Description

Commissioned by Swire Hotels for the interactive design and installation design for the annual Encounter Across Culture Art Program in 2021 for The House Collective, including The Opposite House (Beijing), The Middle House (Shanghai), The Upper House (Hong Kong) and The Temple House (ChengDu). Using an interactive approach to bring videos into a responsive art form, to engage our audience and to allow them to immerse into the artwork, to understand, to experience and to feel it with a new perspective.

About

Encounters Across Cultures 2021 is an interactive engagement between dance and architecture. It allows the audience to create their own journey through the unique spaces of the Houses with dance movements and time.

The first chapter took place at The Opposite House and The Middle House, where audience is invited to join two dance artists, as they explore the unique spaces of the Houses. The audience is in charge of the time and pace of the dance. The two dances were shot in hi-speed camera; the experience allowed audiences to control the speed of the motion and play with time.

The second chapter of the programme crosses cultures in a different way – with an encounter across two very different dance disciplines, inspired by the respective architectures of The Upper House and The Temple House. The refined movements of ballet at The Upper House in Hong Kong meet bold hip hop at The Temple House, a nod to Chengdu’s vibrant scene. The living grids across the five screens entice audience curiosity and to weave the two parallel worlds together when audience approach closer to the installation.

The dancing diamond is an add-on to this dance experience. To encounter is not just to experience. It is also to participate. Dance and architecture represents body movement and structure. The dancing diamond unfold some spectacular locations from the Houses. It contains a depth camera which audience can freely express their own body motion in front of the screen. The movement is structured into geometric shapes, revealing a new form of moving art.

Creating Across Covid

Encounters Across Cultures took on particular meaning this year with the outbreak of Covid-19 and the resulting global restrictions on travel. Collaborating across time zones and languages, the full team have never met in person.

Team

Curator & Producer: Patsy Lo (SML Dance)
Installation Design / Interactive Development: The Collective
Choreographers : Mourad Bouayad & Paul Lamy (Acno), Andrea Currucciu (SML), Yuh Egami (HK Ballet)
Dancers : Li Xinmeng, Yu Jinying, Wan Siming, Hennes Yuen
DOP : Leo Liu

Other Interactive Art Installations :
Swire Hotels – City Symphony Hotel Art Installation
Hong Kong Ballet – Cinderella : Interactive Art Installation