About the Exhibition

Silent Ink, Generations Await – VR Body Calligraphy by Pierre Yishao Shum exhibition is part of Pierre’s PhD research at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, supported by the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme. This groundbreaking exhibition transforms Chinese calligraphy into a three-dimensional, fullbody art form through motion capture, virtual reality, and digital fabrication.

In VR Body Calligraphy, the artist’s entire body becomes the brush. Gestures are inscribed into space, leaving luminous trails that crystallize into sculptures, video works, and immersive VR experiences. Each stroke is written in a single flow, echoing the classical spirit of Chinese calligraphy where“ there is no undo.”

The exhibition presents:
- 3D calligraphy sculptures, transformed from virtual gestures into material form.
- Immersive VR experiences, where audiences witness writing as spatial performance.
- Performance traces, including video documentation and participatory works.

Through this fusion of tradition and technology, choreography and sculpture, Shum reimagines calligraphy as a living, spatial, and embodied practice.

A New Form of Body Calligraphy

For two thousand years, the tools of Chinese calligraphy — brush, ink, and paper — have remained virtually unchallenged. Yet history shows that every transformation in the medium of writing, from bamboo slips to silk to paper, has reshaped its aesthetics and meaning. What might happen if calligraphy were now to migrate into virtual reality?

In Silent Ink, Generations Await, Hong Kong artist and researcher Pierre“ Yishao” Shum attempts such a leap. In his practice of "Body Calligraphy”, the body itself replaces the brush: steps, gestures, and movements are recorded through motion capture and virtual reality, translated into spatial traces that stretch beyond the flatness of paper.

Each act of writing unfolds as a single, unbroken flow — resonating with the jing-qi-shen of traditional calligraphy — but here the gesture solidifies as sculpture, video, or immersive environment. Rather than a character fixed on the page, the work materialises as a choreography of writing: language suspended in air, space inscribed by the body.

This is not only an aesthetic experiment, but also a cultural inquiry. Can the spirit of calligraphy survive without its millennia-old tools? If so, what new forms of rhythm, grammar, and energy emerge when writing is shaped by technology? In staging this encounter, Silent Ink, Generations Await proposes calligraphy as both heritage and horizon — an art form still capable of transformation in the present.

About the Artist

Pierre“ Yishao” Shum (岑逸少) is a Hong Kong-born artist, designer, and researcher whose work merges Chinese calligraphy, performance, and digital technology. After completing his MA in Architecture at the Royal College of Art (London), he worked across art, architecture and design in London and Beijing before returning to Hong Kong to pursue a PhD at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, supported by the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme.

Shum’s doctoral research pioneers the concept of Body Calligraphy (體書) — a practice where the whole body becomes the brush and virtual reality becomes the medium. By combining motion capture, VR, and 3D fabrication, his works transform gestures into spatial calligraphy, extending traditions of brush-and-ink into the age of immersive media. He has presented and exhibited internationally, including in ISEA 2023 (Paris), SIGGRAPH Asia 2024 (Tokyo), and O-Gallery of Ogilvy Beijing (2025). His work spans 3D printed sculptures, animations, and immersive VR installations, engaging audiences across cultural and technological contexts.

Collaborating with local calligraphy master Law Ching-Bor (羅澄波) and drawing inspiration from martial arts and architectural space, Shum’s practice interrogates how this cultural heritage can evolve in dialogue with emerging technologies.

關於展覽

《墨默等代 — 岑逸少 VR體書展》是岑逸少在香港城市大學創意媒體學院博士研究的一部分，首次完整呈現其首創的「體書」，以動作捕捉、虛擬實境及數碼製作為媒介，將傳統書法轉化為全身參與的三維藝術。

在VR 體書的創作中，藝術家的身體化為毛筆，動作被即時捕捉，於空間中留下軌跡，並凝結為雕塑、影像與沉浸式體驗。每一道筆劃皆是一氣呵成，呼應中國傳統書法中「無法重來」的精氣神。

展覽內容包括:
— 三維雕塑作品:由虛擬動作轉化而成的書法造型。
— 沉浸式VR 體驗:觀眾可即場感受書寫化為表演的過程。
— 表演痕跡與紀錄：錄像、互動及參與式作品。

