Guest Co-Curator
A choreographer, performer, and performance curator. Lee graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and completed a Master of Arts in Contemporary Dance at the London Contemporary Dance School. He was appointed as the Artistic Director of Unlock Dancing Plaza in 2022.
Lee ’s curatorial work focuses on the production, storage, and dissemination of knowledge in the creative process, the dialogue between cross-cultural contexts and cross-artistic mediums, and the modes of physical creativity in community practice. To broaden creation perspectives on body as the main medium, he curated projects such as residency-based dance festival #DANCELESS complex, local research and development accompaniment programme dance-to-be, and the co-learning platform Unlock Body Lab: Open Research Week.
With live performance, video, writing, and curation as creation mediums, Lee deconstructs representation and nature of body, imagery, and symbols at different levels. He redefines and refocuses on the performativity of his works through performance, stimulating audiences to introspect themselves.
Lee’s artistic works usually centre on pop culture, queer bodies, physical labor, and the overlap and gap between dance and its images. Recent works include the series of Slow Dance (2023-), Emo Coaster (2024-), and the series of Slow Dance (Zoomed In) (2024) with video director Kitty Yeung.
Lee’s works have been toured in the UK, Germany, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Shanghai, and Beijing. A member of the International Contemporary Dance Collective (iCoDaCo) in 2018-2020, he co-created it will come later (2018) and toured with five European and Hong Kong choreographers.
Lee received the ‘Award for Young Artist’ under the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards in 2017.
Guest Co-Curator
A freelance artist currently based in Guangzhou, Guo studied Chinese Folk Dance at the Beijing Dance Academy, Modern Dance at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and Contemporary Dance at the Performing Arts Research and Training Studios in Belgium.
Guo was exposed to different dance concepts through his European experience and was influenced by numerous outstanding artists, including Thomas Hauert, David Zambrano, Deborah Hay, Trisha Brown, Chrysa Parkinson, Salva Sanchis, Jonathan Burrows, Jerome Bel, and Xavier Le Roy among others. Additionally, the postmodern movement research from the Judson Dance Theater in New York has also had a profound impact on him. Influenced by Belgium's open and diverse atmosphere, he refuses old, fixed dance definitions and classifications, and constantly challenges and explores the boundaries of dance and movement, enriching or subverting the concept of dance.
Through his training and explorations in Chinese Folk Dance, Modern Dance and Contemporary Dance, Guo has developed a complex and trans-cultural understanding of body, movement and dance, as both cultural and sociopolitical expressions. He treats dance as a fluid and changing art rather than a static literary meaning-production. Researching continuously and rigorously on these topics in specific contexts of China and Europe, he uses dance in different formats in an attempt to establish a connection between dance and other aspects.
As a curator in the Dance Lab Project of T Theatre in Macau since 2017, Guo has been particularly interested in works and practices that pose questions. Since 2018, Guo has started to work with Wu Hui as an artist duo ‘Guo Guo and Hui Hui’.
Mentor
Tang Fu Kuen has been prolific on the global art stage - crossing between live performance and visual fields; instigating flows between Europe and Asia; interacting between public and independent scenes; innovating traditional-contemporary and art-science-tech practices; and bridging history, nature and human consciousness.
As a driven arts leader, festival-maker, curator, producer and dramaturg, Fu Kuen has enabled numerous inter-media and inter-cultural collaborations and commissions. He was AD and MD of BIT - Bergen International Theatre (Norway); AD of Taipei Arts Festival (Taiwan); and has guest-curated notable platforms, amongst them: TPAM (Japan), Indonesian Dance Festival, Exodos Festival (Slovenia), In-Transit Festival (Berlin).
At 53rd Venice Biennale, he was sole curator of artist Ming Wong for the Singapore Pavilion that won a Special Jury Mention, hitherto the highest recognition for the country. In 2015, he curated ‘Art Next Door’, the SG50 exhibition that commemorated Malaysia-Singapore bilateral relations. In 2022, he guest-curated ‘REFUSE’, a large-scale bio-art installation that inaugurated the new space of Singapore Art Museum@TPD.
