Artists' Night

Lhola Amira is an interdisciplinary artist hailing from South Africa, whose practice encompasses photography, video, and sculpture. Central to THEIR work is the concept of “Appearances”, a gestural form deeply rooted in African Nguni spiritualism which embraces plural identities in one body. This is reflected in the use of identification terms in capital letters (THEY, THEM, YOU, YOUR, US, WE). As a black, queer artist, Lhola Amira’s “Appearances” are manifested as forms of collective healing in which THEY actively engage with participants in conversations and rituals. Lhola Amira’s “Appearances” have taken place in countries like South Africa, Ghana, Sweden, and Brazil, amongst others.

Vaevae Chan (b. 1990) a.k.a @dustflyfly is currently based in Hong Kong. She likens her existence to a wandering antenna receptive to the spiritual energies present in all things, living or non-living, real or fake. Her installations are often an assemblage of these encounters contained in a scenic environment. In 2023, she started JuenJuen Gung, an artist-run cave carved out of an industrial building unit, where self-organised exhibits and collaborations are manifest. Her latest show there, She Told Me to Head to the Sea, is a biographic document of a three-year long episode of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder housed in a cave.  

Pan Daijing (b. Guiyang, 1991) is a Berlin-based artist and composer. Her performance-based practice explores modes of storytelling across sound, movement, the architectural environment, and the moving image. Drawing on the capacity of music to exceed the limits of language, her work communicates sonic, physical, and psychological depths, seeking a means of connection beyond the human condition. Her compositional method is based on extensive improvisation with analogue synthesisers and the human voice as well as deconstruction of instruments and field recordings. Exploring the sphere of psychoacoustics and opera, she uses both recording techniques and live performance to expand the listening experience and challenge the understanding of music as an art form. Her work is often developed in conversation with architectural space, pressurising the boundaries between forms to create enveloping, sensory experiences for audiences to enter and inhabit. 

Pan Daijing’s artworks have been exhibited internationally: at Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2021); The 13th Shanghai Biennale, Power Station of Art, Shanghai (2021); Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2020); Tate Modern, London (2019); Biennale of Moving Image Geneva (2018). She has also performed at Barbican Centre, London; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin among many others. She has released two full-length album Jade (2021) and Lack (2017). 

Photo Credit:

Hans van der Linden (Image of Pan Daijing on Key Visual)

Dzhovani Gospodinov (Portrait of Pan Daijing)

Senyawa produce experimental practices by exploring tribal, primitive sounds with industrial music in most powerful ways. By weaving folkloric moods with various shades of modern genre hybrids, Senyawa has been navigating unexplored musical terrain for more than a decade. Their sound is comprised of Rully Shabara’s deft extended vocal explorations punctuating the frenetic sounds of instrument builder, Wukir Suryadi’s modern-primitive instrumentation. 

Senyawa have performed at many notable festivals all over the world, from Primavera Festival in Barcelona to smaller yet important venues such as Café Oto in London. Senyawa also won multiple awards such as the Green Room Award for Best Music Composition and Sound Design in 2018 and 2017 Prix Ars Electronica Award for Digital Music and Sound. 

They have collaborated and performed with many notable musicians such as Stephen O’Malley, Robert AA Lowe, Otomo Yosihide, Rabih Beaini, Damo Suzuki, Justin Vernon, Oren Ambarchi, and many others. In 2012, the filmmaker Vincent Moon made a film about them entitled Calling the New Gods. During the pandemic, Senyawa released new album Alkisah with over 40 labels around the world and quoted by The New York Times as the new global jukebox for the future of international music industry. 

Tsai Ming-liang was born in 1957. He premiered his debut feature, Rebels of the Neon God, at the Berlinale in 1992. His sophomore film, Vive L'amour (1994), won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival while The River (1996) won the Jury Award at Berlinale, thus solidifying his status as a major filmmaker. All of his feature films so far have been selected by the top three film festivals of the world.

Xiaolin ( 宀 mihn / HKG ) is a producer, vinyl-leaning DJ, and live artist with a curious ear and natural musicality, exploring sound and movement in its limitless forms. The 宀 (mihn) resident specialises in taking listeners on a patiently building journey driven by warmth, emotion, and groove, moving through a range of genres linked seamlessly by body rhythms, crunchy textures and rich melodies.

Xiaolin spent a decade studying classical violin, jazz, and electronic composition abroad where she played in Batucada/Latin bands and began collecting records. Influenced by sounds from the US and UK underground scenes between the 80’s-early 00’s and a love for video games, anime, nature as well as Cantonese culture, her analogue synth-heavy productions range from feel-good acid, euphoric progressive house, tripped-out electro, and shimmering techno to raw down-tempo ambience that invoke deeper feelings of romantic adventure with a theatrical touch.