HONG KONG — Established in 2022, ART FUTURES – Outstanding Graduates Awards in Asia is the first international art award of its kind in Asia dedicated to championing the creative practices of outstanding recent graduates in the field of visual arts and associated contemporary art practices.
The award aims to recognize and support emerging artists across Asia, providing them with a platform to showcase their talent and gain international recognition. The event is co-organized and co-presented by the Academy of Visual Arts and the School of Creative Arts at Hong Kong Baptist University, along with art-at-all and IAE.
In the ART FUTURES, art colleges and institutions throughout Asia are invited to nominate a maximum of two students per academic year based on exceptional achievements, outstanding efforts, and significant contributions to the field. In this year’s edition,
Seventy-four institutions from countries and cities across Asia, including India, Bangladesh, Singapore, Japan, Laos, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, the Philippines, Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Xian, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Zhejiang from China, to name a few, have been invited to participate as nominators. A total of 30 finalists have been selected, and six of them have been shortlisted to exhibit their works during the awardees’ ceremony/exhibition.
The award ceremony, where one first, two second, and three third prizes will be awarded, will be held on 20th December 2023 at AVA Gallery, Kai Tak Campus, Hong Kong Baptist University. The First Prize artist will also receive a one-month residency in Hong Kong. Additionally, the Hong Kong Art Prize 2023 and Chan Kwan Biu Memorial Foundation, Hong Kong Art Prize 2023 will be awarded to two local Hong Kong artists.
A distinguished panel of judges, including internationally acclaimed artist Yoshitomo Nara (奈良美智), esteemed curator and art scholar Hou Hanru (侯瀚如), Vietnam-based curator and writer Zoe Butt, Japan-based artist, and scholar Michael Whittle, curator Tina Pang (彭綺雲) from M+ Museum, artist and museum expert advisor Kurt Chan (陳育強) will evaluate the submissions and determine the winners. Some of the first-round judges Dr. Cissie Fu, Head of McNally School of Fine Arts at LASALLE College of the Arts, University of the Arts Singapore, Dr. Manish Arora, Senior Faculty Member at Banaras Hindu University, and Prof. Zhang Dan, Director of the Experimental Art Department at the LuXun Academy of Fine Arts Kalen Lee (李泳麒), Acting Director of Academy of Visual Arts, School of Creative Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, will also join in celebrating the award.
The Art Futures Awards promises to be an evening of inspiration and celebration as it honors outstanding emerging artists across Asia. The exhibition will feature the works of the six shortlisted artists from Japan, Korea, Singapore, India, Hong Kong, and Mainland China.
Two engaging panel discussions will be held to delve into the theme of the varied experiences and insights of distinguished figures in the art world and the cultural identity and representation in contemporary Asian art, a topic of utmost relevance to young Asian artists. The conversations are intended to be a rich exchange of ideas, envisioned as not just a source of inspiration but also a practical guide, rich with real-world experiences and advice from multiple facets of the art world.
At the same time, the panelists, who also serve as judges for the Art Futures Awards, will also share their perspectives on the future generation of artists in Asia with their insightful thoughts and visions after reviewing the artworks created by talented fresh graduate artists.
Scheduled activities:
- Art Futures 2023 Award Ceremony
Date: December 20, 2023
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Kai Tak Campus, Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University (51 Kwun Tong Road, Kowloon) - Art Futures 2023 Awardees Exhibition
Date: December 21, 2023 – January 14, 2024 (January 02, 2024, January 09, 2024 closed)
Time: 10:30 am – 6:30 pm
Venue: AVA Gallery, Kai Tak Campus, Hong Kong Baptist University (51 Kwun Tong Road, Kowloon) - Art Futures 2023 Panel Discussion
Date: December 20, 2023
Time: 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Venue: Mr and Mrs Lee Siu Lun Lecture Theatre (WLB205), The Wing Lung Bank Building for Business Studies, Shaw Campus, Hong Kong Baptist University (34 Renfrew Road, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon
Discussion (3:00 pm – 4:00 pm) - Navigating the Art World: Personal Journeys and Professional Insights
Time: 3:00 – 3:45 pm + 10 mins
Q&ASpeakers: Manish Arora, Hou Hanru, and Kalen LeeModerator: Michael Whittle
Discussion (4:00 pm – 5:00 pm) - Exploring Cultural Identity and Representation in Contemporary Asian Art
Time: 4:00 – 4:45 pm + 10 mins
Q&ASpeakers: Zoe Butt, Kurt Chan, Cissie FuModerator: Janet Fong - Art Futures 2023 Artist in Dialogue + Artist Tour
Date: 21 Dec 2023Time: 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Venue: AVA Gallery, Kai Tak Campus, Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University(51 Kwun Tong Road, Kowloon)
Lau Jin-ki 劉彥希 (Hong Kong)
Chronicles of distortion 《失真圖記 》
2023
Stoneware, Porcelain
73 x 109.5 x 4 cm
By utilizing printmaking and clay, daily photographs are translated, with the images overlapping and fading away simultaneously. The process involves twisting, distorting, deforming, and fracturing the images. Through repeated contemplation, the images solidify into three-dimensional forms, moving away from their original scenes and evolving into new and different scenarios.
