2. EAM AND SONIC ARTS IN HONG KONG

The term electroacoustic music designates the confluence of the French and German traditions, that is, musique concrète and elektronische Musik, as well as subsequent developments (Emmerson Reference Emmerson and Emmerson1986). As is well known, the ‘EAM approach’ began life at various national, state-funded radio broadcast stations. Most were to be found in the West, the one notable exception being Japan (Chadabe Reference Chadabe1997; Fronzi Reference Fronzi2018). As both form and aesthetic, it subsequently took root in academic institutions, often in their music department and consigned to some dusty corner where noises made by artificial means were safe from banishment. Meanwhile, the term sonic art describes a broader range of artistic practices involving sound. In the case of Hong Kong, it is used not only as a synonym for electroacoustic music, but also includes live electronics, soundscape composition, noise, sound in contemporary art – such as sound art, sound installation and sound sculpture – and finally, sound in conjunction with other media such as film and video, in multimedia or media art (Wishart and Emmerson Reference Wishart and Emmerson1996).

One of the artists interviewed for this article, Alex Yiu, goes so far as to say that ‘Hong Kong lacks a dedicated EAM scene, instead integrating “underground or academic electronic music and even new media art/sound art in general”’ (Yiu Reference Yiu2021: Q5; referring to Question 5 in the Supplementary file). In fact, sonic arts in Hong Kong often display a distinctly localised character. Another interviewee, Esther Wu, remarks that ‘HK sound artists love including distinctive HK street sounds and Cantonese in their works’. Accompanying visual imagery is strongly anchored in the physical environment, something she finds ‘abnormally common’ in comparison with what she has experienced abroad (Wu Reference Wu2021: Q9). Perhaps it is particularly true for Hong Kong that ‘artworks that combine visuals and music in HK have a much greater appeal since they are more sensational and fashionable’ (Yiu Reference Yiu2021: Q10).

Among local artists, the term EAM is used to specify ‘a type of music that has its roots from mid-twentieth century electronische Musik and musique concrète. In general, EAM is ‘music for [loud]speakers that deals with both sampling of acoustic sound source and synthesis. The practice later has expanded into different directions with several focuses: on soundscape, sonic spatialization, signal processing, generative/algorithmic music, and maybe machine learning in more recent time etc’ (Yiu Reference Yiu2021: Q2). Several of the interviewees express unease with the term; for example, because of its (perceived) association with historical and particular ‘styles of music surrounding IRCAM, Darmstadt, and several institutes in US and UK as well’ (Yiu Reference Yiu2021: Q2), or because of its (perceived) high status as a ‘profound genre that has long historical development in terms of presentation and form’ (Lo Reference Lo2021: Q2). Some of the artists associated with EAM in this sense and who have influenced the present interviewees include Pierre Schaeffer, Pauline Oliveros, Eliane Radigue, Jean-Claude Eloy, Natasha Barrett, Peter Ablinger and Iannis Xenakis (e.g., Q3 for Wu Reference Wu2021, Lo Reference Lo2021, Yip Reference Yip2021, Yiu Reference Yiu2021). On the other hand, Xper.Xr echoes Milton Babbitt’s adage by saying that ‘all genres of music [are] electroacoustic’ (Xper.Xr 2021: Q2) and goes on to acknowledge the influence from Zoviet France, Throbbing Gristle, Lustmord and Coil (Xper.Xr 2021: Q3); other interviewees mention bands and artists that are commercially oriented, such as Radiohead and Massive Attack (Lion Reference Lion2021: Q3), or ‘alternative experimental’ outfits such as Amnesia Scanner and Arca (Yiu Reference Yiu2021: Q3). Such varied influences provoke multifaceted and novel responses. For example, Viola Yip explores ‘alternative meanings of sounds through acoustic sounds that are manipulated and/or interfered [with] by digital signals [or] feedback (with a hacked lazy Susan) and relays (with self built controllers and lightbulbs)’. With this, she positions herself as having ‘an opposite approach to something classic like Pierre Schaeffer’s musique concrète’ (Yip Reference Yip2021 Q2).

3. HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

There are no large institutions for sonic arts at any of the nine universities in Hong Kong. Several have individual faculty who are active practitioners. In general, music departments tend to offer courses more specifically on EAM whereas art and creative industries-related departments support curricula that are often broader in character than EAM courses. It could be argued that promoting a strongly specialised department – for example, having a flagship program in music technology – has offered a way for institutions that are not among the most highly ranked institutions in their peer group to attract talent. In such places, fusing elements of electronic music with underground and contemporary art can happen. For example, an institution such as the School of Creative Media (SCM), which has a mandate to serve the ‘creative city’ and the ‘business of creativity’ in Hong Kong, might end up also supporting more niche sound art and contemporary performance. ^{Footnote 1} A significant aspect here is that the academics working at Hong Kong universities tend to join the efforts of external organisations, or at least, to co-organise events outside of the campuses. Broadly speaking, institutions and public money have supported the development of sonic arts practices over the past ten years in Hong Kong through the hiring of academics. There are specialised but mainly small labs at CityU and Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU).

