Kongkee: Warring States Cyberpunk

Cyborgs, electro rock, romantic reunions and dystopia-an exploration of Kongkee's multimedia narrative vision of Asian Futurism

Published with Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

This volume explores the immersive world of Warring States Cyberpunk, a retro-futurist narrative exhibition conceived by London-based Chinese artist and animation director Kong Khong-chang (born 1977), known as Kongkee. Through multiscreen videos, wall projections, neon installations, vibrant graphic works, narrative texts and ancient Chinese objects, Kongkee unfurls his speculative odyssey centered on the legendary Chinese poet Qu Yuan, who lived during the Warring States Period (c. 481-221 BCE). His multimedia narrative traces the journey of Yuan's soul from the ancient Chu Kingdom to a retro-futuristic Asia where he is reborn as an android in an imagined psychedelic cyberpunk landscape-replete with cyborgs, electro rock and surprising romantic reunions. Warring States Cyberpunk elaborates upon the artist's worldmaking feat, probing the exhibition's thematic subject matter through four scholarly essays and an interview with Kongkee.