Words from the Curator

Day 3 (Fri 20/05/2016)

After two days of hectic ISEA schedule, we finally have everyone back into the classroom. Today the Keynote Presentation was given by Marc Garrett and Ruth Catlow, founders ofFurtherfield.org, who actively create online and physical spaces and places for different kinds of people to come together to get involved with contemporary arts and digital technologies.

Their emphasis on online activities contrasts with where we went to in the afternoon — C&G Artpartment, a grass-root art space located in Mong Kok, ran also by a couple — two local artists Clara and Gum which C&G is named after. We had a lovely exchange of opinions and views on how to ran a artspace and how to engage the public.

It’s followed by a visit to another art space which is operated in a totally different mode than both of the two above. Connecting Space is a transdisciplinary arts space initiated by the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) with its counterpart in Zurich. Its head of HK space, Nuria Kremer, told us about the space and its programming in experimental exploration in the artistic collaboration across the continent.

A day cannot be called a day without seeing an exhibition. After a whole day of talks, its time for visual treats. The whole team was led to K11, a shopping mall in TST, but we are not there for shopping, mind you — the artists who participated FUSE residence programme of ISEA2016 produced an exhibition and it was the opening of the exhibition. K11 not only sponsored the exhibition and the residence programme, but also lined up a few other art&technology events opened on the same day for a digital arts campaign. It was an innovative venue for integrating art into our everyday life.