Talks
On Image, Space, Nadim Abbas's The Brazen Rift (After Branzi) (2025)
Tuesday 25 March, 3.00 – 4.30 pm
Speakers: Nadim Abbas and Sunny Cheung (Associate Curator, Design and Architecture, M+)
Moderator: Aaditya Sathish (Curator, Art Central 2025)
Nadim Abbas’s The Brazen Rift (After Branzi) (2025) is a thought-provoking installation commissioned by Art Central Hong Kong for its 2025 edition. A myriad references go into Abbas’s work—including cellular diagrams, radical architecture movements, and what he calls the “theory of the miniature.” His practice asks us to reconsider the images we are surrounded by and the relationship that it has to the referent. In conversation with Aaditya Sathish, the Curator of the installation, as well as Sunny Cheung, Associate Curator of Design and Architecture at M+, Abbas unpacks the conceptual threads that make his practice at large as well as his latest work.
Image: Nadim Abbas, A Brazen Rift (After Branzi), 2025, production drawing. Courtesy of the artist
Where Art Meets Reality: The Intersection of Artistic Expression and Social Documentation
Wednesday 26 March, 3.00 – 4.15 pm
Speakers: Wong Wo Bik, Shen Chao-Liang and Carol Chow
Moderator: Claudia Hinterseer
Join us for an engaging roundtable discussion featuring independent curator Carol Chow, renowned image-makers Shen Chao-liang and Wong Wo Bik, moderated by visual journalist Claudia Hinterseer. This forum will explore the dynamic intersection of creative photography and cultural documentation. Carol Chow will share her scholarly insights on gender dynamics and societal narratives, while Wong Wo Bik will present her evocative architectural imagery, examining the tension between construction and authenticity. Shen Chao-Liang will offer remarks about his poignant visual chronicles. In this dialogue, they will aim to unravel how the photographic medium functions simultaneously as an artistic vehicle and critical witness to our times. Drawing on her extensive background in visual storytelling, Hinterseer will guide this exploration of photography’s dual capacity to reflect and interpret our complex world.
Image: Wong Wo Bik, Utopian Landscape, 2023, digital photograph. Courtesy of the artist
Robotic Art
Thursday 27 March, 12.15 – 1.15 pm
Presented by School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong
Speakers: Miu Ling Lam, Victor Leung, Tobias Klein and Peter Nelson
This panel brings together leading voices in robotic art to explore the intersection of creativity, technology, and automation. Peter Nelson, an artist and scholar, examines the artistic potential of computer games, AI, and digital landscapes, blending art history with interactive media. Miu Ling Lam, a media artist and robotics researcher, pioneers innovations in robotic cinematography, immaterial displays, and bioinformatics, bridging art and science with award-winning interdisciplinary work. Victor Leung, a robotic fabrication expert, focuses on automation as a tool to enhance human creativity, reshaping industries through computational design and custom machines. Tobias Klein, an architect and artist, redefines digital craft by merging CAD/CAM technologies with cultural narratives, challenging traditional divides between digital and physical making. Together, they will discuss how robotics is transforming artistic practice, fostering new forms of expression, and reimagining the relationship between humans and machines in the creative process.
Image: Miu Ling Lam and Kaho Yu, Dis|integration, 2020, robotic light painting installation. Courtesy of the artists
On Theatrics, Gestures, and Research
Thursday 27 March, 3.00 – 4.30 pm
Speakers: IV Chan, Charmaine Poh and Xiaoshi Qin
Moderator: Aaditya Sathish (Curator, Art Central 2025)
The performance artists included in Aaditya Sathish’s programme titled “In Search of the Miraculous” begin their practice with research which slowly evolves into a facet of their practice, which range from sculpture to performance. In the course of the conversation, the artists will expand upon their individual practices—the ways in which they conduct research in and outside of the studio—and how they devised the works they are performing at the Fair. IV Chan will touch upon her research into the genre of horror films and their representation of female bodies, while Charmaine Poh will expand upon the technological lineages embodied by her character E-Ching. Finally, Xiaoshi Vivian Vivian Qin will think through the place of Southern Chinese folklore in her practice.
Image: Charmaine Poh, in the shadow of the cosmic, 2023, Lecture-Performance video still. Courtesy of the artist
The Yi Tai Sculpture & Installation Projects of Art Central 2025
Friday 28 March, 3.00 – 4.30 pm
Speakers: Mark Lawson Bell, Shinduk Kang, Dai Ying, Aurore Vullierme and Shelley Wang
Moderator: Enoch Cheng (Curator, Art Central 2025)
A discussion on the 2025 Yi Tai Sculpture and Installation Projects featuring works by Mark Lawson Bell, Dai Ying, Shinduk Kang, Dean-E Mei and Roxane Revon, with curator Enoch Cheng and guests Aurore Vullierme and Shelley Wang. The conversation will delve into the artistic concepts, material approaches, and cultural influences shaping these dynamic installations. Through a series of presentations, speakers will share insights into the creative process, challenges, and evolving practices of the participating artists, culminating in an open Q&A session.
