On the verge of getting a world-class visual arts museum and famed for being an art auction powerhouse, Hong Kong should better recognise – finally – the amazing talent already in its midst. Edmund Lee gives a shout-out to 22 of our city’s best artists. Photography by Calvin Sit.

What are the most recognisable traits of your work?
I was trained as a classical composer and self-taught as a hacker-technologist. I think my works are fundamentally informed by an engagement with new cultural-technological paradigms, yet deeply grounded in the classical musical tradition.

How did you get into this type of work?
I just got curious – while in graduate school in the US I had the crazy idea of turning a supermarket coin-operated ride into an interactive sound player, so I taught myself circuitry and electronics and all of that. I think that was a pretty pivotal moment.

Can you name the media you work in?
I can’t – I do too many things. I make sound installations as well as compositions for symphony orchestras and a whole array of other things in between. Some of my installations don’t even make sound.

Describe your work in one sentence.
I fake the morbidity of classical music.

Are you working on any new pieces?
I am working on a notation project. Over the next few months I will be transcribing a whole bunch of really mundane sounds – like the hum of my old refrigerator and the weird buzz that my juicer makes – into highly literal, extremely accurate and visually complex musical scores to be displayed.

What’s the best way for collectors to find your work?
They may contact I/O (Input/Output) Gallery.

Tell us about your upcoming shows.
I’m working on a new series of sound installations for a show at the ISE Cultural Foundation in New York. I’m also making a new sound piece for the Nimbus Dance Company and NOW Ensemble, for performances in New York and New Jersey in the summer. And then I am headed to the Ars Electronica Festival in August.

www.thismusicisfalse.com

Images:
1) Samson Young
2) I am thinking in a room, different from the one you are hearing in now (homage to Alvin Lucier) (sound performance for two performers with EEG sensors, woodblocks and snare drums, 2011)
3) Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 1 - 14 (Senza Misura) (sound installation with open breadboard circuits, jumper wires, light-emitting diodes, speakers and 9V batteries, 2010)
4) Signal Path II: Sinister Resonance (site-specific sound installation with EEG sensors, headphones and small monitors, 2011)

| Wilson Shieh | Leung Chi-wo | Ho Sin-tung | Wong Wai-yin | Kwan Sheung-chi | Adrian Wong | Magdalen Wong | Kacey Wong | Chow Chun-fai | Joey Leung Ka-yin | Nadim Abbas | Lee Kit | Stephanie Sin | Stanley Wong aka anothermountainman | Simon Birch | Lam Tung-pang | Ivy Ma | Samson Young | Au Hoi-lam | Pak Sheung-chuen | Tang Kwok-hin | Tsang Kin-wah |