Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen (sixth from left), president of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, shakes hands with Yang Yong, president of Bauhinia Magazine, as guests gather for an onstage group photo at the Innovation, Technology and Arts Development Forum 2023 held on Tuesday by the publication group. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
Hong Kong officials said the integration of arts and technology is an essential part of the city’s development paradigm, and pledged to encourage artists to create unprecedented works by making good use of innovative applications.
“Hong Kong is making every effort to develop itself into an international innovation and technology center and an East-meets-West center for international cultural exchange. Art-tech is a new development direction that connects culture and art with innovative technology,” Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu told a forum on Tuesday.
As part and parcel of efforts to foster art-tech, the East Kowloon Cultural Centre (EKCC) will open in phases between the end of this year and the beginning of next in a drive to further promote the integration of the arts and technology.
The center will be equipped with innovative facilities and a special art-tech testing ground. In addition, the EKCC will provide systematic training and produce different types of art-tech projects to promote exchanges and cooperation between artists and technology professionals.
According to the chief executive, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has approved more than HK$100 million ($13 million) to facilitate the cultural and arts sectors to apply technology in suitable projects. A total of 324 art-tech-related organizations and professionals have benefited so far.
Organized by Bauhinia Magazine, the forum featured the interplay between art and technology as well as the development of Web3 — a new iteration of internet service powered by decentralized blockchains.
Undersecretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Joseph Chan Ho-lim said Hong Kong should give full play to virtual assets to explore bigger opportunities in promoting art-tech.
He cited non-fungible tokens (NFTs) — unique cryptographic tokens that are recorded on a blockchain — to back his view.
Such “one-of-a-kind” assets are better known as the digital answer to collectibles as they can be bought and sold like any other piece of property, but have no tangible form of their own.
Chan said artists around the world can use NFTs to build communities and connect with others who share the same ideals.
Undersecretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Raistlin Lau Chun highlighted the importance of the development of art-tech as it can bring more opportunities to the city’s creative industry.
“The Publishing 3.0 — HK Smart eBook-Hub funded by the Create-Smart Initiative is an exemplary record of the integration of technology and creative industries,” Lau said.
“The project uses an ‘artificial intelligence system’ and ‘text-to-speech technology’ to convert Chinese physical books into e-books and audiobooks in other languages, helping the publishing industry to promote their creations, expand the market, and drive publishing and cultural exchanges,” he added.
