Gaze Into Futures @ Tai Kok Tsui
Description
What will the future of Tai Kok Tsui look like?
This exhibit invites you to gaze into multiple futures—not a single projected path, but a “Futures Cone” of possibilities. Using AI tools, Mixed reality installation, and community experiments, we employ speculative design to prototype and provoke dialogue around which futures are possible, which are plausible, and—most importantly—which are truly preferable.
We are often unaware of the long-term implications of our actions—not only their origins, but also how they will shape what is to come. This exhibit represents one such inquiry. Through dialogues with homeless individuals in Tung Chau Street Park, residents near the Kowloon Funeral Home, and shop owners in Foo Tai Shopping Centre, we ground our designs in the perspectives of stakeholders. By integrating AI tools, mixed reality installations, and community engagement experiments, we use speculative design to create prototypes and invite every visitor to join the public discourse. The process generates real-time community data, offering insights for those who care about the neighborhood. Through multiple media, the exhibition guides you in exploring how imagination, technology, and collective vision can collectively reshape the everyday spaces of Tai Kok Tsui—translating ideals of a better world into tangible dialogue and action.
Biography
Dr Lo’s research explores spatial ‘phygital’ interaction and the relationships between virtual and physical spaces, through transdisciplinary methods that combine design, virtual reality technologies, gamification and digital tools. His research emphasizes multi-level sharing and collaboration from basic data to deep intelligence using Mixed Realty technologies to enhance interaction, knowledge transfer and foster innovation in the design process.
Yuting Chen is a cross-disciplinary designer and PhD researcher at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, operating at the intersection of immersive media, spatial narrative, and human-computer interaction. She develops exhibitions that investigates various exhibition frameworks: such as the curatorial authorship–audience agency spectrum and applies them through projects like the Phygital Meta-Archive(2024) and Evolutionary Space Global Exhibition series: Finding Solace(2024).
Materials
Video, Interactive Screen, Meta Quest 3, Acrylic Model, Paper Book
Organisation
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design
Acknowledgments
This exhibit draws on research and data generated by the 'RE: Tai Kok Tsui' Future Imagineer Academy (FIA) programme. The FIA is a collaboration between the Active Ageing Lab, the CUHK Faculty of Architecture, the PolyU School of Design, and the EdUHK Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies, bringing together over 100 students from fields such as urban studies, social design, digital design, and geography.
The 'RE: Tai Kok Tsui' project is funded and initiated under the “Urban Renewal Heritage Preservation and District Revitalisation Funding Scheme”.
Project Manager and Coordinator: Sky T.T Lo
Exhibition Curation and Design: Yuting Chen
Unity development: Hanzhe Bao
Hardware design and 3D printing support: Rafique Usman Khalid
Cultural mapping: Artem Nikitin
Physical model making: Artem Nikitin, Yuting Chen
Exhibition Graphic Design: Lu Lusa Yue
Al system development: Yuhan Xiao, Jiaming Chen, Jinge Ma, Changqian Yuan (powered by TheMistoAI LLC)
Video technical support: Yao Chen, Danni Xu
Exhibition setup: Hanzhe Bao, Rafique Usman Khalid, Artem Nikitin
Community based Research: Lok Man Norman Ng, Hoi Ho Ian Cheung, Mei Wai Maris Lam, Ngai Man Lee, Lok Hei Reece Lee, Yan Laam Mok, Tsz Hei Huang, Tak Cheung Leung, Hei Wang Pak
Partners of FIA: Kar Him Mo, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; T.T. Sky Lo, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University ; Yi lzzy Jian, The Education University of Hong Kong; Norah Wang, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
