CONTEXT Arts Electronica 2020 is being crystalized as an experimental, de-centralized global affair, in response to the contingencies arising from the Covid-19 pandemic. Envisioning a journey toward measuring the ‘new' world being realized today, this year’s festival extends beyond the customary venue in Linz, Austria, by opening up to additional 120 locations around the world under the theme Kepler’s Gardens. (https://ars.electronica.art/keplersgardens/en/) For the Ars Electronica Garden Hong Kong segment, which is one of the largest ‘Kepler’s garden' projects around the world, we feature programs that are made specifically for the event as well as showcasing various creative forays taken up by the host institution, School of Creative Media at City University Hong Kong. The event will take place mostly online, from Wednesday 9th to Sunday 13th September 2020. CURATORIAL STATEMENT: Hong Kong Garden – City in Fusion Hong Kong stands at a particularly critical juncture today, poised upon ever-shifting tectonic activities effectuated by historical, socio-cultural, political and economic factors that are unfolding in the present tense. Such dynamism and volatility impel a sense of urgency, to nurture a multifarious array of creative engagements toward engendering meaningful reflections, which can then become a means to intuit, navigate and influence the future as it emerges into reality. It is in this tumultuous and indeterminate flux of things that both potency and dangers lurk, and thus artists and faculty at School of Creative Media (City University of Hong Kong) strive to draw new perspectives emerging from the intersections of life, art, science and technology to better understand our time and its wanderings. BRIEF PROGRAM OVERVIEW: Hong Kong Escape Views, by Maurice Benayoun (a.k.a MoBen) Haunting the picturesque 360 panoramas of Hong Kong, characters in white protective suits are striving to install CCTV cameras. The virus is in the eyes of the beholder. Dialogue about DïaloG, by MoBen and Refik Anadol, is a MindSpaces project. Like recent immigrants, two aliens stand face to face, trying to understand each other and the new world surrounding them, all the while evolving through the process. On the Thessaloniki and HK Gardens channels, we discover, generated in real-time, “Alien life in the Telescope” before the complete strangers meet. HK Media Art in Practice WYSIWYG is a retrospective of Jeffrey Shaw’s classic and new artworks, while Tamás Waliczky’s Imaginary Cameras revisits technologies in a non-linear history of the moving image. Value of Values, by Benayoun, Nicolas Mendoza and Tobias Klein, is a transactional art project on the speculation of value, from BCI to blockchain. Metamorphosis or Confrontation, by Klein, shows his most recent digital craftsmanship. Receptive Rhythms by Max Hattler plays with repetition and rhythm in different ways. Smile by Tomas Laurenzo and LW24 (2015) by PerMagnus Lindborg show how media art can initiate the interaction with the audience. On the Road: Young Media Artists in China, presents 50 installations by 35 artists, while Algorithmic Art: Shuffling Space & Time' brings machine work and computational thinking into the domain of

common knowledge. Leonardo da Vinci: Art & Science. Then & Now is a tribute to Leonardo, incorporating original drawings and contemporary artworks that extend his legacy. ANiMAL is a storytelling exhibition about the animal world seen through the lenses of Art, Science, Nature and Society. In VoV Workshop: Making Art from the Brain to the Blockchain attendees are invited to create their VoV through neurodesign, to then propose a ‘reification’ of their 3D model as an artwork. With an introduction by the Dean, Art in Labs will find SCM faculty staging their latest projects, followed by Art Practices in Hong Kong at the Time of global Seclusion, organized by Ann Mak, interviews 10 media art practitioners. Why and How Artworks Feel? is a symposium with key contributors to MindSpaces EU and HK, while Speculative Speculations on Art and Value delivers a live lecture by Benayoun. Last but not least, the Planetary Wine Tasting Party will close the event, with all Garden participants bringing their best wine for a friendly remote-sensory experience. TICKETS: All events are free-access, and an email containing live stream links will be sent out to individuals who subscribe via our website. For details of all events please visit: hkgardens.com SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AEgardenHONGKONG Youtube account: hkgarden IMAGE DOWNLOAD LINK https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kW12wPtZ0BRMXwd7s8aCevitfuZKyltH?usp=sharing PRESS CONTACT Lisa Park SoYoung, lisaparksoyoung@my.cityu.edu.hk HOSTING INSTITUTION IN HONG KONG City University of Hong Kong’s School of Creative Media The City University of Hong Kong’s School of Creative Media (SCM, CityU) is recognized as an international centre for discovery and innovation, where creativity is nurtured as a cornerstone of Hong Kong’s social and economic advancement. Our teaching and research facilities are housed in a stunning, one-of-a-kind building designed by world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind. The School of Creative Media has gathered an impressive, internationally renowned faculty of digital media artists, thinkers, and innovators, working in the fields of animation, sound design, gaming, software development, physical computing, film, digital media art, and media theory. THE MAIN FESTIVAL Ars Electronica Festival is a major New Media Art festival that was inaugurated in 1979. Renowned for its prestigious Prix Ars Electronica that is conferred annually, it is a pivotal entity that leads the field in the arena of electronic art. Based in the city of Linz, Austria, it is operated from a cultural, educational and scientific institute that is dedicated to interlinkages between art, technology and society, that is realized through various engagements including research and development in multidisciplinary media arts at its Futurelab, as well as its festivals.

PROJECT CREDITS School of Creative Media / City University of Hong Kong Program Chair: Prof. Maurice Benayoun Curatorial Management: Ann Mak Production: Charlie Yip, NeuroDesign Lab, ACIM, SCM Production Assistant: Eleanor Benayoun Editor-in-Chief: Lisa Park SoYoung Thanks to all artists and researchers who contributed (names on related programs) and especially: Prof Richard W. Allen, Dean of the School of Creative Media Prof. Jeffrey Shaw, Head of ACIM The project is made possible thanks to the support of: Osage Art Foundation osagė@osage MindSpaces, S+T+Arts, Horizon2020, MindSpaces HK The University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong Gothe Institut Hong Kong Ludwig Museum, Hungary Guan Shanyue Art Museum Indra and Harry Banga Gallery of City University of Hong Kong agogogfilm

DïaloG Refik Anadol / MoBen – Alien Life in the Telescope © MoBen-Anadol

Behind the scene of Hong Kong Escape Views. © Ars Electronica Garden HK via Ann Mak

Behind the scene of Hong Kong Escape Views. © Ars Electronica Garden HK via MoBen

Art Survival Practices in Hong Kong at the Time of Global Seclusion program © Ars Electronica Garden HK

Value of Values exhibition view © Ars Electronica Garden HK – via MoBen

Banner for Planetary Wine Tasting Party © Ars Electronica Garden HK

More images can be downloaded: IMAGE DOWNLOAD LINK https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kW12wPtZ0BRMXwd7s8aCevitfuZKyltH?usp=sharing