Society Art Technology Asia initiated the ‘Blind Men and The Elephant: On Wholeness and Fragmentation’ programme, which aims to connect art professionals across East and South Asia, who practice media art, AI learning, gaming, curation and festival making.

The four-day Artist Meetup event invited 7 artists, curators and researchers based in China, South Korea, Indonesia, Mongolia and Singapore. To share their experiences and methodologies with Hong Kong artists and audiences through talks and in-depth workshops.

Jooyoung Oh utilised AI learning to reconstruct the narrative of women’s history in South Korea, against the stereotype of women and girls’ image and behavior shaped by media and social norms since the post-war recovery. On the other hand, she looks into the shortcomings of AI, which cannot generate the complex feelings and memories of humans. This factor influenced her approach and method of dealing with historical materials.

Ziyang Wu built the virtual game world with data collected from social and historical facts. He created his imaginary world with AI simulation based on his ‘5 dimensions and 8 aspects’ method. The 5 dimensions are nature, economy, society, politics and culture, the 8 aspects come across text, image, object, place, video, sound, event and ecosystem. One can construct an imaginary world systematically by responding to each combination of the two spectrums. The artist’s practice shows the ambiguity between the fabricated worldview and reality, even across the dimensions of time.

Jeong Ok Jeon shared her insights on curating on different occasions, such as online or hybrid exhibitions, and the experience of people with special needs visiting the exhibition. With the support of technology, the exhibition might reach out to audiences from different time zones, cultures and internet access levels, it is impossible to rethink the inclusiveness and togetherness during exhibition making, to benefit the wider community.

The fruitful conversation and SATA community will continue the exploration and exchange of art and technology in the future, stay tuned for the next phase in summer.

Kobe Ko (b. 1992 in Hong Kong) is an independent curator and artist, formerly worked as Assistant Curator at Para Site(2021–2023) and Art Education and Gallery Coordinator at Tai Kwun Contemporary(2019–2021). She is also the co-founders of nomad nomad(2014–present). She has curated ‘Cantando Bajito: Incantations’ (Ford Foundation Gallery, New York, 2024), ‘Everyday life in Hong Kong and Fukuoka: The study of Contemporary Arts and Kougengaku’ (art space tetra, Fukuoka, 2023), ‘Post-Human Narratives’ series (Cattle Depot Artist Village and Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences, Hong Kong, 2020–2022), Kong Chun Hei’s solo exhibition ‘PS’ (Para Site, Hong Kong, 2023), Florence Yuk-ki Lee’s solo exhibition ‘Broken heart pieces disco ball’ (MOU PROJECTS, Hong Kong, 2023), and ‘CHOW KAI CHIN’ Community Art Experimental Project (Kowloon City, Hong Kong, 2013 & 2014), among others.

Ko’s artworks depart from her intimate relationship and personal sensation and mainly focus on the re-imagination of distance and boundaries, she has participated in joint exhibition ‘roundabout’ (Zit-Dim Art Space, Tainan, 2024), ‘The Tailed Scar’ (Tiger Arm Strong Biennale, Hong Kong, 2023), duo exhibition ‘Over the ocean, over the sea’ (Current Plans, Hong Kong, 2022) and more. She graduated from the Department of Creative Arts and Culture of The Hong Kong University of Education, and received an MA in Gender Studies from Shih Hsin University in Taiwan. She lives and works in Hong Kong and Taiwan.