Hong Kong’s Neon Culture is Being Reinvented Under a Flyover

Kevin Mak and Ken Fung were standing under a flyover in Sham Shui Po, wondering what to do about the installation they had been invited to create in this gloomy, noisy space, when one name popped into their minds: Choi Sai-ho. 

Mak and Fung are the founders of @streetsignhk, an initiative to document, preserve and explore the distinctive signboards that defined Hong Kong’s cityscape for decades – until they started to disappear. Streets that were once festooned with signs that projected out into the street, often glowing with neon, are now almost completely denuded. Tens of thousands of signs have been removed, and thousands more continue to be taken down in response to building regulations that now prohibit most projecting signage. 

When they were standing under the flyover, Mak and Fung thought of Choi because of how his work captures the essence of Hong Kong. Choi is a musician, composer and multimedia artist who makes videos, performances and artworks that reflect the frenetic energy and repetitive elements of Hong Kong’s built environment, like “Violin Cityscape,” which won Choi many fans when it was released 15 years ago, or the most recent exhibition Hush · Rush, built around immersive video installations that plunged viewers into a meditative marine landscape and a ghostly 3D cityscape.

Choi first met Mak and Fung five years ago when they all exhibited work in a show put together by the Hong Kong Institute of Architecture. But Fung was already a loyal fan of Choi’s, having first seen him perform in 2015 during a special Clockenflap showcase under a flyover in Kwun Tong. “I thought of him because of the site,” says Fung. The result of their collaboration is Ne-on-Ne-on, which brings together original music, video projections and a new way to display handmade neon lights that flicker in perfect sync with the music. “We’re trying to reimagine neon as a unique visual element in Hong Kong,” says Fung.

Since they launched @streetsignhk in 2017, Mak and Fung have managed to save some vintage neon signs — including one that was rescued in collaboration with Zolima CityMag — but they have also been on a mission to keep Hong Kong’s neon culture alive even as most neon signs are removed. 

“With the signs on the street disappearing, there is not enough work for the neon masters and the whole culture and industry is in danger,” says Mak. They have collaborated with contemporary artists who use neon in their work, like in the Zolima Live neon workshops that were held earlier this year, but they also work with traditional neon craftsmen who have been making neon by hand for many years. “All the tubes we’re using were made locally,” by neon master Wu Chi-kai and the Po Wah Neon Light Company, says Fung. “Whenever we have exhibitions we support the local neon industry.” 

They were also keen to showcase another way they are supporting the industry. Last year, for the Detour design festival, Mak and Fung designed a grid of aluminium frames that make it easy to transport, install and remove neon. In theory, the frames could be used by shops who want to install a neon sign that is more mobile than the traditional signs used in the past, which were extremely heavy and anchored to the façade of a building, making them expensive to install and remove. So far, they haven’t had a chance to employ the grid system in any commercial setting, but it has proved handy for exhibitions and stage performances.

“We asked ourselves, ‘What are the other possible ways we can use neon?’” says Fung. 

“It’s gone from a very practical use to a more artistic use focusing on the craft,” adds Mak. 

In the case of Ne-on-Ne-on, that involved creating circular neon lights that are suspended inside the frames. “Luckily, there are sifu [masters] who are open to doing innovative things,” says Fung. “Making hanging tubes was something new for them.” 

They programmed the neon to respond to six musical compositions that Choi made for the installation, which are accompanied by videos projected on the underside of the flyover. One of the compositions was inspired by the traffic on the flyover – “a rhythm that gets faster and faster,” says Choi. Another is a meditation on the city as a “constant transfer of information.” There’s also a piece of music accompanied by a collage of photos that Choi and Mak took around Sham Shui Po, and a frenetic video that juxtaposes footage Choi shot while his brother was driving around Kowloon with a 3D rendering of the city. The energetic blast of electronic sounds lasts for a total of 14 minutes, followed by six minutes of ambient music that Choi composed to give the audience time to reflect. 

“Most of what I do is digital, so I’m happy to collaborate with Kevin and Ken, who make artworks based on real objects,” says Choi. “Neon is an old technology but they’re transforming neon lights into something new.” 

Ne-on-Ne-on runs daily from 14:00 to 20:00 until December 31, 2024. Click here for more information.