Fu Kuen worked previously in the heritage institutions UNESCO HQ (Paris) and SEAMEO-SPAFA (Bangkok) on policy implementation, research and development. As a Raffles-Chevening scholar, he received his MA (Distinction) in Media & Communications from Goldsmiths University of London, after graduating English Literature and Theatre Studies (BA Honours) at the National University of Singapore on a Public Service Commission scholarship.
Mentor
Whalley serves as the Director of Doctoral Training and Development in the Doctoral School at University of the Arts London UK, where she leads the development and delivery of a cohesive, cross-university doctoral training and development programme.
An international leading figure in the field of practice as research, Whalley has dedicated over twenty years to guiding and supporting students across the diverse spectrum of contemporary arts as an artivist (artist + activist) teacher with a student-centred practice.
Throughout her career, Whalley has consistently demonstrated a commitment to examining the role of collaboration in the process of knowledge creation. Her pioneering approach to the creation of knowledge builds from the significant milestone of completing the first jointly authored practice with Professor Lee Miller (Head of Postgraduate Research at Falmouth University UK) as research PhD within a UK arts discipline in 2004.
As practitioner-scholar, Whalley's research is situated at the intersection of a variety of disciplines, with a specific focus on the affective space that exists between the audience and the artwork. Her publications and practice explore topics including practice as research, the dynamics of audience-performer interaction, and the medical humanities. Her most recent work considers the potential for affective exchange in extended reality and interrogates the assumed centrality of the human-animal subject.
Beyond her academic contributions, Whalley has been instrumental in sculpting best practices in her field as an external examiner across the UK and her collaborative endeavours with universities and research entities in Finland, Portugal, and Sweden.
Participating Artist
Artist and filmmaker based in Hong Kong. Pun explores themes such as memory and time, and plays with historical archives and speculative narratives in her works. Her lecture performances were showcased at the Asia Art Archive (2024) and Tomorrow Maybe, Eaton HK (2022). Her short film Cavity was screened at Film Culture Centre (Hong Kong)’s Architecture In Motion film festival (2023). Her video essay The Years Flow Like Water was awarded ‘Best Work’ in the video zine D-Normal/V-Essay Issue 3 and was featured at the Ge·Stell Collective’s screening in Taiwan.
Participating Artist
An independent dancer and choreographer based in Guangzhou.
Using various methods to evoke imagination and emotions, Wu's works often carry a unique female perspective. Lately, she has been interested in ecological bodies. The embodiment of ecology reveals another way of perceiving, imitating and relating to the world.
Wu is currently working on her long-term research project Expressive Sight. Through studying plants, she attempts to break away from the human-centric worldview to forge a symbiotic relationship with others, where each element is independent yet interconnected and grows organically.
Participating Artist
From Macau.
#choreographer #dancer #creator and performer using the body as medium
Believing the studio is a playground, Lao considers artistic creation as an invitation to dialogues. Dedicated to body-related creations, he is currently studying the MFA programme in Choreography at the Taipei National University of the Arts.
With diverse body training, Lao brings vitality to body performance.
As a creator / performer, Lao passionately immerses in creation and collaborates with artists of various disciplines.
Keywords of Creations:
#Queer Body #Gaze and Performativity #Body in Context
Participating Artist
Lam Yip is a multidisciplinary artist and percussionist, a graduate of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Her work explores the dynamic interplay between sound, listening, movement, and space, using performances and creations to experiment with these elements. Recently, Lam has turned to taiko, a modern take on traditional Japanese drumming, as a foundation for cross-disciplinary projects and social initiatives.
Her recent works, including performances at West Kowloon Cultural District's “Freespace Noise Fest”, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble’s “Sound Astronauts”, “Keep Quiet”, Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong x Unlock Dancing Plaza's “Duo Residency 2023”, “Sound Forms: 'I Talk Like a River”, The Gong Strikes One's “Hong Kong Music Miniatures”, and “Taiko and Movement Workshop for Caregivers”, have been well-received, showcasing her range and versatility as an artist.
