Technology meets art with Hong Kong’s first foray into the Dorkbot world, writes Bourree Lam

Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of Dorkbot. It just means you’re not dorky... or not dorky enough. Dorkbot is an international grassroots movement that is best summarised by its motto: “People doing strange things with electricity”. It involves engineers, electricians, artists and musicians collaborating on creative projects.

“No one has done Dorkbot in Hong Kong but it’s everywhere,” says Isabella Tam of the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre (VAC) about the Dorkbot movement. Tam invited artist Keith Lam to help kick-start the Dorkbot movement here this summer, with workshops on creating new media arts with technology.

Besides showcasing designers who do cool stuff with techie gear, Dorkbot has an artistic edge that seeks to bridge disciplines with homemade technology. One of the devices explored in Lam’s workshop is a prime example: a pen with an attached device that makes sound based on what you draw. “That way,” explains Lam, “you’re drawing the sound, not making it.”

Lam, codename TheDemos, is the team leader of a new media art collective, dimension+. His business card aptly states his profession as “exploration in arts & technology”. The collective’s headquarters in Kwun Tong are filled with electronics paraphernalia, cables, and a lot of computers.

“Computers are like rice cookers to young people,” says Lam. A professor of new media and interactive arts at City University of Hong Kong, he’s presented most of his performance art outside Hong Kong due to a lack of opportunity here. The collaboration with the VAC has offered a rare chance to stage an event.

For the grand finale of the summer’s Dorkbot endeavours, the dimension+ crew will present Dorkbot: LIVE! outside the Museum of Teaware. Taiwanese new media artist Eschar Tsai will be joining the festivities, which will include a concentrated light projection onto the Museum of Teaware facade.

“The architecture is the 3D canvas for this project,” says Lam. Executed in darkness, the results sound visually spectacular. This kind of building art has been gaining popularity across Nuit Blanche and art festivals in Europe – with online clips surfacing the past couple months. Various 3D patterns and textures projected onto the building’s skin will highlight its colonial architecture while mimicking shadows and light. The effects will include “covering” the building in the King of Kowloon’s graffiti and complex visual illusions that “opens” up columns to reveal pipes and dissects the brickwork in 3D.

“You’ll think that a building can’t possibly do this but it will,” gushes Tam.

On top of stunning visuals, the one-hour performance will include live electronic music and some interactive goodies. “We’ll also have sensors on the columns, so if you hug them they’ll generate a sound,” says Lam.

The dorks are definitely coming. And they might be cooler than you think.

Dorkbot: LIVE!, Fri, Sept 18, 7pm. Hong Kong Park outside Museum of Teaware. Free. See www.the-demos.com for a preview.