Reconstructed
BY Kachi Chan
Memory is a complex and sometimes contradictory dynamic because the past is continuously rewritten and erased through processes of forgetting. Through memory building, history is constantly negotiated and reconstructed, altering the course of our present and future.
There are strong parallels between memory reconstruction and AI image generation. Both are expressions of reality that are accurate yet inaccurate, in the sense that they are a reality that has been artificially constructed. Both rely heavily on nostalgia, the idea of a romanticised past that may or may not have existed.
The video installation Reconstructed attempts to reconcile these two realities by using AI, film dialogues, literature and artist’s writings about Wan Chai. The resulting images are at once familiar but alien, reconstructing a mirror of our memories refracted through the lens of machines.
Kachi Chan
Interdisciplinary artist Kachi Chan is interested in employing computational animation, digital reality technologies and robotics as lenses to expand the notion of moving images as well as to examine the connections between physical and digital realities. His works were presented internationally at occasions including Ars Electronica (Austria and London), Art Basel in Hong Kong, Interactive Architecture Lab at University College London (UCL) and NHK (Japan). He has received numerous awards, including Honorary Mention of the prestigious media arts competition The Prix Ars Electronica (2022), The Bartlett Medal of UCL (2022) and Golden Pin Design Award (2019).
In 2019, Chan was funded by the Hong Kong Scholarship for Excellence Scheme to pursue Master’s degrees at the Royal College of Art and Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, where he developed a keen interest in robotics as an art form. His works in the UK mostly involve performative robotics as a research method to discuss socio-political and cybernetic topics.
