M+ Museum, West Kowloon｜M+ Facade Newly Commissioned Work "Night Charades"

Description

Commissioned by M+ and Art Basel and presented by UBS, the M+ wall will feature a new AI-generated animation, Night Charades, by artist Ho Tzu-yin, paying homage to the history of Hong Kong cinema. Set against the backdrop of the night view of Victoria Harbour, this newly commissioned work references many classic scenes from the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, with a series of AI-generated characters re-enacting important roles once played by Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Stephen Chow, Chow Yun-fat, Brigitte Lin and Anita Mui. The scenes presented in the work also combine elements of the chivalrous heroism of John Woo's films, the romanticism of Wong Kar-wai, the boundless imagination of Tsui Hark and the fearless spirit of Wong Jing.

These characters include humans and non-humans from different generations. They have sharp contrasting colors and present the style of stage dramas in baroque paintings or complex advertisements, full of futuristic temperament. who are they? Where do they come from? Where to go from here? The characters’ uniforms are dressed in luminous stripes, with luxurious, slowly flowing sculptural folds that further enhance the ambiguity of the surreal atmosphere. The work is constantly arranged and reorganized through an algorithmic program to create an ever-changing combination of characters and scenes, reinterpreting the city’s film history in a non-linear and closely connected way, thereby highlighting its flexibility, fluidity and potential to inspire new creativity.

“Night Charades” will be exhibited on the M+ curtain wall every night from March 22, 2025 (Saturday) for three months. This year marks the fourth year that M+ has collaborated with Art Basel on an art project on the M+ façade, supported by UBS.

To coincide with "Night Charades", the show "Ho Tsz Ngan: In Search of History" will be screened at the Grand Stage in March 2025.