DERBY.- To celebrate international cultural exchange between the UK and Hong Kong, the Peer to Peer: UK/HK Online Festival launched an online exhibition of new and existing digital artwork from UK and Hong Kong based artists from Wed 11 November to Sun 13 December 2020. The exhibition is free to access and accompanies an online events programme discussing topical themes and issues affecting visual arts sectors across the world.

Peer to Peer: UK/HK is a programme designed to encourage meaningful cultural exchange and to forge enduring partnerships between the UK and Hong Kong's visual arts sectors. It is led by independent Hong Kong based curator Ying Kwok, University of Salford Art Collection, Open Eye Gallery and Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA) and consists of a network of contemporary visual arts organisations across the UK and Hong Kong.

New Commissions
Five especially commissioned artworks premiered on Wed 11 November in the Peer to Peer: UK/HK Online Exhibition. These works celebrate artists based in the UK and Hong Kong that work with new media and digital platforms. Each of these artists were selected from nominations by UK and Hong Kong visual arts organisations.

The commissions include a co-commission with QUAD, Derby from artist Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley whose works uses animation, sound, performance and video games to communicate the experiences of being a Black Trans person. Nominated by Peter Bonnell, QUAD, Brathwaite-Shirley’s new work, I can’t remember a time I didn’t need you, 2020, is an interactive digital story in which a mysterious fog takes over a city, changing all within it.

"Throughout history, Black queer and Trans people have been erased from the archives. Because of this it is necessary not only to archive our existence, but also the many creative narratives we have used and continue to use to share our experiences." Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

Commission: Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, I can’t remember a time I didn't need you, 2020, interactive story
The other commissioned artists are Antonio Roberts (nominated by Charlotte Frost, Furtherfield), Hetain Patel (nominated and co-commissioned by Skinder Hundal, New Art Exchange, Nottingham), Lee Kai Chung (nominated by Wang Weiwei, Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile) and Sharon Lee Cheuk Wun (nominated by Bess Chan, Hong Kong International Photo Festival).

Existing Artwork
The five commissions are accompanied by a series of existing artworks, also nominated by visual arts organisations in the UK and Hong Kong. These include digital videos, animation, interactive media and augmented reality applications.




Included in the existing artwork exhibition is Hong Kong artist Choi Sai-Ho’s video and sound art work, nominated by Geoff Wong (Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre). Space Within Space (2019) takes an astrological perspective as it imagines the night-time sky from a strange, unpopulated world:

“If there is no civilization, no light pollution, the planet is not like the Earth nowadays, standing at the same location, looking up the starry sky, what does the space look like? Even in another time and space, or multiverse, the Earth may deviate from the current orbit, or it may not exist at all. What does the space sound like?” Choi Sai Ho

Artwork: Choi Sai Ho, Space Within Space, 2019, Media Art, Video Art, Sound Art (still)
London-based artist and film-maker Suki Chan (nominated by Zoe Dunbar, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art) presents her ultra high definition video, MEMORY, 2019. MEMORY takes audiences on a journey between micro and macro perspectives as it considers the contrasts between the expanse of geological time and the brevity of the human life span.

Other artists exhibited include Megan Broadmeadow, Luke Ching Chin Wai, Shezad Dawood, Sarah Eyre, Sarah Friend, Parham Ghalamdar, Rachel Goodyear, Lai Lon Hin, South Ho, Hui Wai Keung, David Lockwood, Elaine Wong and John Wong.
Social Media Residencies

Residency: Wu Jiaru, One World One Dream, 2019, film still
Accompanying the commissions and existing artwork is a series of social media residencies between UK and Hong Kong based artists taking over the social media accounts of visual arts organisations in the corresponding country.

The first completed residency was with Hong Kong artist Wu Jiaru, nominated by HART in Hong Kong to take over UK gallery Furtherfield’s Instagram channel as an extension of their work currently displayed in HART’s exhibition Household Gods.

Upcoming and ongoing residencies include: Arjun Harrison-Mann, Benjamin Redgrove and Kaiya Waerea with Eaton HK; Shane Aspegren with University of Salford Art Collection; Kashif Nadim Chaudry with CHAT; Chris Paul Daniels with WMA; Raul Hernandez with Open Eye Gallery; Tang Kwok Hin with Milton Keynes Arts Centre and Newlyn Art Gallery & the Exchange; Joey Holder with K11 Art Foundation; Hui Wai-Keung with QUAD Derby; Nisa Khan with Hong Kong International Photo Festival; Alex Chung Po Lun with CFCCA; Shy Bairns Collective with 1983 HK, and Wong Kit Yi with Castlefield Gallery.

Legacy Exhibition and Projects
Finally, Hong Kong based artist and researcher Lee Wing Ki will be taking over Open Eye Gallery’s public window exhibition space from 16 November to the 18 December 2020. Nominated by 1a space, Wing Ki will exhibit his black and white Night Walk (an excerpt) photography project (2019-2020) portraying a seemingly empty Hong Kong cityscape at night.

Meanwhile Tang Kwok Hin’s social media residency with Milton Keynes Arts Centre and Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange will happen after the festival. Having been born and raised in a walled village in Kam Tin, Tang Kwok-hin hopes to explore ideas of place through working with primary school children in both Newlyn and Milton Keynes.