Tai Kwun Conversations: Art technology Meets Traditional Culture

General

The development of art technology plays an important role for art and cultural institutions. Not only does it introduce new forms of expression into various artistic medium, it also transforms the audience's experience of engaging with art, culture, and heritage sites.

In conjunction with the exhibition FLASH! The Palace Museum - A Pop-Up Digital Experience, the latest edition of Tai Kwun Conversations explores the objectives, practices and outlook of cultural institutions using art technology to promote traditional Chinese culture. The discussion will be based on the exhibition, focusing on its curatorial concepts and thought processes. It will also examine how the integration of art tech, history and culture can create new possibilities and enhance the audience’s connection to traditional culture from the perspectives of theater and cultural education.

The event will be conducted in Putonghua, with simultaneous interpretation into Cantonese and English.

Speakers
Yu Zhuang (Deputy Director of Digital & Information, The Palace Museum)
Mathias Woo (Co-artistic Director cum Executive Director, Zuni Icosahedron)
 

Moderator 
Yolanda Lam (Policy researcher & freelance writer)
 

FLASH! The Palace Museum - A Pop-Up Digital Experience is part of the 140th anniversary activities for The Hong Kong Jockey Club. The exhibition is organised by The Palace Museum, exclusively sponsored by the Institute of Philanthropy and supported by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

The content is provided by The Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Biography

Yu Zhuang
Mathias Woo
Yolanda Lam

Yu Zhuang currently holds the position of Deputy Director at the Palace Museum's Digital & Information Department. He also serves as the Museum's Associate Research Fellow and is a Standing Committee Member of the Digitalization and Smartization Committee within the Chinese Museums Association (DSC-CMA). With a steadfast focus on museum digitisation management and communication over more than a decade, he is deeply committed to advancing the application of digital technology in cultural heritage preservation and enhancing visitor experiences. Yu actively proposes solutions and conducts paradigmatic research in this specialized field.

He oversees the management of the largest official social media matrix within international cultural heritage circles and has authored multiple scholarly papers on topics ranging from digital media interaction design to the digital transformation of museums. He has played key roles in several international collaborations and state-sponsored research projects. Notably, projects under his leadership have consistently received top honors from the ICOM International Committee for Audiovisual, New Technologies and Social Media.

Co-Artistic Director cum Executive Director of Zuni Icosahedron, one of Hong Kong’s 9 major performing arts groups (MPAGs). Woo’s creative endeavours cover a myriad of topics ranging from literature, philosophy, history, to architecture and technology. His works celebrate Chinese traditions and aesthetics while fostering innovation through arts tech.

Serving as the Artistic Director and Chief Curator of the National Arts Education Programme, Woo curated programmes such as The Forbidden City, The Book of Changes, Ink Design Living: I Want to Learn Calligraphy, and One Hundred Years of Chinese Railway Architecture. Woo also holds positions as the Artistic Director and Chief Curator of the Jockey Club Learning Chinese Culture through Arts Tech Theatre Programme, featuring The Five Elements, Calligraphy, and The Forbidden City 100. Collaborating with the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theatre of Jiangsu, Woo directed, designed, and curated A Tale of the Forbidden City. He later wrote and directed One Hundred Years of Chinese Architecture, telling the story of Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin. Woo initiated the “Architecture is Art Festival” and leads it as the Artistic Director.

In governmental roles, Woo serves as a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong & Macao Studies and the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. He sits on the adjudication panel of the China National Arts Fund and is also a member of the China Literature and Art Critics Association.

Yolanda Lam is a policy researcher and freelance writer. She was Researcher in the Arts and Sports team at Our Hong Kong Foundation from 2020 to 2024, where she remains a consultant. She has authored policy reports and op-eds on the intersection of technology and the arts, aiming to drive policy developments for local cultural and creative industries into the digital era. Yolanda graduated with a BA in Education (English, Drama & the Arts) from Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, where she was awarded a Senior Scholarship.