Events Archive - Art Central

Art Central offers small group tours of the Fair at no charge to visitors. Tours are led by trained docents and industry professionals, held twice daily starting at the meeting point inside the Fair.

Conducted in English

Presented by Sands Gallery

Speakers: Professor Ung Vai Meng (Professor, Faculty of Humanities and Arts at the Macau University of Science and Technology)

Conducted in Cantonese

This seminar will be delivered by Ung Vai Meng, distinguished Professor of the Faculty of Humanities and Arts at the Macau University of Science and Technology and a renowned artist in Macao. With his profound artistic accomplishments and historical insight, he will guide the audience through the century-long history of Macao’s firecracker industry. Beginning with precious collections from the art archives in Macao, the seminar will trace the development of the firecracker trade and focus on the rich aesthetic universe emanating from the square-inch packaging paper. He will analyze how printing techniques embody the craftsmanship of their times, explore the folk symbolism and aesthetic trends behind the exquisite graphics, and examine how the packaging design responded to cross-cultural market demands. These seemingly modest firecracker packages are, in fact, unique artistic vessels reflecting Macao’s socio-economic landscape, cultural integration, and nostalgia.

Image: Professor Ung Vai Meng. Courtesy of the speaker.

Speakers: Susie Au (Film and MV Director), Halftalk (MV Director)
Moderator: Zoie Yung (Curator, Art Central 2026)

Conducted in Cantonese

In recent years, global art institutions have increasingly staged major exhibitions dedicated to the moving image of pop music. In parallel, Canadian artist Jon Rafman has released a fully AI-generated music video for his virtual idol Cloudy Heart, further expanding the medium’s conceptual horizons. With the closure of MTV in the United States last year, a casualty of shifting entertainment and consumption patterns, the music video has gradually moved beyond its role as a promotional tool for mainstream music, emerging instead as a singular, autonomous art form.

Historically, music videos have served as a sanctuary for radical experimentation. Long before Sora AI began applying algorithmic processes to carry out its surreal form of image grafting, the music video—defined by its narrative elasticity and escapist impulse—served as a vital engine for avant-garde visual culture.

This talk brings together Susie Au, the visionary director behind some of Hong Kong’s most iconic pop visual languages, in conversation with Halftalk. Together, they will navigate the pluralistic landscape of music video production and reflect on their creative trajectories amid an ever-evolving technological horizon.

Image: Susie Au (left); Halftalk (right). Courtesy of the artists.

Presented by UOB

Speakers: Fung Ming Chip (Calligraphy Artist), Fung Yee Lick (Calligrapher and Mixed Media Artist), and Professor Daniel Lau (Associate Professor of Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University)
Moderator: Dr Phil Chan (Painting and Calligraphy Curator at the Art Museum of The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Conducted in Cantonese

In the context of contemporary art, “word” has progressively transcended its function as a purely linguistic medium, evolving into visually compelling elements that expands and challenges its traditional nature. Through structural deconstruction and reconstruction, the abstraction of calligraphy and the integration of interdisciplinary practice and technology, word has emerged as a core symbol within images, installations, and digital art. This practice not only perpetuates the cultural foundation of word but also endows it with new aesthetic significance, serving as a bridge to showcase the uniqueness of Eastern culture in a globalised context.

This panel will discuss the development of words evolving into images, exploring how artists interpret and extend the meaning of words in a context where its connotations are consistently transforming. It will also open a dialogue on the many possibilities of words in contemporary art, sparked by the vibrant collisions and fusions of creativity across media and disciplines. Invited experts and scholars will share their insights and practices, offering in-depth interpretations of the messages hidden within the artworks and exhibitions.

Image: Fung Ming Chip; Fung Yee Lick; Professor Daniel Lau; Dr Phil Chan (from left to right). Courtesy of the speakers.

Presented by Octone Foundation

Speakers: Tang Kwok Hin, Simon Liu (Artists)
Moderator: Ingrid Pui Yee Chu (Curator)

Conducted in English

Hong Kong’s folklore and East Asian hauntology offer an alternative lens through which to reflect on the city’s history, highlighting the anthropological and material realities underlying its culture. Bringing together a group of local artists, the exhibition GHOSTLY, GODLY 人間 explores how spiritual life shapes Hong Kong’s social, cultural and political realities, highlighting the intangible presence of the ghostly within the everyday spaces of the human world.

This talk features two artists from the exhibition, Tang Kwok Hin and Simon Liu, whose works trace personal observations of Hong Kong through intimate and familial encounters. The conversation will explore how the artists’ multimedia practices navigate the visual possibilities of narrating the quiet yet pervasive spiritual influences that shape everyday life.

The exhibition is fully supported by Octone Foundation. Established in Hong Kong in 2022, Octone foundation is dedicated to promoting social mobility and the long-term development of a harmonious society through the power of art and culture. Guided by a commitment to public service and social responsibility, the Foundation supports education and charitable initiatives, with a particular focus on low-income communities, arts access for children and adolescents, and practical support for young artists and emerging creative and cultural projects. With the support of its Chairman, He Fan, the Foundation has sponsored exhibitions and programs at institutions including Tai Kwun Contemporary in Hong Kong (for Stay Connected: Art and China since 2008), a scholars’ guided tour for The Great Disguise at the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai, and exhibitions and programs at M+ in Hong Kong, helping create conditions for artistic expression and ensuring that cultural initiatives benefit the broader public.

Image: Tang Kwok Hin (left); Simon Liu (centre); Ingrid Pui Yee Chu (right). Courtesy of the speakers.

