How we took a wild idea on a moving boat and turned it into a reality from scratch
When people think of contemporary art exhibitions, they usually picture white-cube galleries, substantial corporate sponsorships, and months of heavily funded planning. "Light Across Time" was none of those things.
Born out of a random conversation, built with zero funding, and pulled off with an army of volunteers, friends, and late-night studio simulations, this project started with a simple question: How can contemporary art activate neglected public infrastructure and engage with a city's living heritage?
The Spark
It all started with a casual conversation with my NYU classmate, Reese. We had no grand master plan, just a shared desire to create something rooted in Hong Kong culture and heritage.
The breakthrough came while having drinks at the bar located on the Star Ferry. Looking out at the water, the idea hit: Why not using the ferry itself as the venue? Operating for over a century, the Star Ferry is a vessel of collective memory, intimately tied to Hong Kong’s identity.
From there, Reese and I dived deep into curatorial research. For me, a core focus was exploring how contemporary art can "activate" public spaces — putting overlooked, everyday transit spaces into a new conceptual spotlight.
Pitching a Boat & Praying They Say Yes
With a concept in hand, we had to make it real. Everything came very smoothly and unexpectedly. We have met a lot of supporters. We drafted a proposal and pitched it to The Star Ferry Company Limited. To our excitement, they accepted!
During this period, I was studying an arts exhibition course at NYU taught by Claire, which gave me invaluable foundational concepts for managing spatial storytelling and logistics.
We quickly realized the immense challenge of working on a public transit boat. Unlike a traditional gallery, we were strictly forbidden from mounting or damaging any facility. More importantly, I believed we shouldn't alter it — this was a public intervention, and keeping the ferry's original, authentic appearance was vital.
Production is such a headache!
Once the venue was locked, we needed expert guidance. I sought technical feasibility advice from my NYU lecturer, Moon. But then came production — aka the ultimate test of how much stress a human brain can take.
Thank goodness for Kel, our production manager and absolute life-saver, who stepped in before we lost our minds. We immediately ran into a logistical nightmare: the ferry is a working vessel, meaning we couldn't exactly hijack it at night to test our lighting.
Our solution? Total mad-scientist mode. We took exact measurements of the boat, dragged a mountain of materials back to a studio, and literally rebuilt a fake replica of the ferry inside a room just so we could sit in the dark. It was exhausting and completely ridiculous, but it worked.
Our Invaluable Partners
Selecting artists wasn't just about matching our curatorial direction; it required finding creators whose work could adapt to a moving, technically constrained space. We worked closely with Angela Yuen @angelayuenart, Daphné Mandel @daphnemandel, Justin Hui @jmyhui, and Simon Liu @cyi_liu, focusing heavily on flow and storytelling. I am endlessly grateful for their trust and patience.
To shape our outreach, securing a media partner was essential to deliver our message clearly and attract the public. To understand what we were communicating, Reese and I went down to the Star Ferry pier to interview the public — ranging across different nationalities and ages. The keywords that came up repeatedly were: memory, culture, convenience, warmth, old, and accessibility.
Media Features
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This research deeply shaped our philosophy:
Collective memory isn't a monolith; it's deeply subjective. To truly feel it, audiences had to be physically present at the exact same place and time. That is why site-specificity became our most important tool...
Photos credits: Anson @a.c_fotogra3 & Bella @bella.photoland