Kongkee: Electronic Heart Beat｜21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa.

Information

Period:

2025.10.18(Sat.) - 2026.3.22(Sun.)

Venue:

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Long-term Project Room, Project Room, Public Zone

Closed:

Mondays (except October 27, November 3, November 24, January 12, February 23),
October 28, November 4, November 25, December 30 - January 1, January 13, February 24

For More Information:

Contact

Based between Hong Kong and London, artist Kongkee (Kong Khong-chang) has developed a creative practice that transcends various genres and mediums, spanning diverse fields such as comics, animation, painting, installation, and performance. His works draw on classical literature, philosophy, and historical motifs from East Asia, interweaving themes such as urban and personal memory and identity in a multilayered manner, forging a unique worldview where past, present, and future intersect.
In the “Dragon’s Delusion” series, one of his iconic works, Kongkee draws on historical facts and legends surrounding figures from ancient China, such as Qin Shi Huang, Qu Yuan, and King Huai of Chu in order to depict a cyberpunk dystopian world and explore fundamental questions about the essential nature of free will and human existence. In his new series “Future Jataka,” he draws inspiration from the Jataka Tales of the Buddha’s past lives in order to imagine a future where AI suddenly achieves a kind of enlightenment. By blending traditional religious art with technology, Kongkee questions the spiritual connection between humans and AI, as well as the future of faith.
In this way, Kongkee’s works present an alternative vision of the future in terms of the relationship between humans and technology that is rooted in Asian history and culture, unlike the Western-centric vision of the future that has been globally disseminated and entrenched through mass media. Central to this is a certain perspective based on “Asian Futurism” — an attempt to reconstruct our imagination regarding the future based on the philosophy and aesthetics unique to Asia, as a critical response to the continued homogenization of visual culture and values brought about by globalization. We hope you will take this opportunity to experience Kongkee’s diversity of artistic expression through the perspective of this “Asian Futurism.”

Related Programs

International Symposium “Asian Futurism”

While modern futurism, traditionally centered on Western colonialism, scientific and technological development, and globalization, has historically dominated the global discourse, literary and visual expressions of the future rooted in the historical, cultural, and intellectual contexts of non-Western regions, such as Asia, have often remained marginalized. The objective of this symposium is to serve as a critical intervention in relation to the asymmetry between the West and Asia, as well as the homogenization of literature and visual expression, exploring the possibilities of an alternative futurism rooted in Asian history and culture. The symposium will feature presentation by the keynote speaker, followed by a discussion involving all participants.

Date: Saturday, October 18, 2025, 14:00-16:30 (doors open at 13:30)
Venue: 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Theater 21
Capacity: 100 people
Reservations: Peatix
Admission: Free
Speakers: Kongkee (exhibiting artist), Abby Chen (Head of Contemporary Art and Curator at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco), kazuki takakura (artist), Law Man Lok (artist, writer, co-founder of Penguin Lab)
Moderator: Hang Yishu (Curator of this exhibition)
Grants from the Toshiaki Ogasawara Memorial Foundation.
*Simultaneous interpretation in Japanese and English will be provided

Gallery tour by curator

Dates: November 15 (Sat), November 22 (Sat), December 6 (Sat), December 20 (Sat), January 24 (Sat), February 7 (Sat), February 21 (Sat), March 7 (Sat), March 22 (Sun)
Time: 13:30-13:50
Languages: Japanese, English, Chinese (Mandarin)
Meeting place: Long-term Project Room
Free admission, no reservation required
*The schedule for the English and Chinese (Mandarin) tours will be updated on our website as soon as it is decided.

Artist Profile

Kongkee

Kongkee (江康泉 Kong Khong-chang)

Born in Sarawak, Malaysia in 1977 and raised in Hong Kong. Graduated from the Department of Fine Arts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2000 and completed a master's degree in Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong in 2005. While his primary focus is on visual art and animation direction, he also undertakes collaborations that straddle various disciplines, including independent publishing and video art.
In 2003, he co-founded the artist-led publishing group 29s with several Hong Kong-based creators. In 2006, he served as one of the art directors for the inaugural issue of the literary magazine Fleurs des Lettres. In 2015, he released the comic Travel to Hong Kong with Blur, a collaboration with the British rock band Blur. In 2013, he began working on the comic series Mi Luo Virtual, which was later adapted into the short film Dragon’s Delusion: Preface, which won Kongkee the Grand Prize at the 22nd DigiCon6 ASIA Awards organized by TBS in 2020.
In 2021, the interactive video installation Flower in the Mirror was commissioned by the M+ Museum. In 2022, a large-scale solo exhibition entitled “Warring States Cyberpunk” was held at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and later toured to Wrightwood 659 in Chicago and Tai Kwun in Hong Kong. In 2024, Kongkee received the Asia Game Changer West Award from the Asia Society, US.In 2025, he was invited to exhibit at the 18th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey.

Main Works in the Exhibition

Dragon's Delusion: Preface, 2020 Video 14min. 49sec.
Directed by Kongkee, Tsui Ka-hei and Lee Kwok-wai
Image courtesy of the artist.