Image: Mark Lawson Bell, Uncharted Along, 2024. Mark Lawson Bell, Midnight Milk, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Swanfall Gallery
Connections and Collections, Inspiring the Next Generation
Friday 28 March, 4.45 – 6.00 pm
Presented by Hong Kong Arts Centre
Speakers: Monica Hsiao (Chief Investment Officer and Founder of Triada Capital) and Peter Lau (Chairman of the Board of Governors, Hong Kong Arts Centre)
Moderator: Rebecca Ip (Executive Director, Hong Kong Arts Centre)
Image: Monica Hsiao in front of Andreas Eriksson’s Semaphore Gariwangsan. Photo by Felix SC Wong
Innovating Heritage: The Future of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Art Education
Saturday 29 March, 11.30 am – 12.30 pm
Presented by Hong Kong Art School
Speakers: Prof. Eva Kit Wah Man (Director, Hong Kong Art School) and Jaffa Lam Laam (Academic Head, Hong Kong Art School)
How can contemporary art and education reshape our understanding of intangible cultural heritage? In this engaging talk, Prof. Eva Kit Wah Man and Jaffa Lam Laam will introduce the JOCKEY CLUB ICH+ INNOVATIVE HERITAGE EDUCATION PROGRAMME, exploring how creative approaches can revitalize traditional crafts, practices, and knowledge. They will also discuss selected tertiary programs at Hong Kong Art School that integrate heritage, innovation, and artistic expression, offering fresh perspectives on how education can preserve and reimagine cultural legacies. Join us for an insightful discussion on the intersection of art, tradition, and the evolving landscape of cultural heritage education.
Image: Jaffa Lam Laam, PIU 3, 2018, recycled clothes. Courtesy of the artist
Beyond Vision: The Reconstruction of Perception in Transdisciplinary Art
Saturday 29 March, 3.00 – 4.30 pm
Presented by UOB
‘Transdisciplinary’ has emerged as a vital topic of discussion and research in recent years. In fields such as science, humanities, and art, there has been a concerted effort to engage in cross-disciplinary dialogue to address complex global challenges. ‘Transdisciplinary art’ transcends the traditional framework of visual arts by integrating diverse disciplines, mediums, technologies and so on, fostering collaboration across multiple domains to create innovative and critically engaged artworks, even reconstructing human perceptual experiences. This panel will discuss the development of transdisciplinary art within contemporary practice, analysing how transdisciplinary collaboration shapes the role and impact of art in society. Invited experts and scholars will engage in in-depth discussions, sharing multifaceted perspectives and exploring future trajectories for transdisciplinary art.
*The talk will be conducted in Mandarin and Cantonese.
Image: Bridging Boundaries: Ink Art as a Catalyst for Community Connections. Presented by UOB with Kwok Kian Chow and S. Alice Mong, Art Central, Hong Kong, 2024.
Experiments and Narratives in the Moving Image
Saturday 29 March, 5.00 – 6.30 pm
Speakers: Kary Kwok, Ellen Pau, Alice dos Reis and Chanel Kong (Curator, Moving Image, M+)
Moderator: Aaditya Sathish (Curator, Art Central 2025)
From the latter half of the twentieth-century, video art has been a medium that is both formal and experimental. It has had the ability to catch the immediacy of certain moments, while also being a medium that allows for editing, speculation, and navigating myriad realities. Kary Kwok and Ellen Pau have been conducting experiments into video in the 1980s and 1990s, reflecting on notions of the body and its alienation, while Alice dos Reis has been working in formats both digital and analogue, carefully treading the line between fiction and reality. Chanel Kong meanwhile is Curator, Moving Image at M+, and most recently worked on Shanshui: Echoes and Signals, an expansive exhibition that reflects on space and silences. Through the course of the conversation, the three artists and the curator, in tandem with Aaditya Sathish, will expand on the choices that take place in working with and showing the moving image.
Image: Ellen Pau, Drained 溜, 1988, Video Still. Courtesy of the artist, Kiang Malingue, and Videotage
manτεία - Performance as A New Model for The Group Exhibition
Sunday 30 March, 1.00 – 2.00 pm
Speakers: Peter A C Nelson and Roberto Alonso Trillo
Written and directed by Roberto Alonso Trillo and Peter Nelson, manτεία (meaning prophecy or divination) debuted at Freespace West Kowloon in December 2024. The performance was the outcome of a workshop series based around the principle of ‘multimodal mapping’, where artists are encouraged to build tangible data-driven links between their works. In this presentation, Trillo and Nelson will introduce the work of the participating artists (Taurin Barrera, Joseph Chan, Lazarus Chan Long Fung, Vvzela Kook, Current.cam, Samuel Swope, Davor Vincze and Karen Yu) and discuss their technological approach to collaboration.
Image: Peter A C Nelson and Roberto Alonso Trillo, manτεία, 2024. Photographed by Zoey Chan. Courtesy of the artists
From Neighbourhoods to Studio: Creative Journeys at Art Central
Sunday 30 March, 3.00 – 4.30 pm
Speakers: BOLOHO, Maggie Chu and Tung Wing Hong
Moderator: Shirky Chan (Curator, Art Central 2025)
Join us for a discussion in which artists explore the vibrant neighborhoods of Hong Kong, examining how these communities and histories influence their themes, materials, and messages. Additionally, the artists will share the experiences of having their studios and daily art practices under the roof of Art Central, highlighting the challenges and triumphs of showcasing their creations. Audiences are invited to engage and share their thoughts on the interplay between place and artistic expression.
Image: BOLOHO, PERFORMANCE No.7, 2023, collective painting, color gel pen on paper, 26 x 38 cm. Courtesy of the artists
