Sincerely Mine

About

Historiography and history prove debate and deliberation, which make it easier to deliver a logical sense of humanity. However, it also shows a hierarchy system which reflects history as extremely biased. Video, however, can capture and record existing images and sounds while preserving its temperament, atmosphere, and overall perception, both visually and audibly. Alltagsgeschichte (German: history of everyday life) is a history that represents the norm. The concept of Alltagsgeschichte can be traced back from a group of young German historians in the late 1960s to early 1970s, where they examined the common labourer as the core of cultural development. History here is infused by the personal associations and experience, the complete reconstruction of history-making is to focus on the ‘norm’.

The use of technology to document everyday life is a method through which to present and understand ‘popular history’. One’s mind experiences different quotidian moments, the endless loop of forgetting and retaining; ultimately, most of it gets erased. In any case, these fragments are stored unconsciously. When one is receiving the visual fragments, it triggers an insignificant and reminiscent past that is unable to map out the memory fully nor chronologically. Sincerely Mine brings you into the mind of Alan Kwan, who uses the form of custom virtual reality software to create an archival mindscape. Visitors can use this to navigate within his mind to explore and learn the artist’s personal life and history. The exhibition aims to create a new perspective of Hong Kong and its people during the current era.

Artist Bio
Alan Kwan (b.1990, Hong Kong) transforms his personal experience through the medium of film and immersive technology to study the nature of pain and human memories. With ten years’ experience of being an independent filmmaker and media artist, Kwan wanted to use techniques to bring cinema to another level. Beginning during his undergraduate studies, he founded the studio to use videogame and virtual reality technologies to build worlds, stories, and immersive experiences that are outside of the traditional gaming paradigm.

Kwan’s projects were presented at venues including Ars Electronica Center (Austria), International Bauhaus Colloquium (Germany), ZKM Centre for Art and Media (Germany), and Museum of Contemporary Art (Shanghai), and were featured in media including Discovery Channel, Popular Science, and Boston Globe. Kwan was awarded the first prize of the MIT Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Prize, Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Award for Young Artist (Media Art).

Kwan received his BA in Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong and MSc in Cultural and Technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, USA.

Curator Bio
Alberta Leung (b.1993, Hong Kong) is a curator and art historian based in London. Her research interests span re/de-construction of history and the politics of identity stress on the development of art, science and technology.