Printing Kwun Tong – Public Art Scheme of Tsun Yip Street Playground Interactive Installation

The industrialization of Hong Kong was rapid from 1960 to 1970. The export of industrial products required a large amount of packaging, thus promoted the growth of the packaging and printing industry. In the 1980s, Kwun Tong was the hub for printing factories. Nowadays, many of them were closed or relocated to the Pearl River Delta. The installation “Printing Kwun Tong” resembles a giant printer to commemorate the faded industry. The device will “print” the user’s silhouette with the primary colors used in Offset Printing. Whenever a visitor stands in front of the installation, the Kinect motion sensor at the top will capture their motion. Data will be translated into four colors (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK), which are represented by four-color brushes. The motor will push or pull the brush towards or away from the glass, causing expansion or contraction of the brush tips. With all the brushes combined, they create large and continuous images. When the Kinect motion sensor is not triggered, the installation will show prefabricated animations, for instance, the photos of Kwun Tong’s old factories.

“Printing Kwun Tong” was the winner of the competition for Public Art Scheme of Tsun Yip Street Playground, and the exploration of the scripting graphics continue until 2022.