Local talent

HKPM commissioned six Hong Kong artists to come up with new works as a response to the treasures of Beijing's Palace Museum. Unsurprisingly, these too turned out to be tech-driven projects.

Grace Cheng, who curated the display in Gallery 7, featuring these works, says the futuristic design of the space, comprising dark walls and neon arrows, is aimed at drawing the younger crowds.

Highlights from the show include multi-disciplinary artist GayBird Leung's A Grandiose Fanfare - an attempt to reconstruct Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) court music with a nod to Hong Kong fireworks displays. In Chris Cheung's multimedia installation, a robotic arm draws a series of Chinese characters in the air, using a long, red ribbon. There are 1,390 characters in total, including some on their way to extinction. Joseph Chan's mammoth Clock of Nature, comprising 3,700-plus parts, pays homage to the Qing timepieces in Beijing's Palace Museum while using modern engineering methods to highlight their intricately detailed designs.

Hung Keung's multimedia installation, Visualizing the Universe through a Thousand Things, features small sculptures and rocks placed on rotating stands. Alert viewers catch their own images projected, fleetingly, on the screen in the background. The piece is informed by the Song Dynasty (960-1279) Chinese astronomer Shen Kuo's (1031-95) theories of the cosmos.

Phoebe Hui took her cues from Qing astronomy in designing a tunnel that gives visitors a feel of standing under the night sky. The piece references the Chinese belief of heaven as a dome covering a square earth, while also highlighting China's achievements in astronomy since ancient times.

Ng Tsz-kwan's Objectification is an attempt to strip the objects housed in the museum of their historical contexts. Ceramic vases, bronze tripods and imperial robes among other typical museum artifacts have been 3D-printed in white and appear to be frozen in motion while tumbling down from the ceiling.