Participating Artist
A Hong Kong choreographer and performer, graduated from the Performing Arts Research and Training Studios in Belgium with scholarships from Creative Europe - [DNA] network and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund. Prior to that, Chan studied at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in Austria and graduated from the School of Architecture of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Recent works include Reverie (2022), Click (2021) and An Auction without Bass (2021), In the Cloud (2022), {POV [TWINK / COUPLE (ASIAN) / EXPERIMENTAL]} (2021) and its video version POV.
In 2020 Chan, with his fellows, established an independent art space ‘ngau4 gat1 dei6’, to explore how to operate such a kind of space in Hong Kong and to share spatial resources within the industry.
Participating Artist
Born in Hong Kong in 1994 and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Visual Arts at the Hong Kong Baptist University in 2017, Ling was awarded the ‘Tuna Prize’ at the HKBU AVA BA Graduation Exhibition 2017, and was shortlisted in ‘Hong Kong Human Rights Arts Prize’ 2018 and 2021. In 2022, he reconstructed his studio in Tai Kok Tsui into his first solo exhibition The self as time. He is currently a creative team member of the charity Hass Lab.
Ling creates mixed-media artworks through urban observations and material explorations. Curious about traces of time, the connection of different materials, and the relationship between daily objects and people, he creates works with a wide range of mediums, including earth art, sculpture, video, print, community art, installation, etc., through which viewers can discover his alternative viewpoints on the elements of city. His works have been exhibited in Germany, Finland, Australia, Japan, Thailand and China, and published on Ming Pao Sunday Life.
Participating Artist
A versatile Hong Kong musician known for his unique freestyle rap and eclectic production, Gold Mountain collaborates across genres, from hip-hop to contemporary dance and free jazz.
In 2023, Gold Mountain performed at Clockenflap and the FIA World Rallycross Championship Final, composed for Chinese and Hungarian dance productions, and rapped for the Fountain Collective. He was also the MC at the West Kowloon Cultural District’s Freespace Jazz Fest. He does voice-over for the English content for Now TV's art-house channel, and manages VTubers on YouTube and Twitch.
Participating Artist
Hong Kong composer, sound artist, and media artist Larry Shuen draws deep inspiration from classical music and his extensive training in music composition. His works often originate from a profound engagement with the act of listening, expanding into artistic practices of sound art, installations, media art, and performance. Shuen also collaborates closely with artists from various disciplines as a sound and interactive designer. As an educator, Shuen is dedicated to art initiatives and university teaching.
Participating Artist
Independent dancer and choreographer.
Served as a full-time dancer at the Guangdong Modern Dance Company in 2009-2017, Liu started her Master of Fine Arts in Dance at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2018. In 2021, she joined the ErGao Dance Production Group in Guangzhou, and began transforming dance performance and training experiences into dance teaching practice for diverse groups.
Contemplating ‘self and identity’ and examining the reconstruction of self, Liu focuses on individual experiences of growing up and the cultural backgrounds in her artistic creations. Her project This is a Process was supported by the Hong Kong City Contemporary Dance Company’s ‘Fellowships for Contemporary Dance Creation and Research 2021-2023’.
Participating Artist
Light and theatre artist, ‘an exciting practitioner from Hong Kong and an emerging critical voice on light as a performance material’ (Theatre and Performance Design, UK). Chan delves into the relationality and materiality of light, traversing the realms of light-music, theatre-installation, and arts-science.
Actively engaged in cross-disciplinary collaborations, Chan has worked with celebrated artists and companies including Ellen Pau, Kingsley Ng, Rachel Cheung, Ken Ueno and Hong Kong Dance Company. She was also an invited speaker at the Akademie der Künste of Berlin and the Prague Quadrennial.
https://www.amychan-light.com/
