Break through the Conventional Art Spaces Embark on an Online and Offline Journey

Promotional Video: https://www.facebook.com/ifvaSince1995/videos/3731268626923218/

Organised by Hong Kong Arts Centre and major funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the biennale moving image arts festival “Jockey Club ifva Everywhere Carnival” (ifva Carnival) has opened on 1 November (Sun) and will run for the whole month to 30 November (Mon). Audiences can enjoy a series of moving images and media arts by local creatives while staying at home, and at different corners of the city.

ifva always believes that spaces for arts and moving images should be very flexible.  In 2016 and 2018, ifva presented two editions of outdoor Carnival in Central, with a total number of visitor arrivals of over 40,000. The global pandemic of 2020 opened up new interpretations of space, time and distance, and it was clear that moving images should no longer be trapped inside fixed physical venues. The latest edition of ifva Carnival, for the first time, breaks through the boundaries of real and virtual, where artworks are now situated and exhibited in spaces ranging from physical exhibition spaces, mobile sites, virtual platforms and even your own private corner. Together with the “secret room” collaborated by creative talents, moving image and media artworks are now to be enjoyed anytime, everywhere!   

FindingEva Interactive Story Journey – Cruising across Online and Offline Spaces 

FindingEva is a transmedia interactive story journey, where the player is a “lost property manager” who will be connected to client Eva through whatsapp, and enter the realm of the narrative in the form of a mobile app. Eva, the protagonist who wants to reclaim her body after abandoning it, needs the player’s help in searching for her lost property throughout the journey of visiting the 12 media artworks situated in 12 different sites. A cliché sci-fi narrative which we could closely relate: who can be sure that those strangers that we talk to via online platforms are real? What if they are “neo-human” that only exist in the form of a stream of consciousness? 12 sets of newly commissioned media artworks will be showcased via exhibitions, mobile programmes and online platforms.

Exhibitions at Venues for Offline Experiences @FabCafe, Sheung Wan / Ocean Terminal Deck, Harbour City / Nina Tower and L’hotel, Tsuen Wan

Designer Kevin Cheung’s Pedal Power Projector will be exhibited at FabCafe, Sheung Wan, audience can hop on this Penny-farthing to revisit old Hong Kong films; parallel to it is designer Alize Lam’s Mood Piano, an enormous hand crank music box where live music would be played to accompany the vintage silent movie clips; media artist Joseph Chan’s Migratory Birds is a large mechanical bird installation at Ocean Terminal Deck, yearning for its homeland; Media artist Yip Man-wah’s St. Peter’s Cupboard invites audience to witness two full moons around Nina Tower as well as L’hotel, Tsuen Wan.

Mobile Sites to Travel through Time and Space @ Cruising around Shum Shui Po / Trip on Tram / Walk along Streets of Hong Kong

Theatre creative Vee Leong and producer Orlean Lai’s Birds Sing Louder in the City is a personal soundscape tour in streets and lanes of the city; designed by filmmaker Heiward Mak, Let it Ride is a moving cinema in the shape of a private car, where tour guide Sham Ka-ki and Manson Cheung will take the audience to cruise around Sham Shui Po; on architect Dylan Kwok’s Tramwaves , one may encounter an adventurer from the 1920s to reimagine the disappeared coastline in the sound of sea waves.

Online Virtual Platforms to Expand Artistic Interactions

Media artist Chilai Howard’s ONLY3MATTERS is a digital Fu Ji (spirit writing) platform with free art print delivered to your door; animator Haze Tsui’s YouTube live channel LoopOut Radio runs non-stop for 1 month; film and video sound designer Cyrus Tang’s When You are Being Alone is a visual exhibition on Instagram of the different sounds of being alone;  painter Stephen Wong’s The Car Race on the Bed relocates his painting from galleries to Instagram to display a series of works created over the lockdown period; animator Jun Ho’s LOST / CLUES/ ESCAPE are three animation shorts that lead the audience to the ultimate ending.

Besides media artworks, Film Tent opens its online branch for the first time. Online psychology quiz “Film Tent: Films for your Mood” leads audience to a particular scenario where an ifva short film or animation which suits their emotions would be recommended. Among the ten titles are Hong Kong Film Awards Best New Director Tsang Tsui-shan’s dance video Ward 11, and animator Tommy Ng’s Another World which features Kay Tse and Rosa Maria Velasco as voice actors.

Education Kit on Demand for Creative Works at Home

Three sets of education kits designed by local artists are to be delivered to your door on demand. Comic writer Justin Wong’s Stop & Move Stop-motion Animation Toolbox is a portable shooting studio for making stop-motion at home; artist Aggie Lee’s Book Reveals Flip Book returns to the beginning of animation, where you can complete the whole narrative; director Alan Lo (latest edition Golden Horse Best Editing nominee), animator Tommy Ng’s Upside Down Contemporary Camera Obscura is a handmade camera which opens up new angles to look at the city.  

50 Local Animators X RubberBand Keep On Running @ “Secret Room” of Creative Talents

Jockey Club ifva Everywhere 48 Hour Film Challenge (Animation) gathers 50 local animators to co-create an original animation short film in the framework of “secret room”. Animator Step C. has designed the creative outline, and worked as the post-production director. Local indie band RubberBand composed for the animation as the touring background music along the road of creation. While animators usually work alone in their own tiny space, their characters never stop taking their next step in the world of animation. Full version of the MV animation will be premiered on 11 November on ifva Facebook channel. 

Hong Kong Arts Centre’s Jockey Club ifva Everywhere Carnival runs from 1 to 30 November. One-month extended, programme, 88 local creative units, and over a hundred artists, join us to embark on an online and offline journey, and explore the different extraordinary image viewing experiences. After all, The City is the Cinema!  

Jockey Club ifva Everywhere Carnival

Date: 1 – 30 Nov 2020

Anytime, Everywhere | Free admission

All artworks and activities will open to public starting 1 Nov. 

Public registration for specific programmes starts on 1 Nov with limited quota.

There will be more details and photos in the Annex.

Programme promotional video: www.facebook.com/ifvaSince1995/videos/3731268626923218/

Download programme brochure: www.ifva.com/carnival-booklet

Download key visual (designed by Young and Innocent, design house established by local talent Lio Yeung) and artwork photos:

http://ftp.hkac.org.hk/MDD/20201102_ifvaCarnival2020/

About Hong Kong Arts Centre

HKAC is a multi-arts centre that fosters artistic exchanges locally and internationally, bringing the most forward creations to Hong Kong and showcasing homegrown talents abroad. HKAC stimulates innovation and promotes creativity. Being Hong Kong’s only independent non-profit multi-arts institution, HKAC offers exhibitions, screenings and performances, connecting the arts of Hong Kong to the rest of the world through programmes and collaborations. Come to HKAC to experience, appreciate, learn and be inspired by arts.

Website: hkac.org.hk | Facebook: Hong Kong Arts Centre | Instagram: @hongkongartscentre