Kongkee: Electronic Heart Beat

Based between Hong Kong and London, artist Kongkee (Kong Khong-chang) has developed a creative practice that transcends various genres and mediums, spanning diverse fields such as comics, animation, painting, installation, and performance. His works draw on classical literature, philosophy, and historical motifs from East Asia, interweaving themes such as urban and personal memory and identity in a multilayered manner, forging a unique worldview where past, present, and future intersect.

In the “Dragon’s Delusion” series, one of his iconic works, Kongkee draws on historical facts and legends surrounding figures from ancient China, such as Qin Shi Huang, Qu Yuan, and King Huai of Chu in order to depict a cyberpunk dystopian world and explore fundamental questions about the essential nature of free will and human existence. In his new series “Future Jataka,” he draws inspiration from the Jataka Tales of the Buddha’s past lives in order to imagine a future where AI suddenly achieves a kind of enlightenment. By blending traditional religious art with technology, Kongkee questions the spiritual connection between humans and AI, as well as the future of faith.

In this way, Kongkee’s works present an alternative vision of the future in terms of the relationship between humans and technology that is rooted in Asian history and culture, unlike the Western-centric vision of the future that has been globally disseminated and entrenched through mass media. Central to this is a certain perspective based on “Asian Futurism”—an attempt to reconstruct our imagination regarding the future based on the philosophy and aesthetics unique to Asia, as a critical response to the continued homogenization of visual culture and values brought about by globalization. We hope you will take this opportunity to experience Kongkee’s diversity of artistic expression through the perspective of this “Asian Futurism.”