Crafting the Cyberpunk City: Kongkee and Abby Chen in Conversation

Join us for a virtual program with London-based animator Kongkee and Abby Chen, Head of Contemporary Art at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, as they delve into the “high-tech, low-life” world of Dragon’s Delusion and its evolution into the exhibition Kongkee: Warring States Cyberpunk.

Dragon’s Delusion blends Hong Kong’s cyberpunk aesthetic with China’s ancient history, launching viewers into an alternate Warring States period 2,200 years in the making. Kongkee reveals his approach to crafting this retrofuturist universe filled with cyborgs and androids with cassette tape souls. The three-part animation contrasts advanced technology with bygone relics, melding the past and future in a distinctive exploration of identity.  Abby Chen and Kongkee dissect the glowing, tech-filled tapestry of the artist’s animated cityscape, one rooted in Chinese mythological and cultural references which challenge the Western techno-Orientalist portrayals in Blade Runner-esque Hollywood films. Together they look to the past to reimagine more inclusive futures.