In recent years, the global arts scene has evolved at a rapid pace, in line with advances in technology, and immersive interactive spaces and digital works have become a feature of performances. The border between online and offline worlds has gradually blurred, and artistic innovations such as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), which harness blockchain technology, have challenged traditional notions of intellectual property while simultaneously pointing to new models for it.

As a major international festival of the performing arts for the past 50 years, the Hong Kong Arts Festival has always placed great importance on arts development and is committed to developing the potential of Arts Tech in the city. In the first of this series of public talks as part of the special project Laila, the Festival invites representatives from leading local think tanks and law firms for a dialogue on the importance and development of intellectual property in the city.

The award-winning stage production The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has entranced audiences worldwide, from London’s West End to the Hong Kong Arts Festival, with its technologically enhanced stage design. Over the past decade, the HKAF has also brought a number of performances using various stage technologies to Hong Kong audiences, like the immersive Power Plant (2011) and the soundscape Chorus (2017).

Though Arts X Tech has increased in prominence in recent years, discussions of it from people in the field of performing arts have been rare. The second of the Laila Public Talks will focus on theatre, inviting leading stage designers and director to tell us all more about “Performing Arts X Tech”.

Details of registration will be announced soon.