There are, of course, numerous music departments worldwide that embrace EAM with all its delights, but at first glance, this does not appear to be the case in Hong Kong. Being almost comparable to a city state, the number of universities is obviously limited, yet some of them are highly ranked internationally. Perhaps there is an insufficient number of mid- to low-ranking institutions that can allow themselves to have more progressive music departments. Such institutions may be inclined to include less traditional music in their curriculum, and opt for music technology programmes that involve sound art, computer music and EAM composition.

Despite chasing the rankings, CityU could fit this profile. Although lacking a music department, the few faculty working with sound at SCM who have come and gone, including Samson Young, Takuro Mizuta Lippit (aka DJ Sniff) and Ken Ueno, as well as its general ‘creative media’ environment have somehow managed to produce numerous alumni active within sonic art and music influenced by EAM to some extent. In this respect, perhaps CityU has done more in comparison to other universities (Yiu Reference Yiu2021), with superior international profiles and dedicated music departments.

Dig deeper and one may also find pockets of activity at HKBU, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts (HKAPA), ^{Footnote 2} the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and Hong Kong University (HKU) among others. However, they mainly operate in relative isolation from each other and from the local scene. Instead, their efforts are directed towards international events, which are favoured in the assessment of outputs, rather than any local endeavours (Keyes Reference Keyes2021).

Christopher Keyes, based at HKBU, notes that as with many places, ‘there are individual pockets of activity in relative isolation from each other. HKBU would be one, establishing our Electro-acoustic Music Centre facility in 1980 as well as a curriculum that (formerly) requires 2 semesters of Music Technology for all students, and an additional two semesters of Electro-acoustic Music for our Composition majors. Our department currently has 8 full-time composers, several of which work with electro-acoustic music. But again, the activity is almost all directed overseas’ (Keyes Reference Keyes2021: Q8)

4. CULTURAL POLICY

A shift in public policy supporting ‘art and tech’ projects (Chief Executive Officer 2020) has led to a renewed push towards institutions such as SCM or the Academy of Visual Arts (AVA) invested in art and tech to open a space where public money is invested. That is likely to allow for the continuing development of sonic arts in such contexts. Sound, music and art have been developing in the institutional context of Hong Kong along with a general push towards art and tech from the government (Chief Executive Officer 2020). These trends, which have been more noticeable over the past ten years, are actualised through the governmental allocation of public grants to support the development of sound, music and art and their practitioners.

5. PASSEURS

In the present article, we identify a few of the key Hong Kong passeurs and highlight their relations with institutions and groups of experimental music practitioners, as well as their key role in the emergence of a generation of sonic art practitioners. Recent research discussing sound practices in Hong Kong noted that the connection between local sound practice and academic music was difficult to trace, although with several notable exceptions of facilitators having a classical music background (Yraola Reference Yraola2020: 81). Given the transdisciplinarity involved in sonic arts, the sites of sonic arts are often at the intersection of mixed media arts, contemporary arts, visual arts and more generally experimental arts.

The new generation of sonic artists that we described earlier (i.e., Edwin Lo, Alex Yiu aka Alexmalism, Fionna Lee) followed university degrees related to music or media/visual arts, and learnt to take advantage of institutional grants dedicated to transdisciplinary artists while at the same time being connected to the underground music community of Hong Kong. ^{Footnote 5} Their integration to different milieus has been facilitated by passeurs belonging simultaneously to different milieus (underground scene, universities, organisations relying on public grants) and bringing different kinds of people and practices into contact. These passeurs have three characteristic features: ‘[passeurs] are both intermediaries and producers, or intermediaries and receivers of norms; their activity implies investing in a new social role; and they are often secondary actors in the social fields in which they operate’ (Jobard, Geeraert, Laumond, Mützelburg and Zeigermann Reference Jobard, Geeraert, Laumond, Mützelburg and Zeigermann2020).

The choice of individuals discussed here is not meant to be exhaustive, but rather, we have included them by virtue of their association with institutions (as educators and researchers), and curatorial or artistic activities outside academia. Their own artistic practice and research is in the field of sonic art as we have here defined it. As passeurs, they traverse the boundary between academia and underground scenes, complying at once with the norms of academia (e.g., doing art through research-based creation) but also complying with the norms of underground music scenes (e.g., integrating their artistic production to an existing dialog with other practitioners of experimental music). They might also create new norms in terms of research-based creation based on their deep knowledge of experimental music history and scenes.

