假如我們現在乘搭時光機回到石器時代，跟原始人說當代藝術家不再在岩壁上作畫，可以透過VR技術在空氣中創作，他們一定會認為我們癡人說夢。但在科技日新月異的現代社會，越來越多技術被應用在藝術創作中。般哥展覽館在十一月下旬舉行的展覽「藝術機器 過去/現在」正探討藝術創作和工具之間的關係，向我們展示科技並非藝術創作的絆腳石，而是成就其誕生的條件。

In today’s increasingly diverse modern society, the proliferation of new technologies, above all the computer, has afforded an ever-widening repertoire of material and symbolic forms from which art can be created. The exhibition Arts Machines Past/Present,which will be held at The Indra and Harry Banga Gallery in late November, explores the relationship between artistic creation and tools, showing us that technology is not an impediment to the making of art but a condition of its possibility.

本次展覽主要分為五個部分，第一部分集中介紹在現代主義及工業化中誕生的機器為社會帶來的變革，其後部分展示包括動能機器藝術、電腦圖像與動畫、電腦裝置藝術和聲音藝術四個不同範疇的藝術作品。這次超過20位來自世界各地的藝術家參展，每分作品對於媒體都有著革新的開發與詮釋，以下將為你介紹8位精選藝術家。

The exhibition showcases artworks from four different disciplines: Rube Goldberg machines and kinetic sculpture, computer graphics and animation, computer installation art, and sound art. More than 20 artists from around the world participated in this exhibition, who have explored different ways of creating that push the limits of technology to boundless possibilities. Below are 8 groups of artists that you can’t miss out in the exhibition.

Maurice Benayoun是法國的先驅新媒體藝術家，這次展出的「香港逃離之景」融合了VR技術。他的虛擬世界一方面捕捉了荒蕪的大自然，同時插入圍欄、穿著防疫裝備的人員等畫面，揭露了全球疫症爆發時不為人見的景象。

Maurice Benayoun, is a pioneering figure in the field of new media art. His featured work, Hong Kong Escape Views: Panoptical Memories, is an interactive installation with 360° videos and VR binoculars that reveals the unseen during a time of global pandemic.

另一位以香港為創作背景的是德國新媒體藝術家Max Hattler。《Serial Parallels》這件作品拍攝了延綿天際的屋邨，並定格於平行排列的菲林上，使人眩目的抽象畫面讓我們從日常生活中抽離，觀察與思考。

German artist Max Hattler also uses Hong Kong as a backdrop for his work in the exhibition. In his featured work, Serial Parallels, Hong Kong’s signature architecture of horizon-eclipsing housing estates is reimagined as parallel rows of film strips. As soothing as it is dizzying, the work conveys a sense of the extremely repetitive nature of Hong Kong’s urban environment. 

Elke Reinhuber的參展作品《National Flowers [Reflection]》同樣有著令人眼花繚亂的效果，利用監控鏡頭設和三角形稜鏡把攝影器材轉化為花形飾紋。稜鏡通過實時影像投射，觀眾可與之互動，走進千奇萬變的萬花筒世界。

Elke Reinhuber’s featured work, National Flowers [Reflection], consists of a surveillance camera at the edge of a mirror-clad triangular prism. The kaleidoscopic effect inside the prism turns the technical equipment into floral ornaments. Users can interact and influence the flowerlike patterns which are projected through a live-stream of the camera. 

Tamás Waliczky對古老的底片相機很感興趣，但不清楚它們是如何製造出來，於是創作了自己的版本。他的作品包括6張由電腦生成的圖像，每張都展示了他以不同相機作藍本而想像出來的相機，成為了19與21世紀的交匯。

Tamás Waliczky showcases 6 computer-generated images of imaginary cameras. Crafted with the precision of engravings, these animated visions of a photographic bestiary live somewhere between the follies of a 19th century inventor and the foresight of a 21st century disruptor.

Jeffrey Shaw的這件裝置作品委約於1990年，原本的構想是在數學及電腦科學中心裡懸掛一顆連接摩打滑輪的鋼製巨球，中心研究員能夠實時連線控制其擺動路徑。作品終於在今年竣工，配合全新設計的應用軟件，讓公眾能與之互動。

This installation by Jeffrey Shaw was commissioned in 1990. It was conceived as a large steel ball suspended on motorized pulleys with researchers having real time networked control of its flight path. Now in 2020 the work has been finally realized with an application software that engages public interaction.

Tobias Klein與Jane Prophet共同創作的《Common Datum》是具備吸濕性質的雕塑，能夠回應環境的變化。觀眾的呼吸為展覽空間添加了濕氣，而這一系列懸掛的器皿則持續吸濕，每個3D打印的器皿皆由多個交錯的結構組成，緩慢地累積水份。

Common Datum, created by Tobias Klein and Jane Prophet, is an environmentally reactive, hygroscopic sculpture. A series of suspended vessels continuously absorb the humidity in the exhibition – generated through the breath of the audience. Slowly each 3D printed vessel, consisting of multiple intersecting volumes, accumulates water.

《Viva Voce》是Can Liu（劉燦）與Alvaro Cassinelli的作品，這件裝置作品邀請人們在桌子前聊天，運用語意及語感分析，以咪高峰陣定位講者的位置。當字詞脫離講者，隨即開展屬於自己的生命。

Viva Voce is the work of Can Liu and Alvaro Cassinelli. This installation invites people to chat over a table, which relies on semantic and sentiment analysis and uses a microphone array to locate the speaker. The words, freed from the speakers, begin a life of their own.

香港藝術家及作曲家Samson Young與愛丁堡大學「Next Generation Sound Synthesis」（NESS）團隊合作，開發了一套模擬樂器聲音的軟件，讓歷史學家有機會聽到失傳器具的聲音，例如以攝氏300度熱氣吹奏的號角。

Samson Yeung, Hong Kong artist and composer, collaborated with the University of Edinburgh’s Next Generation Sound Synthesis (NESS) group. They developed a software that models the sound of musical instruments, offers historians the opportunity to hear lost objects, such as a bugle activated by a 300 degrees’ Celsius breath. 

舉辦本次展覽的般哥展覽館是由香港城市大學營運，憑着大學在AR 和VR 技術方面的優勢，展覽利用了創新的科技來展現嶄新的藝術和文化展示方式，讓觀眾直接參與展品、與展品互動，為每個展覽創造一個身臨其境，與別不同的體驗環境。

The Indra and Harry Banga Gallery, the home to this exhibition, is run by the City University of Hong Kong. It draws on the strengths of the university in AR and VR technology to stage technologically innovative presentations that engage directly with the viewer. It uniquely combines new media with cultural artifacts, createing an immersive, distinct, experiential environment for each exhibition.

「藝術機器 過去/現在」 Art Machine​ Past/Present
Date: 2020. 11. 24 – 2021.2​.21
Time: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 – 19:00​
Venue: 般哥展覽館​
香港城市大學劉鳴煒學術樓18樓​
The Indra and Harry Banga Gallery​
18/F, Lau Ming Wai Academic Building, City University of Hong Kong​