Speakers: Dr. Wu Mo (Sigg Curator, M+), Professor Fan Lin (Professor at the School of Arts and Humanities of GAFA, Curator)
Moderator: Zoie Yung (Curator, Art Central 2026)

Conducted in Mandarin

Taking works by Guangdong artists in the M+ Sigg Collection as a point of departure, Dr Wu Mo and Professor Fan Lin will examine the artistic ecosystems of the South that sit outside the mainstream canon of contemporary art history. Beginning with the seminal project Canton Express (2017), the discussion will analyse how artists have ingeniously navigated and filled the gaps beyond formal institutional structures. Through independent spaces, pedagogical experiments, and grassroots interactions, these practitioners have woven a local identity deeply rooted in the textures and vitality of everyday life.

The conversation seeks to challenge the rigid exhibition frameworks of large institutions, bringing to light the informal exchanges and “unofficial histories” embedded within archival research. By reflecting on Hong Kong’s role as a vital landing point for Southern art, the speakers will consider how museums can foster authentic, sustained dialogue with the region’s living, breathing artistic communities.

Image: Dr. Wu Mo (left); Professor Fan Lin (right). Courtesy of the speakers.

Presented by Manajemen Talenta Nasional (MTN) Seni Budaya

Speakers: Vicky Rosalina (Coordinator of National Talent Management – MTN, Indonesia), Deborah Iskandar (ISA Art Gallery), Willian Robin (V&V)

Conducted in English

This talk introduces ‘Rising Currents’, a platform presented by Indonesia’s National Talent Management (MTN) that brings together Indonesian galleries and artists at Art Central. The discussion explores how Indonesia’s contemporary art ecosystem evolves through diverse artistic practices, gallery infrastructures, and socially engaged artistic perspectives.

Through voices from institutions, galleries, and artists, the conversation reflects on how Indonesian contemporary art is expanding its presence and dialogue within the global art landscape.

Image: Vicky Rosalina (left); Deborah Iskandar (centre); Willian Robin (right). Courtesy of the speakers.

Speakers: Kaitlyn Hau (Artist), Inti Guerrero (Curator/Educator), Ashley Lee Wong (Assistant Professor of Cultural Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong / Co-Founder and Artistic Director, MetaObjects)
Moderator: Zoie Yung (Curator, Art Central 2026)

Conducted in English

This talk, titled ‘Anchor Point’, plays on a double entendre: it refers both to the technical core of motion tracking in new media art and to the search for a point of grounding for Hong Kong artists within global artistic coordinates.

The session features Kaitlyn Hau, Art Central’s Hong Kong Commissioned Artist for 2026, who will share the creative process behind her new work, Recursive Feedback Ritual 0.01 (2026). Deploying motion tracking and generative data, Hau transforms movements born of daily anxiety into visual imaginaries, mapping emotional awareness through multisensory channels. She will be joined by curator/educator Inti Guerrero and Professor Ashley Lee Wong, co-founder of digital art studio MetaObjects. Together, they will consider the work’s technical intricacies, the influence of ACG (Anime, Comic, and Games) culture, and its artistic translation of “exhaustion” as a concept, tracing how a new generation of Hong Kong artists may establish their own “fixed point” at the intersection of digital craft and institutional discourse.

Image: Kaitlyn Hau (left); Inti Guerrero (centre); Ashley Lee Wong (right). Courtesy of the speakers.

Speakers: Keith Lam, Ng Tsz-Kwan, Samuel Yip (Media Artists)
Moderator: Zoie Yung (Curator, Art Central 2026)

Conducted in Cantonese

In its annual strategic report titled ‘Future Art Ecosystems 5: Art x Creative R&D’, London’s Serpentine Galleries identifies creative research development as an emerging and increasingly autonomous field of innovation. As technological paradigms shift, it argues that the art ecosystem must move beyond traditional exhibition modes toward the development of core infrastructures—repositioning artists as co-creators of technological R&D rather than passive end users. The report further proposes that art institutions should operate as “social experimental platforms”, transforming technological risks into public value through cross-sector collaboration. Such a reorientation would reshape funding models and innovation metrics, ensuring that the cultural sector maintains agency amid the rapid expansion of AI and other frontier technologies.

This talk brings together three practitioners who bridge creative practice and industry leadership: Keith Lam, Samuel Yip, and Ng Tsz-kwan. As multimedia artists, they will share their experiences pioneering frontier artistic practices in Hong Kong. The discussion will explore their motivations for establishing collaborative studio models and the infrastructural conditions required to sustain new‑media arts practice amid increasing government support for Art Tech development.

Image: Keith Lam (left); Ng Tsz-Kwan (centre); Samuel Yip (right). Courtesy of the artists.

Speakers: Jeong-A Bang, Alexis Wong, Silvester Mok, OrangeTerry (Artists), Olga Prokhorova (RARARES Gallery)
Moderator: Enoch Cheng (Curator, Art Central 2026)

Conducted in English

A discussion on the 2026 Yi Tai Sculpture and Installation Projects brings together Jeong-A Bang, Silvester Mok, OrangeTerry, Alexis Wong, Olga Prokhorova, and curator Enoch Cheng. Together, they explore how their installations engage memory and preservation in uncertain times, reflecting on material choices and the tensions between intimacy and monumentality, fragility and endurance.

Image: Jeong-A Bang; Alexis Wong; Olga Prokhorova; Silvester Mok; OrangeTerry (from top left). Courtesy of the speakers.

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