Yoo Seokgeun (South Korea)
Giant
2023
Live performance, Installation [Wood, Rope, Giant’s cervical vertebrae no.4, Rose thorn]
In traditional fairy tales or fantasy films, giants are often portrayed as foolish and villainous but wise and compassionate at the same time. Giant is experiencing the contradiction of being ‘far from the ground and far from the sky,’ unable to be contained by anything, and simultaneously embodying the paradox of being included in everything. The giant’s ambivalent state always shifts their position outside the ‘norm,’ and the inherent distinctions and ‘objectified ideologies’ in the world provide the causes of the tragedy experienced by the giant as the other. The giant responds to the irrationality of rejection based on distinctions by not revealing their physical abilities and always actively responding to the call of the other with a ‘listening’ attitude.
Images with heterogeneous rhythms emerge between clips that faithfully follow the grammar of the film. At this moment, performers existing outside the footage invade the internal space of the video through physical passages, and lying in the “place where they stand at that time,” the image in the 2.35:1 frame, which shines on one wall is separate-dispersed while performers putting fingers together over branches in the air, by the eyes of performers scattered on the real-time scene. The segmented time of the narrative in the video can be delayed through the performance after the video, and moments when the roles of performers immediately shift and the relationships between characters are organically connected, become clearer when the performance utilizes the time and sound of the video. Each medium and character that constitutes “Giant” ‘touch’ each other, becoming an inevitable premise for each other’s existence, and their synthesis advocates violation, and the dual state of <Giant>, which refuses to be reproduced.
“The space between bodies possesses nothing beyond the substantiality of the place where they reveal themselves to each other, that is, the emergence of their images. The space between bodies is the birth of those images. Images are not similar. There is even less similarity with illusion or fantasy. An image is the way bodies are offered to each other, arriving in the world, reaching boundaries, and thus giving glory to boundaries and flashes. One body is an image offered to other bodies, the entire corpus of countless images stretching from body to body, so colors, local shadows, folds, freckles, small scars, crescents, fingernails, hairs, veins, skulls, ribs, pelvis, abdomen, and cheeks, foam, tears, teeth, saliva, gaps, lumps, tongues, sweat, fluids, blood vessels, pain, and pleasure, and me, and you, everything that exists.”
Erina Yoshimura
There is our horizon
2023
Live performance
A long plastic foil tube is filled with water and then carried by members of the same community. As they navigate the ever-changing environment of the mountain path, which lacks even ground, the participants engage in the shared act of horizontally carrying the water. These actions allow the participants to express their individual characteristics and explore their relationships with one another. Simultaneously, the project addresses the social question of what equality truly entails.
Lim E-Lynn Joanne
The Smile Machine
2023
Clear and Mirror Acrylic, Raspberry pi, LED Lights, Glitter Round Stickers, Esp32 Camera, Postcards on Cardstock, Coloured Envelopes, Envelope Rack, Colour Markers
43 x 43 x 15 cm
The Smile Machine(2023) is an interactive art installation designed for children and the young-at-heart. Using a Raspberry Pi, a camera module and a custom colour display, it turns each unique smile into a burst of colour, creating a vibrant reflection of the participant’s emotions.
The installation also invites everyone to share positivity. Participants can write uplifting messages on postcards, transforming the gallery into a treasure hunt of joy. Hidden and found, these messages spread warmth and happiness.
The work aims to create a playful space, where children and the young-at-heart can explore the power of smiles, emotions and kind words. It encourages happiness, self-awareness, and a sense of wonder, painting the world in more colorful and joyful hues.
Ritwika Ganguly
Breath
2023
Animation
5” 03’
Breath is a work of animation that involves making moving images through sequential drawings of subtle movements experienced in the surroundings. The references are drawn from captured videos and aim at evoking a sense of stopping and being in the moment, observing the precision with which one second of a minor minute is made. This is a work of 24 hand-drawn watercolor frames and an animation followed by it.
Xiong Zheng 熊政
Wish of pebble 《石頭的心願》
2023
Installation [Electric motor, Machine parts, Acrylic, Pebble, Components, Electronic component]
154 x 215 x 90 cm
Through the self-rotation of pebbles, we convey the messages of the Earth, translating them into the language of mechanical motion. This motion is then transmitted to different parts of the artwork through various mechanisms, manifesting diverse life characteristics. Each pebble represents an “egg” of the Earth, yet they have never truly hatched. Whenever a pebble is replaced, the entire form and rhythm of the movement undergo changes, as if adopting a new personality.
He Chen 賀晨
Birth
2023
silicone, stainless steel, acrylic board
190 x 100 x 200 cm
Earth’s known life forms adhere to a carbon-based paradigm, but the possibility of alternative life forms, such as silicon-based life, cannot be dismissed. Is the definition of life, based on anthropocentric thinking, comprehensive and authoritative?
Birth aims to satirize the notion of human centrality by combining human body parts and steel to simulate the birth process of unconventional forms of life.