Some have a significant artistic practice of their own that also offers different perspectives into the state of sonic art in Hong Kong. But it is through their curatorial activities in tandem with their own practice that they have contributed to the development of the sonic art scene in significant and highly individual ways. Curatorial activities occur outside academia through organisations (eventually) receiving funding through sources such as HKADC, but they have made use of their academic association. Their own practice and research also follows a similar outlook.

The first two, Samson Young and Takuro Mizuta Lippit, are former faculty at SCM. While SCM does not have the word ‘art’ in its name, it is a university school geared towards the professionalisation of the arts. Owing to CityU’s former status as a polytechnic institute, the majority of teaching philosophies developed at SCM, including those for sonic arts, focus on technology and practice. For both students and faculty, the interdisciplinary approach connects not only with the humanities within SCM, but also with engineering and computer sciences, both within the school and with other departments (some of which enjoy worldwide recognition in their fields).

6. ASIAN AND INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT

Whilst the specificities of the local context characterise sonic arts in Hong Kong, it very much co-exists in tandem with the international scene. From the sometimes significant professional and educational experience abroad of our interviewees to their influences from around the world, Hong Kong can be said to be at least partly embedded within the global community of sonic art practitioners. Indeed, before 2020, there have not been any significant periods during which the sonic arts in Hong Kong have developed in partial isolation from the rest of the world as it may be the case with Communist-era East Europe or pre-1980s Japan. Generations of Hong Kong-based sonic artists have been studying, performing and creating personal and artistic connections abroad. While a student, Kung Chi Shing, Hong Kong performer, composer and music activist, decided to study music in the United States because at the time, he could not find the kind of contemporary music education in Hong Kong post-secondary institutions (Mouillot and Charrieras Reference Mouillot, Charrieras, Charrieras and Mouillot2021b). Xper.Xr spent over two decades abroad mostly in London from the late 1980s. Samson Young, mentioned previously, goes very regularly to New York and stays closely connected to its artistic scene (Mouillot and Charrieras, Reference Mouillot, Charrieras and Mouillot2021a). Steve Nerve discovered techno music in the early 1990s in Toronto (Hui Reference Hui2016). Dennis Wong, improviser and sound artist, organiser of the Noise to Signal series in Hong Kong in the 2010s, notes that when he organises gigs for foreign artists in Hong Kong, they will in return organise gigs for him when he travels to their countries. Like other practitioners in Hong Kong, he has been influenced by foreign artists – in his case, the Japanese noise scene that he has written about extensively as a music critic (Wong Reference Wong2016). Soundpocket has promoted international artists (Aki Onda, Milad Mozar). The majority of faculty developing programmes dedicated to sound arts in Hong Kong universities were coming from abroad or were Hongkongese who spent a number of years abroad before being hired in local universities. More recently, Alex Yiu or Edwin Lo, two young sonic artists based in Hong Kong, spent extended periods of time abroad for studies or visit.

This historical trend is due to the status of Hong Kong as a wealthy international hub sitting between Western and Asian cultures. It is also the result of the accelerated development of Hong Kong in the age of globalisation with the internet and accessible international travel. Sonic arts scenes here may be following a trajectory similar to scenes in others in the region such as Korea, mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. Owing to their geographical proximity, cultural exchange and collaboration with overseas artists and institutions from such countries as well as Japan are perhaps comparatively more noticeable, out of necessity or by design, as in the case of Takuro Mizuta and his association with the Asian Music Network. Such efforts may be interpreted on some level as attempting to forge an Asian identity within the global context of sonic art. Although this is by no means consistently present in the plurality of practices observed, the phenomenon is also evident in other artforms.

7. A NEW SPACE FOR SONIC ARTS

Over the past decade, a new generation of practitioners heralds the development of sonic arts in Hong Kong. ^{Footnote 7} As a group, they no doubt bring about a change that might lead to a conceptual integration of the traditional scenes (noise, sound art, contemporary classical and so forth) that they come from, as individuals. Several have academic backgrounds that appear to inform their practice. Whereas a noise aesthetic was prevalent in the underground scene as exemplified since the early 1990s by artists such as Xper.Xr, the influence of sound art, visual art and multimedia practices in relation to digital technologies become more apparent in the newer generation of the 2010s. Emerging artists such as Fiona Lee, Edwin Lo and Jasper Fung graduated from the SCM, CityU, where Cedric Maridet with Linda Lai, and then later Samson Young, taught courses on sonic art.

