1a space

Post-Digital Materiality

7/11/2020 - 22/11/2020 

1a space proudly presents Post-Digital Materiality, a joint exhibition by Do One Im, Keith Lam, O2 LAB, Otto Li, Seok-Jun Ha, Show Kawabata and Takuto Usami.

【Curator’s statement】

Throughout history, artists have explored different technologies that have provided them with new tools for expression. Whereas early computer-generated and digital art in the mid-late twentieth century focused on ‘making digital things real’ and ‘making real things digital’, artworks in the post-digital era appear to blur the conventional divide between digital/analogue, virtual/real, and human-made/machine-made.

Amongst the diverse kinds of digital technologies, digital fabrication methods, such as 3D printing, CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) machining, and 3D scanning, offer opportunities for artists to conceive of physical objects that could not be made by traditional means. This has resulted in the emergence of new aesthetics and raised the issue of how the digital becomes translated into the physical in a manner that goes beyond mere replication.

Post-Digital Materiality features the works of four individual artists and two artist teams that explore new aesthetic possibilities and concepts afforded by digital fabrication technologies in the post-digital era. The way in which these artists have used technologies in the presented works varies widely. However, all have in common the use of standard or improvised digital fabrication methods to turn ideas and stories into physical entities: the visualization of the unimaginable which would be impossible to construct without the new technologies, the re-interpretation of the old media through new media, the physical mapping of data, and the re-interpretation of relationship between human labour and technologies. Regardless of their versatile approaches, the artists provide socio-cultural commentaries on the use of technology and ask the viewer to reflect upon its impacts on our society at various levels.

【Exhibition details】

Exhibition period: 7 - 22/11/2020
Opening hours : Tuesdays to Sundays 11am-7pm (Closed on Mondays)
Venue: 1a space (Unit 14, Cattle Depot Artist Village, 63 Ma Tau Kok Road, To Kwa Wan, Kowloon, Hong Kong )

═  Opening Reception ═
6/11/2020 (Friday) 6:30pm

═  Artist Talk ═
14/11/2020 (Saturday) 3-5pm

═ ​ Curator-led Guided Tour ═
21/11/2020 (Saturday) 3-4pm

【About Curator and Participating Artists】

═Curator═

Min Jeong Song
Min Jeong Song is an assistant professor in the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts at the Education University of Hong Kong. Her current research interests include the convergence of craft and digital technology in art and design, STEAM education, and maker culture.

═Participating Artists═

Do One Im
Do One Im is a sculptor and media artist based in Seoul, Korea. He was an artist in residence in Space Can Beijing in 2014, and has participated in numerous group and solo shows, including the 2017 Seoul City Architecture Biennale. Im holds an MFA degree from Seoul National University.

Keith Lam
Keith Lam is a new media artist based in Hong Kong. He is a co-founder of an art team from Hong Kong and Taiwan, Dimension Plus, and he is a founder of composite space, Openground. Lam has won awards at PRIX Ars Electronica, Japan Media Art Festival, and the Young Artist Award. He has taught at the City University of Hong Kong, and he consults and guest-lectures at various institutes.

O2 LAB
Founded in 2018, O2 LAB is a collaborative project between a Taiwanese engineer and educator, Hank Ou, and a Japanese artist and designer Yuka Otani. Together they explore new perspectives on combining art and digital technology. O2 LAB’s recent exhibitions include Maker Faire Tokyo, Synthetic Media Art, and Nakanojo Biennale.

Otto Li
Tin Lun, Otto Li graduated from the Department of Fine Arts (BA and MFA) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. As an artist, he has worked with sculpture, virtual modeling, digital images and interactive installation. He owes his interest in exploring connections between virtuality and reality to his years of working as a concept artist in a CG animation company.

Seok-Jun Ha
After majoring in communication design at the Parsons School of Design in the United States and working as a member of the Strategic Marketing Team at Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seok-Jun Ha obtained an MFA degree from the Korea National University of Arts as a media art major. He received the grand prize in the ‘New Hero’ competition organized by the monthly Public Art Magazine in 2015 and he showed new works at the Cheongju Craft Biennale 2017, and the Seoul Media City Biennale 2018 in Korea.

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Show Kawabata and Takuto Usami
Show Kawabata and Takuto Usami are a duo of artists based in Tokyo, Japan. The ongoing focus of their work is that which is removed from and by people. In recent years, their works have been shown across the world at festivals and in galleries. The artists have received the Aesthetica Art Prize, UK, and the YouFab Global Creative Awards, Japan. 

Supported by ​

Hong Kong Arts Development Council 

The Education University of Hong Kong , The Department of Cultural and Creative Arts 

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