The Animamix Biennale showcases the influence of the unique aesthetics and culture of animation and comics – hence animamix – on contemporary art. Inaugurated in Shanghai in 2007, the biennale has developed into an event that is presented simultaneously by several cities; co-hosts have included Beijing and Taipei. After participating in the biennale for the first time in 2013-14, the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre and City University of Hong Kong are teaming up again in 2015-16 to present a new exhibition, and they are joined by Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Daegu Art Museum, and Art : 1 New Museum (Jakarta), as as co-organisers.

Art, science, technology and storytelling continue to converge in animation and comics. Setting out to discuss the origins, traditions and contemporary practices of Animamix, the 2015-16 biennale connects various exhibitions of the participating cities under the theme of ‘Directed towards Knowledge'.

Adopting a broad curatorial vision, the Hong Kong exhibition examines contemporary art by focusing on the theme ‘POST PiXEL'. We live today in a combination of the real world and a virtual world constructed, thanks to technological progress, by the tiny pixel. This basic unit of digital imaging gives rise to endless, unpredictable possibilities for creating art, for breaking the boundaries of existing art forms and for merging and extending new realms of knowledge. If art is a mixture of imagination, observation and imitation, the pixel is a scientific and technological method for sublimating art into another level, for decoding and reconstructing ideas in a system that reinterprets the senses, imagination and conceptual contexts in an interactive dialogue aiming to involve viewers.

In this exhibition, we want to present works of art that not only have significant artistic qualities, but that also test new ideas and experiences and inspire viewers with new thoughts generated by technology and media art. We believe that these works can generate aesthetic experience and contribute to the generation of original knowledge as well as a fresh understanding of the intellectual sphere of the world, thus creating new forms of power at different levels.

The exhibition features a series of trans-media artworks created by young artists including Maurice Benayoun, Silas Fong, Tobias Gremmler, Max Hattler, Ip Yuk-yiu, Fiona Lee, Otto Li and Wong Ping.

Date:  21.3 — 17.4.2016 (except Sundays)
Time:  21.3.2016 (6:15pm — 8pm)
            22.3 — 17.4.2016 (12nn — 7pm)
Venue: Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, City University of Hong Kong
Address: 18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong

Free admission