Lee Kai-chung
stepbackforward.art – Art Archive and Methodologies Online Sharing Platform
This is a collective art project that gathers the fragments of emerging artists’ archives and ideas scattered in the public domain, gradually generating an online archive by weaving into a specific tagging and mapping system. For the first stage of the project, we will launch an open call for young local artists between the ages of 21-35, to recruit their methodologies of researching, artmaking and surviving, then to engage all participants in a dialogue to explore the connection of the community. While this renewed connection between individuals and communities transcends the spatiotemporal limitations of the existing art system, it will perhaps reveal a dynamic Hong Kong art ecology and opens up a new mode of participation and possibilities.
Lee Kai-chung
Lee Kai-chung’s artistic research focuses on histories and their narratives, systems and ideologies. In his early years, inspired by the lack of proper governance over the records, Lee began to develop his archival research methodology as his key artistic practice. Through social participation and engagement, research, images and installation, Lee considers the individual gesture as a form of bottom-up reconstruction, which resonates with existing narratives of history. In 2017, Lee initiated a pentalogy of projects under the notion of “Displacement and Diaspora”, and received The Award for Young Artist (Visual Arts) from Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2018.
Collaborative Arts Hyperlinks
In stepbackforward.art, “artists” are considered as hyperlinks made up of archival fragments. After a series of open dialogues with nearly 60 artists, a tagging system and relational mapping have been generated with the keywords and archives provided by the participating artists. The process results in a continuously expanding network of collectively constructed relationships. With the aid of algorithmic arrangements, these keyword tags and files are randomly retrieved and displayed on the web page in real time. Viewers can roam among the information floating on-screen and encounter the occasional pop-up noise, as if navigating in a world of thoughts that will not be silenced. The creative team will develop a collection of methodologies document that serves as a learning and exchange platform for file creators and readers.
Please click： to explore the initiative!