The involvement of the latter three in cultural organisations discussed earlier highlights the circulation regimes at play involving academia and local music scenes. With Maridet currently working as an assistant professor at AVA, HKBU since 2019, a historical perspective on the influence of the academic environment on the development of a sonic art scene becomes apparent. Examples of the underground and electronic music scenes breaching academia may also be found in examples such as Steve Hui aka Nerve. Many of the aforementioned practitioners are also active as organisers, curators and promoters, while playing the role of structural entrepreneur between academia and underground communities.

These circulations have been facilitated by specific artists, curators and teachers who have actively taken on the role as passeurs (Jobard et al. Reference Jobard, Geeraert, Laumond, Mützelburg and Zeigermann2020), that is, tone-setting individuals who deploy their work at the junctures of traditionally separated milieux, thus connecting them. In the present case of Hong Kong, they have been crucial to link underground art spaces and educational institutions, thereby creating sites where sonic arts came to be developed over the past ten years.

Over the past decade, several local higher education institutions opened new spaces for the development of sonic arts in Hong Kong. While there are almost a dozen university-level institutions in Hong Kong that have some degree of curricular activity relevant to the sonic arts, our analysis is exemplified by the SCM at CityU and the AVA at Baptist University (BU). In our opinion, these two schools stand out because they have, over the past decade, actively promoted hybrid forms of knowledge that depart from the canons of classical disciplinary teaching in music and fine arts by focusing on technology-driven and often experimental approaches to the whole range of art and design practices, wherein the sonic arts naturally find their place. This explains why a great number of sonic artists from the 2010s graduated from SCM.

Cultural policy has been partly responsible for the development of sonic arts in Hong Kong over the past decade. The newer generation of Hong Kong sonic artists appear to benefit increasingly from institutional support and become proficient in grant submissions. This matches the results of recent research conducted on underground music scenes: despite their DIY ethos, members of the underground scenes appear to straddle between a relative integration into the creative economy and a relative independence from it (Bennett Reference Bennett2018). In essence, there has been in Hong Kong in the past decade varying degrees of conflation of sound art, electroacoustic music and underground electronic music implicating the relevant international networks of artists. ^{Footnote 8} One reason may be that these hybridisations allow experimental music projects to apply for public grants under the categories of media and contemporary art. One of our interviewees noted that the underground/EAM scene has a rather complicated relationship with funding bodies such as HKADC. Experimental musicians and sound artists have greater chances of obtaining funding under media and contemporary arts schemes than under music schemes. ^{Footnote 9}

8. CONCLUSION

The democratisation of music technologies and the emergence of ‘bedroom producers’ (Prior Reference Prior2018) could lead to universities or public-supported research centres being less central to the development of sonic arts. Nevertheless, our study indicates that in the context of Hong Kong, the circulation of people, technologies and practices between public institutions, art organisations and clusters of individual practitioners is precisely what gives consistency to the local sonic art scene. We have tried to explain how and why the academic institutions appear to stay relevant for the development of sonic arts in Hong Kong.

A new institutional context arising for a general push towards art, technology and innovation has created a new space for music practices anchored in sonic arts that are currently thriving in Hong Kong. Sonic arts, in this article, are understood as linked to specific institutional contexts, consisting mostly of public grants and spaces, and teachings and practices in the context of local higher education institutions. Its increasing institutionalisation is a trend that is not exclusive to sonic art and may be found in other artforms. However, a lack of opportunities through limited support through public arts funding is a factor in academic institutions playing a more notable role in the development of sonic art. Passeurs such as those mentioned have traversed both higher education institutions and HKADC-funded organisations and sometimes underground scenes, shaping the course of sonic art through operating in a variety of roles: as practitioners, curators and organisers.

But are there clear examples of how the renewed Art-Tech public policy (Chief Executive Officer 2020) is affecting the sonic art scene? One event-delimiting trend is Sound Forms, a series of sonic art events organised by CMHK at venues including Tai Kwun in October 2020 and 2021 that predominantly featured Hong Kong-based artists. It is not by chance that it took place in the context of COVID-19 where visits by international artists were hindered by one of the most restrictive quarantine policies in the world. As one educator-researcher observes, a growing tendency for nurturing the local scene has been evident in recent times (Lion Reference Lion2021). Hong Kong can boast one of the world’s strictest travel restrictions in its aim of reaching zero locally transmitted COVID-19 infections. As a consequence, many artists from abroad have opted against visiting Hong Kong due to the requirement of a two- or three-week quarantine in a government-designated hotel. One silver lining is that the lack of international travel has promoted an increase in opportunities for local musicians and artists. Expressions of national identity have also been more evident in the arts here since the 2019 pro-democracy movement. With concerts, festivals and exhibitions now focusing on Hong Kong artists – as some say, out of necessity (Wu Reference Wu2021) – now may be an opportune moment to contribute to the local scene and to reinvent EAM for our times (Lo Reference Lo2021).