ” standing at the centre, which greeted visitors with the sounds and fragrance from the piano. This installation is created by Tasko.inc from Japan, taking inspiration from “Gamut of Odours”, a description method for fragrances devised by the British chemist and perfumer George William Septimus PIESSE in the 19th century. This is the first instrument in the world which plays odours & music together, which aims to trigger audiences’ emotions through the combination.
Taking a few steps towards the left, we saw an installation “Dzdz” created by Taiwan artist Yao Chung-han. DzDz blurs the boundary between sound installation and live performance. By walking in the installation set up with sensor lights and sound devices, visitors are invited to stage their own “live performance” interacting with light beams and noise created by fluorescent light. The whole audiences’ physical experiences are up to their own interpretation, echoing with the exhibition’s notion - redefining the meaning of “live”.
We turned around and headed to the other direction. On the way, there were three screens hung on the wall displaying American artist Zach Lieberman’s “Daily Sketches”. Lieberman started an experiment of doing daily sketches in codes to produce short animations posted on Instagram. In these sketches, he tries out different visual ideas involving geometry, animation, gesture and graphic form. Through the interaction on social media, he has found this to be an interesting way to tune between his own frequency and what resonates with the frequencies of the world.
Opposite to the Zach Lieberman’s “Daily Sketches” was a room of complete darkness. Inside the room, there was an installation called “Electrostatic Bell Choir”, created by Canadian artist Darsha Hewitt. It is an electromechanical sound installation that plays with the static electricity emitted from discarded CRT television monitors.
In the farthest right corner, there was a large light and sound installation titled “NARROW V.2” created by NONOTAK. The Value interviewed NONOTAK, a team of two artists from Japan and France. The interview is coming soon. Please stay tuned.
“Microwave International New Media Arts Festival 2017”
Period: 2017/10/12 - 22
Time: 12nn - 8pm
Venue: Exhibition Hall, Low Block, Hong Kong City Hall
Location: 5 Edinburgh Place, Central
Admission fee: Free