Screening of “Dragon’s Delusion” animation series

Venue: Project Room

Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China who unified the country during the Warring States period, devoted himself to the quest for the elixir of immortality. In the end, however, his dream remained unfulfilled, and upon his death, the Qin Empire collapsed in an instant.
— What if Qin Shi Huang had obtained the secret to immortality, and been able to establish eternal and absolute rule?
The “Dragon’s Delusion” series takes this hypothesis as its starting point to depict a cyberpunk world where humans, androids, and cyborgs coexist. In this world, people connect to the “Immortality Project” system in exchange for immortality, subjecting their body and consciousness to strict surveillance and control. Meanwhile, those who refuse to submit to the system go about their lives as shamans.
The protagonist of this work, an android named Joe, is an entity created by replicating the memories and personality of Qu Yuan, a shaman from the state of Chu during the Warring States period. He traverses the boundaries between history and the present, reality and fiction, confronting the fundamental question of what free will means for humanity.
This animated series is a project based on the comic work Mi Luo Virtual, an irregular series that Kongkee has been working on since 2013. Under the joint direction of Kongkee, Lee Kwok-wai, and Tsui Ka-hei, Dragon’s Delusion: Departure was produced and released in 2017, followed by Dragon’s Delusion: Assassination in 2018. The objective was for the series to be completed as a feature-length animated film of approximately 80 minutes, and fundraising for production costs began in April 2018 through crowdfunding. Dragon’s Delusion: Preface, released in 2020, won the Grand Prix at the 22nd DigiCon6 organized by TBS that same year.
Left above: BE A BETTER PERSON
Right above: NEVER BE REGRETTED
Left below: NEVER BE REGRETTED
Right Below: BE A BETTER PERSON, 2018
Enamel paint, acrylic paint on readymade taxi door
H114×W120×D17cm, H112×W107×D17cm, set of two, collection of the artist
© Kongkee
Image courtesy of the artist and gdm.

Works that expand on the worldview of “Dragon’s Delusion”

Venue: Long-Term Project Room

Showcased along with the main animation are a variety of works that expand on and develop the worldview found in “Dragon’s Delusion” through a diverse range of mediums. Kongkee uses the red taxi door, a symbol of Hong Kong’s urban landscape, as a support, overlaying drawings of characters from “Dragon’s Delusion” and excerpts from Qu Yuan’s poetry onto its surface in an attempt to connect fictional narrative worlds with real urban space. Additionally, original artwork from the comic Mi Luo Virtual, which serves as the basis for this series, as well as storyboards and character designs from the animation production process, are also on display, allowing visitors to visually trace how the multi-layered world of “Dragon’s Delusion” is constructed.
While these works are based on the time-based art form of animation, Kongkee’s narrative world unfolds through diverse forms such as drawings and sculptures, intersecting with themes like the memory of the contemporary city and the cyberpunk imagination in a multifaceted manner.
Dew & Lightning, 2025
Mixed media on galvanized iron board
H107×W107×D2.5cm, private collection
© Kongkee
Image courtesy of the artist and gdm.

Latest Work: “Future Jataka” Series

Venue: Long-Term Project Room

Jataka are Buddhist stories or tales that recount the Shakyamuni Buddha’s various incarnations in past lives. Kongkee’s “Future Jataka” series overlays a futuristic perspective onto religious tales that have been passed down since ancient times, depicting a fictional world in which AI suddenly achieves a kind of enlightenment. Can AI truly discover the meaning of life? Or can humans gain inspiration through dialogue with robots?
This series employs a variety of mediums including painting, animation, lenticular light boxes, and neon signs, allowing Kongkee’s imagination to unfold in a multilayered manner. Visually, the series pays homage to religious art such as the murals in the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, China and the stained glass windows of churches, while also strongly reflecting the unique visual language of animation, comics, and gaming culture.
Contrasting elements that represent antiquity and the future, religion and technology, and East and West coexist alongside each other on a single canvas, embodying Kongkee’s unique questions about faith and spirituality from an era to come.
River, 2020
Video
5min. 5sec.
Collection of the artist
© Kongkee
Image courtesy of the artist.

Short Animation Works

Venue: Public Zone, Long-Term Project Room

Kongkee has been active as a comic artist and animator since the early days of his career. This exhibition focuses on his recent short animation works, showcasing the diversity of Kongkee’s art of the moving image. In his color works, he constructs a visual space where past and present intersect by referencing traditional Chinese landscape painting techniques and superimposing elements of Hong Kong’s urban scenery such as the Star Ferry and road signs. His monochrome works, on the other hand, tackle philosophical themes in an attempt to visualize the act of contemplation through a more abstract and introspective mode of artistic expression.
Kongkee’s animations are highly experimental in terms of both their format and theme, depicting themes such as personal memory, urban transformation, and Asian philosophical thinking through his unique and poetic visual language.

*River Screening 16:00-22:00

Related goods sales

Original Acrylic Keychain

4 designs in total
Price: 1,980 yen (tax included)

Original Socks

2 designs in total
Price: 1,980 yen (tax included)

Original T-shirt

2 designs in total
Price:
Lenticular T-shirt (black) 7,700 yen (tax included)
Print T-shirt (white) 6,050円 (tax included)
Size: S/M/L/XL
Sales start: Late October

Kongkee Dragon’s Delusion (Japanese Edition)

208 pages, full color
Price: 6,600 yen (tax included)
*When purchased at the Museum Shop of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, you will receive an exhibition-exclusive postcard as a special bonus (limited quantity; available while supplies last).

Original Sticker Set

2 designs in total
Price: To be determined
Sales start: Early December

Images

Darkness, 2025
Neon tubing, H150×W265×D11cm
© Kongkee
Installation view of “Kongkee: Future Jataka,” gdm, Hong Kong, 2025.
Image courtesy of the artist and gdm.
Photographer: Felix Wong

Once in a Lifetime, 2025
Video, Dimensions variable
© Kongkee
Image courtesy of the artist.
*This is a new work created specifically
for this exhibition.

Credit

Organized by:

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (Kanazawa Art Promotion and Development Foundation), Japan Arts Council, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan

Grants from:

Supported by：
THE HOKKOKU SHIMBUN