Born and raised in Hong Kong, Lau Wai currently lives and works in New York. They utilize personal and historical archives, cinematic imagery, popular culture, and emerging technologies to investigate how history, fiction, personal memory, and virtuality collide in the process of identity formation. Their practice involves moving images, new media, photography, sculptural objects, and installation.
Their works are collected by The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (United States); Alexander Tutsek – Stiftung Foundation (Germany), and M+ (Hong Kong), among others. They have exhibited at international events and institutions, including Brandts Museum of Art and Visual Culture, Denmark (2016); Power Station of Art, Shanghai (2018); Para Site, Hong Kong (2015, 2018); Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2019, 2021); Kuandu Biennale, Taiwan (2018); Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, Japan (2015); The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, United States (2019) and Yokohama Triennale, Japan (2020).
The Dome
2023, 1’51
The protagonist (a digital avatar of the artist in which they dressed up like a motion capture performer but with a non-functional motion capture suit) appears in front of a green screen within a dome where they were kept. They step out, approach the street, pass by different scenarios, and groups of people, and stop at a spot where a man dressed in a protection suit appeared. The man is facing a group of blue-bodied creatures from a distance, waiting to approach. People start to run in all different directions. The protagonist turns around and keeps walking. The man in the protection suit appears again and runs ahead of them. They try to follow the man and he disappears in an iron gate. They chase after him, passing through the iron gate, and all of a sudden they enter into a different space. They are confused and keep looking around. The space is sealed with a locked door. Then, they see a giant man in a protection suit walking past outside the space. They realize they are trapped in another sealed dome.
Directing & Writing: Lau Wai
Animation: Lau Wai
Cinematography: Lau Wai
Editing: Lau Wai
3D Environment Production: Art Equilibrium