2022-23
Digital collage
Dimensions variable
“Glaucus” is a fictional project set in the year 2122, amidst the dynamic landscape of Macao, China. I employ the creative tools of Midjourney and Photoshop, utilising digital collages as my medium of expression.
In the backdrop of Macao, a Special Administrative Region of China, lies the demolished ‘Iao Hon Estate,’ a microcosm of the city’s rich history. This locality, once brimming with diverse religious elements like the Tao Temple and Catholic church, was predominantly inhabited by grassroots residents and foreign workers, many of whom work in the bustling casinos and resort hotels that define Macao. The core narrative of “Glaucus” revolves around Sek Lok-hoi, a fictional character embodying the experiences of a fisherman.
Installation view of the project in a local market in front of the soon-to-be demolished ‘Iao Hon Estate’ building
Through his journey, embarked upon by chance, Lok-hoi becomes entangled in a quest for glaucus, leading him through the seven levels of the ‘seven heavens’ within a span of seven days. Inspired by the multifaceted local religious elements and religious cosmology, as well as the concept of the ‘seven deadly sins,’ this story aims to delve into the intricate workings of the visual system—examining light, retina, lens, neurons, brain, memory, and experience—and their profound impact on our perception, vision, and memory formation.
In a future 100 years hence, Macao envisions the establishment of a futuristic body storage library, guided by a new genetic blueprint. This world of tomorrow embraces virtualisation and gamification, reliant on an electrochemical information system within the human body. Super neurons transmit diverse neural signals through neurotransmitters and chip channels, with chemical messengers facilitating the conveyance of signals from the brain to the optic nerve, thereby creating a virtual “real world”.
The body storage library operates on the principle of “Homeostasis” and employs the game “Tai -Ping-Tin-Ha”—a popular game from Guangdong and Hong Kong in the 1980s and 1990s—as a coping mechanism in times of constant imbalance. Abandoning the game results in death. In this futuristic realm, people fervently pursue Glaucus, a rare substance believed to resurrect the deceased, whose origins remain shrouded in mystery, potentially arising from minuscule fragments that slipped through crevices.
During the process, I sketched the visual setting meticulously, aligning it with the underlying conceptual framework and I employed the digital tools of Midjourney and Photoshop to craft intricate digital collages, bringing the narrative to life. Each day of the story is presented through an eight-line Cantonese poem, adhering strictly to a tonal pattern and rhyme scheme, thereby preserving the local language, slang, and culture. Furthermore, the story is presented in English and Portuguese, the other official language of Macao.
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Weng Io Wong 