Hung Keung

Hung Keung (洪強) is a Hong Kong contemporary digital media artist, scholar, and educator whose interdisciplinary practice integrates film, video, digital new media, and — through his Hong Kong Open Printshop affiliation — print editions that translate his interactive-media research into framed, editioned works on paper. Born in 1970 in Yunnan, Kunming Province, he moved to Hong Kong at the age of three.

His education followed an unusually international and cross-disciplinary path: the Swire School of Design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (1990-1992), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (1992-1995), and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, where he earned an MA in Film and Video (1996-1998). He subsequently completed a PhD at the Planetary Collegium, Zurich University of the Arts (Switzerland) and the University of Plymouth (UK), and was a visiting scholar at ZKM (Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe) in Germany. In 2005 he established the innov+media lab (imhk lab) focused on new-media art and design research connected to Chinese philosophy and interactivity.

Since 1995, Hung has been actively involved in the creation and research of films, videos, and digital media art, and he is best known internationally for interactive installations that integrate film, video, and digital new media with classical Chinese themes of philosophy, art, and literature. Through his interactive strategies — which often deploy imagery of Chinese characters, ink, rice paper, and flowers — the artist creates novel ways for audiences to experience and engage with traditional themes and concepts. His honours include twice being named Artist of the Year (Media Art) by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (ADC), the Best Artist of the Year Award (Media Art), and the Outstanding Young Artist Award (Film and Media Art) from the ADC. He was the first Chinese artist to receive the 'Special Mention Interactive CD-ROM Award' at the International New Media Arts Festival in Greece, and he received a 'Special Award for New Media' in Croatia.

Within the print-art community, Hung's relationship to woodcut and traditional relief printmaking is mediated through the Hong Kong Open Printshop, which lists him among its represented artists and circulates two of his framed editioned works — 'Dao Give Birth To One I' and 'Dao Give Birth To One II' (HK$12,000 each) — through its Print Art Contemporary online shop. The titles reference the opening lines of the Daoist text Daodejing's Chapter 42 ('the Dao gave birth to one'), reflecting the philosophical lineage that runs through his broader media work. His practice as a print artist is partial: the works circulated through HKOP are editions, but his primary medium is digital interactive installation rather than relief printmaking.

He is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts at the Education University of Hong Kong, where his research centres on digital media art and the integration of Chinese philosophical traditions with interactive technology. The 2023 'Digital Media Art Installation' solo exhibition at Alisan Fine Arts (Hong Kong) and his sustained scholarship around interactive Chinese-character interfaces situate him among Hong Kong's senior media artists.