Edwin LO

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Edwin LO

Participating Project	International Creator Residency Program
Activity Based	Hong Kong
City / Place stayed	Tokyo
Period	2023.5 - 2023.7

Purpose of the residency

In the residency, I propose artistic speculation and investigation that postulates technology playing a fundamental role in thinking ecology. Technology, in nature, is neither an instrument nor a universal, westernized, and singular mode of mediation of the world. Instead, it reveals the intertwined relationship between locality and cosmology, or what philosopher Yuk Hui called cosmotechnics which emphasizes the dynamics between moral order and cosmic order in technical activities and the thinking of locality. With cosmotechnics as a conceptual tool, this project attempts to outline and pose artistic and philosophical exploration and speculation on ecology and technology by magnifying the intercultural exchanges of Japan during the 16th to 18th Centuries.

Plan during the residency

• Gather and accumulate the research materials from the archival library research for the project.
• Conduct a field research trip about Mitogaku in Mito, Ibaraki.
• Conduct museum studies and visits about ecology and technology in Tokyo, Japan.
• Construct constructive dialogues with the researchers or academics who specialize in the early and later Mitogaku.
• Produce an initial skeleton of the video essay that incorporates the research materials and finding during the residency.
• Further enhance the collaboration and cultural exchange between the artist, the participated art (participatory art??), and the experts from different disciplines.
• Attempt to remap the general course of the Sino-Japan history in terms of ecology and technology through the scope of the research and artistic practice.

Activities during the residency

This project postulates that technology plays a vital role in thinking ecology. More particularly, this technology is not universal and highly relevant to the locality which is what philosopher Yuk Hui called “cosmotechnics”. This project takes this position as the fundamental scope to look at the succession and individuation of technological thinking in Japan (and at some point, China) that incorporates the conflicts and tension of East and West, Old and New. Throughout the residency period, I intended to collect materials and organize my thoughts on the trajectories of individuation of technological thought in terms of intercultural exchange in mid and late-Edo of Japan. This will lay the foundation of the final work which will be a speculative and experimental video essay that attempts to reimagine the technological histories and the role of technological thinking in histories.

Outcome of the residency

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Hong Kong Arts Development Council fully supports freedom of artistic expression. The views and opinions expressed in this project do not represent the stand of the Council.

Creator Information