透過結合傳統與科技、書寫與舞蹈、雕塑與建築，岑逸少重新定義了書法，使之成為一種具體、空間化、當代表演性的實踐。

體書的誕生

兩千年來，書法的基本工具 - 毛筆、墨與紙 - 幾乎未曾改變。然而在中國書寫的歷史裡，每一次媒介的轉換，都曾開啟新的審美視野：從竹簡到帛書，從帛書到紙張，文字的形態與氣韻隨之蛻變。那麼，當書法跨入虛擬實境，又會激發出怎樣的可能？

香港藝術家岑逸少在其研究與創作計劃《墨默等代》中，提出了「體書」的概念。這裡，身體取代了毛筆，成為書寫的媒介。腳步的移動、手臂的揮灑、身軀的轉折，都透過動作捕捉與虛擬實境被即時轉化為筆劃般的軌跡，延展於空間之中。

每一次揮動都是一筆到底，無法回頭，呼應傳統書法所強調的「精、氣、神」。但在體書之中，這些動作並非凝結於紙上的字跡，而是化為雕塑、錄像，甚至沉浸式的場域。觀眾不再只是觀看字形，而是走入書寫的節奏，體驗文字如何成為一種身體的舞蹈與空間的建構。

這既是一場美學實驗，也是一次文化追問：當失去了毛筆與紙張，書法的精神是否依然存在？當科技介入，新的韻律與文法會否誕生？《墨默等代》正是在這樣的問題之中展開——既承繼傳統的脈絡，也探索未來的地平線，讓書法在當下依然能夠轉化、生長。

關於藝術家

岑逸少出生於香港，是一位將中國書法、身體表演與數碼科技融合的藝術家與研究者。他先後於英國皇家藝術學院建築系取得碩士學位，並曾於倫敦及北京從事藝術與建築設計工作；隨後回港攻讀香港城市大學創意媒體學院博士學位，並獲得香港博士研究生獎學金（HKPFS）支持。

他的博士研究提出體書（Body Calligraphy）的概念：全身化為毛筆，虛擬實境化為紙墨。透過動作捕捉、VR與三維製作，作品將動作凝聚為空間書法，把傳統筆墨延伸至沉浸媒體的時代。

岑氏作品曾於ISEA 2023（巴黎）、SIGGRAPH Asia 2024（東京）與奧美（Ogilvy）北京O-Gallery（2025）發表，涵蓋3D列印雕塑、動畫及沉浸式VR裝置，在不同文化與科技語境中與觀眾互動。

他與香港書法名家羅澄波合作，並汲取武術與建築空間的靈感，探問傳統文化如何在當代科技語境中持續演化。

All non-CityUHK member visitors entering the University campus must be pre-registered via the University's Visitor Registration System (VRS). The online registration service is unavailable on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and outside office hours. Please reserve here in advance.

所有非香港城市大學成員的訪客進入校園前，必須透過大學訪客登記系統（VRS）預先登記。網上登記服務於星期六、星期日、公眾假期及辦公時間以外暫停。請在此預約。

VISITOR ARRANGEMENTS

1. All visitors entering the University campus must be pre-registered via the University's Visitor Registration System (VRS). The VRS can be accessed via Office Admin under AIMS by departmental staff who have VRS access privileges.

2. Once the visitor's information has been submitted via the VRS, an email will be sent to the visitor with a special QR code attached from the CityUHK-Visitor Registration System. The visitor must show the QR code and may need to present his/her personal ID to the security staff at campus entrance on the day of the visit. Upon confirmation, the visitor will receive a label valid for the day.

3. For guests who didn't receive the above email with the QR code, please check your spam or junk email folder in case the email was accidentally marked as spam.

4. A single email address cannot be shared with multiple visitors for registration on the same day.

5. Please refer to the Personal Information Collection Statement (PICS) for Visitor Registration System on our university's website: https://www.cityu.edu.hk/fmo/download/Personal%20Information%20Collection%20Statement_VRS.pdf

6. If you are CityUHK member, please use your staff or student card to access the campus. You do not need to register for the VRS.

7. The Organizer/Presenter reserves the right to change, suspend or cancel the Event and Campus Access Policy or amend its terms and conditions at its discretion and to refuse entry to any person without prior notice.