Discover HKBU
Emerging transdisciplinary artists in exploration and creation
30 Jun 2026
Artistic creation often begins with continuous “searching” for inspiration. Through exploring ideas, creators gradually generate their own modes of expression. After four years of “searching”, 29 graduating students at HKBU have transformed their understanding of the world into compelling artistic works that respond to contemporary life.
The School of Creative Arts at HKBU presented the inaugural graduation exhibition “Ctrl+F” of the Bachelor of Arts and Science (Hons) in Arts and Technology (ARTT) programme at the East Kowloon Cultural Centre from 31 May to 7 June. Through diverse media, the exhibition showcased the graduating students’ exploration and transformation within their transdisciplinary learning journeys and invited audience to search for their unique interpretations within the exhibits.
Crystal Lee Pui-ying’s graduation piece, He and Me, stems from the loss of her father. While handling posthumous arrangements, she deeply felt a sense of disconnection, where a person’s entire life is ultimately reduced to data and documents, categorised and processed within systems. Through the projection of her father’s personal identification numbers, Pui-ying’s installation work illustrates how official records can never constitute someone’s complete life narrative. At the same time, a mechanically operated typewriter slowly taps out a poem addressed to her father; its unfinished sentences unfold through cycles of repetition and pause. As a symbol of institutional order and repetition since the industrial era, the typewriter stands in contrast with the poem that carries private emotions beyond quantification. “Probably no one would spend seven minutes watching the typewriter repeatedly attempt to ‘speak’,” Crystal said.
This is precisely what Pui-ying is trying to convey: even though one can generate words and communicate without being physically present with the help of technology, the difficulty lies in forming a genuine connection. Ultimately, what is left to say is perhaps something plain but sincere, a simple “thank you”.
Yoyo Yeung Paak-yiu’s artwork, Yield, draws inspiration from everyday observations and adopts a speculative design to construct a scenario that appears futuristic but reflects a common phenomenon nowadays: parenting is no longer primarily about companionship, but has become a task that can be outsourced. Through promotional videos, brochures and interactive experience, Yoyo’s work introduces a virtual helper system that promises to “free up parents’ hands” by delegating childcare to technology. This absurd yet realistic setting serves as a critique of current parenting trends. As efficiency and management increasingly shape parenting, the work invites reflection on whether parent-child bonds traditionally built through time and emotional connection are being redefined, or gradually replaced.
For Cherry Sum Cheuk-wing, interactivity is at the core of a game, and the medium itself is more important than the content. Her work Narrative Domain is an experimental game that explores fragmented storytelling and the collective construction of meaning. Through a simulated file explorer interface, players can navigate the environment, make choices, and even rewrite the existing structure in the operation system. This process allows both freedom and constraint to coexist, leaving room for imagination within a set framework. However, when players attempt to break through the framework, a new order emerges. Ultimately, the meaning of the work does not belong to any single individual but is co-created through each act of participation. She hopes to publish the work on online platforms for wider engagement after further optimisation and refinement.
Launched in 2022, the ARTT programme is one of HKBU’s first transdisciplinary undergraduate programmes, aiming to nurture talents proficient in both the arts and technology. The three graduates said that the programme offers a highly flexible and open learning environment, enabling them to explore across disciplines and develop their own creative directions through collaborative projects and experiential learning, while effectively bringing content and technology together in an integrated manner.
They also highlighted that artificial intelligence has become a valuable supportive tool in their creative process, helping to enhance efficiency. However, they noted that authorship remains firmly in the hands of the creators, who can choose how to use these tools. They believed creations grounded in human emotion and perspective are impossible to replace.