Mongkok Babylon

Québéc

  |  

2021

  |  

4

 mins

  |  

  |  

Free Screening

Get TicketsWatch Here

Synopsis

Mongkok is a lively and captivating district in Hong Kong where anything goes. It operates 24/7 and is highly connected physically and digitally, making it a metaphor for a futuristic state similar to a neo-Babylonian civilization. It is a bustling hanging garden where traders thrive, and vice is commonplace.

This single-channel video installation portrays a sci-fi version of the futuristic Mongkok. Here, the state has implemented an all-pervasive surveillance system infiltrated by espionage and state agencies. Citizens are compelled to behave and comply with the state agenda, and their rights have been eroded. Nevertheless, many have become indifferent to the dire circumstances and continue to benefit from the status quo.

As a virtual revisitation, the visual here narration is visceral but intentionally out of sync with real-time and reality. The scenes are created from the artist's residual memories over the past twenty years and his online obsession with Hong Kong, using found footage, available data, and computer graphics. The result is a series of provocative, bizarre, and convincing incidents where characters, datascapes, and soundscapes travel back and forth in time, speculating what a futuristic Mongkok might be in an otherworldly state of flux.

Trailer

Still Images

Director's Bio

George Fok

George Fok was born in Hong Kong and resides in Montréal, Canada. He is a new media artist who works with video installation, digital art and filmmaking. Fok explores the intersection of various disciplines, including visual memory, digital aesthetics and speculative narratives. He began his career in visual communications and later co-founded creative agencies before transitioning to filmmaking, digital and new media art. Fok has gained institutional recognition for his immersive art experiences and notable biographical concert installations for iconic figures such as Leonard Cohen and Yoko Ono. His work has been showcased in esteemed institutions, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, GL Strand and Nikolaj Kunsthal in Copenhagen.

Awards & Festivals

Back to All Films

Articles

Rating

Date and Time

May 22, 2024 7:30 PM

-

May 22, 2024 9:00 PM

Location

Dazibao Gallery

Film Category

Media Type

Short Film

Curator

kimura byol lemoine