"SUPER POOL" Jen Lewin @hkaf2017

© Jesse Clockwork
© 黄迪褀

The Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) is a major international arts festival committed to enriching the cultural life of the city. Apart from presenting performances by leading artists, HKAF also organises a diverse range of activities to enhance the engagement of the local community. To celebrate the Festival’s 45th anniversary, a special, large-scale and free public event, SUPER POOL co-presented by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, will run throughout the Festival in 2017.
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In 2012, US interactive media artist Jen Lewin created an installation which consists of six concentric rings of interactive LED pads. The concept of this fantastic installation comes from the diverse meanings of the verb “pool”: combine, amalgamate, blend, join forces, league, merge, put together or share. A larger scale version, SUPER POOL, was launched in 2014. Since then, The SUPER POOL series has been exhibited across the USA and travelled to over thirty major installations worldwide. Lewin has experimented with different configurations to make this series always amazing and dazzling wherever it has appeared.
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This computerised playground of LEDs invites all participants to explore the installation by stepping, running, jumping or even riding across a sea of glowing pools, creating your own radiating ripples of light that echo those of others. By entering SUPER POOL, you enter an inherently interactive environment made up of over a hundred circular LED pads. As participants engage actively in the SUPER POOL, their interaction creates its own form of community within an installation of swirling light and mesmerising colours. It is a communal dance of splashing lights and a symphony of everyone’s true colour.
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In the 45th HKAF, SUPER POOL will run throughout the Festival in four different locations, each bearing a different configuration from six to twelve rings. The Festival invites every member of the community to enjoy interacting with the SUPER POOL.