Keith Lam is a Hong Kong-based new media artist, co-founder of new media creative team Dimension+, and one of the minds behind common room & co, a multifunctional space consisting of an exhibition room, a café, an independent bookstore and a co-working area. The reason for establishing common room & co was that he hoped to help preserve Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po area while also providing a communal space for local creatives to exchange ideas and exhibit their work. Recently, we dropped by the space to chat with Keith about the ins and outs of being a new media artist.
Keith Lam（林欣傑）是居住在香港的新媒体艺术家，也是新媒体创作团队Dimension+及文创空间common room ＆ co. 的创始人之一。 common room ＆ co.是一个结合了展览场地、咖啡店、独立书店及自造者工作坊的复合空间，Keith希望通过打造这个场地，在保留深水埗社区多样性的同时，也给本地的创造者们提供一个交流区域和展示平台。最近我们来到common room ＆ co，和Keith见面聊了聊关于新媒体艺术的二三事。
Thinking back on how he first started working with new media art, Keith recalls that he’s been interested in art since middle school. However, after receiving stellar examination results in accounting, he found himself majoring in information systems. Serendipitously, a friend introduced him to new media art during his second year of university when he was on an exchange program in the United States. It was then that Keith discovered his chosen field of study could be assimilated with his love of art. After graduating, Keith was invited by the same friend to the City University of Hong Kong and worked as a research assistant to a professor of new media art. The decision to pursue this opportunity brought him closer to his dreams. Now, Keith has fully devoted himself to the world of art.
关于如何踏足新媒体艺术这个领域，Keith告诉我们一个小故事。从中学开始他就喜欢艺术科目，然而高考却因为会计科成绩太好而误打误撞进入信息系统专业。 而真正敲开新媒体艺术大门要归功于他的一位好朋友，他们在大二一起去美国交换的时候认识，在那期间朋友带他接触到许多有关新媒体艺术的东西，这让Keith开心地发现他在读的信息系统竟然可以和他中学热爱的艺术产生交集。毕业后，Keith受这位朋友推荐去了香港城市大学做新媒体艺术教授的研究助理，这也让他离这个领域更近一步，之后便一心投入了进去。
Explaining what a new media artist does exactly isn’t easy, Keith admits. When people ask him about his work, he instead describes the theme of “energy transmutation” that he often explores. To put it simply, it’s when one medium is transformed into an another, such as reinterpreting sound into a visual format. Then, in the conversion process, he imbues new meanings into the original work. Below, we take a look at three of his past interactive installations to better understand Keith’s process of “energy transmutation.”
说起新媒体艺术，Keith坦言要向人解释自己是做什么的，的确不是容易的事。如果真要解释的话，更愿意告诉别人他的作品中经常出现的概念就是 “能量转换” 。简单来说，就是将一种媒介转化为另一种媒介，例如声音变成画面等等。在转化的过程中为原来的媒介赋予新的理念。如果你还是觉得抽象，不如和我们一起走近Keith过往的三件交互作品，来看看到底什么是新媒体艺术中的“能量转换”。
Straw in the Wind
Straw in the Wind is an installation that debuted at Hong Kong’s Taiwan Redesign event. The installation is inspired by wind, specifically wind that flows from the Taiwanese city of Taitung to Hong Kong. Keith and his team collected meteorology data from select locations in Taitung, which they then used to manipulate the movement of the straws on display in Hong Kong. By using the faraway and unseen winds of Taitung to create visible movement in Hong Kong, they echoed the mission of Taiwan Redesign, which was to introduce the beauties of Taiwan to Hong Kong.
《稻浪随风》
《稻浪随风》装置是香港台湾月活动的作品之一，以台东的风吹向香港的概念呈现。也就是说，Keith和他的团队在台东选了几个地方，收录当地风向与风速的数据，再透过网络传输到香港，利用这些数据来移动香港展场的稻草，仿佛把台东的风带来香港。在这个作品中，来自台东无形的风被转换成了香港展场可视的稻草移动，这也呼应了台湾月的活动主题，将台湾的美好传递到香港。
Landscape of Cloud
Landscape of Cloud is inspired by our modern-day online cloud storage services. The installation allows visitors to place any object they desire onto the projectors, which then analyzes the object’s colors through built-in sensors. By turning the handle next to the machine, the analyzed objects project colors up into the floating cloud. Keith describes this process as “uploading,” explaining that when we upload photos onto Facebook or Instagram, we’re projecting our personal condition online – it may appear beautiful but is completely imaginary.
《云图景象》
这件作品的意念源自现在盛行的云端科技。观众可以把任意物件放置在投影机的面板上，随后感应器会分析该物件的颜色，观众通过搅动机器旁的手把，就会把颜色投射到投影机上方漂浮的云形装置，改变云的颜色。Keith形容这个过程为”上载”，他解释道，这原理就如我们平时上载相片到脸书或者Instagram一样，是在投射我们的个人状态上云端，这个看似美丽梦幻的世界，也是一个虚拟世界。
One Day Social Sculpture
In order to create this installation, Keith collected data from various online forums and comment sections, which he then fed into an electronic cutting machine that used the information to create a tangible object out of formless digitized data. Originally, Keith had just intended to create a series of sculptures, but he realized that these sculptures accurately presented the state of today’s society as a whole. A look at a sculpture made with data from Hong Kong’s House News website revealed when discussions intensified according to societal affairs at the time
《One Day Social Sculpture》
制作这个作品时，Keith收集了几个社交网页上的访问及留言互动数据，再将数据传输到电子切割机，将其转化为一件实体雕塑，这个过程把无形的数据变化成可视的物体，甚至是一件艺术品。Keith和我们分享说起初只是想做一系列雕塑出来，而没想到在这些雕塑身上却意外地看到了整个社会的状态，这十分有趣。比如说其中一个雕塑的数据来自“主场新闻”的网页，你从雕塑的形态上就可以一眼看出什么时段网民有密集地讨论，再结合当下的时事，这变成了一件能反映出社会讨论氛围的雕塑作品。
Website:
keithlyk.net
dimensionplus.co
Instagram: @keithlyk
Contributor: Ye Zi
Images Courtesy of Keith Lam
