Research Overview

The School of Creative Media supports interdisciplinary research into digital media at the boundaries of art, science, and the humanities. SCM seeks to expand the frontiers of inquiry and creativity in the imaginative and practical uses of digital technologies and digital media. Faculty research human-computer interaction, AR, VR and Immersive Media, the philosophy, culture and social functions of technology, and media forms like film and games, and they are engaged in wide range of new media arts practices in software art, computer animation, physical computing, 3D printing, and film, photography and video installation.
 

HIGHLIGHTED RESEARCH

  • Cultural Studies Scholar and Media Theorist: Damien Charrier…

    Media Theory & Cultural Studies

    Dr. Damien Charrieras is a cultural studies scholar and a media theorist. His work is situated in cultural studies and the current critical research on new…

  • Hongbo Fu: 2D/3D Content Creation Tools for Non-Professiona…

    HCI & Computer Graphics

    With a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Hong Kong Univ. of Science & Technology Professor Hongbo Fu has excelled in his research field which lies at the…

  • Daniel Howe: Critical Software

    Software Art, Machine Learning & AI

    Daniel Howe is an artist who creates bespoke software in order to explore the social and political implications of computation. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer…

  • Olli Tapio Leino: Existential Ludology

    Playable Media

    Dr. Leino is a scholar of computer games and playable art. His research focuses on questions of experience, interpretation, authorship, and medium-specificity…

  • Author and Filmmaker

    Film, Video, & Photography

    Louisa Wei is a humanities scholar engaged in two parallel tracks for arts-based research practice, which combines film-making and book writing. The first…

SCM RESEARCH AREAS

Smart City

Smart City

"Smart City" is a multidisciplinary research objective that uses technology to develop
innovative solutions to address urban development in ways that are climate sensitive,
environmentally sustainable, and maintain a high quality of life.

SCM faculty research engages the smart city through urban media and environmental art, as
well as in research on the social and environmental impact of digital technologies.

Digital Society

Digital Society

"Digital Society" seeks to "understand the relationship between technology and society" in
a context where digital technologies are having a transformative impact on the way we live.

SCM faculty research fosters digital accessibility for all members of the community, explores
the impact of computational algorithms and applications on society, and transforms the
ways in which we engage with computational technology through physical computing.

Brain

Brain

"Brain" is an interdisciplinary field that explores the ways in which the human brain and the
computer can model one another, and seeks to develop new forms of interaction between
the human brain and the computer in order to realize the full potential of human-computer
interface.

SCM faculty research develops and applies brain-computer interface in art and design.

Matter

Matter

"Matter" consists in "the interdisciplinary study of matter in its various forms." The
objective is to integrate science, engineering, and technology towards the common
endeavor of developing practical applications for new materials.

SCM faculty research focuses upon the innovation and use of smart materials in creative
practice.

One Health

One Health

With globalization and the spread of human beings into every corner of the world, human
health and animal health have become interdependent. "One Health" research at CityU
consists of "interdisciplinary, problem-based research collaborations" that take a holistic
approach to public health within the overall environmental ecosystem.

SCM faculty are engaged in research collaborations with the College of Veterinary Medicine
and Life Sciences on the development of digital applications in animal health.

Animation

Animation

Tamas Waliczky, Max Hattler, Eddie Leung

SCM has a strong tradition in both mainstream and independent animation. Faculty have expertise in visual effects and have developed a strong research culture in the theory and practice of abstract animation.

Film, Video, & Photography

Film, Video, & Photography

Zheng Bo, Phoebe Mann, Ip Yuk Yiu, Elke Reinhuber, Phil Shek, Louisa Wei, Stanley Kwan, Hui Nga Shu Rita, Charles Chan

SCM has a strong tradition in the practice of photography, especially in the expanded field of mixed media installation. Equally important is creative practice in independent and experimental film making and video art, which intersects with new media art and installation.

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HCI & Computer Graphics

HCI & Computer Graphics

Hongbo Fu, Manfred Lau, Can Liu, Kening Zhu, Alvaro Cassinelli

SCM has developed into a leading Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Computer Graphics research center in the region. SCM faculty and a cluster of postgraduate students research novel human-machine interfaces including single-digit mobile screen interaction techniques, interactive technologies for the elderly and disabled, child-friendly interfaces, voice-based interfaces, and innovative forms of AR and VR interactivity, while computer graphics research focuses on 2D to 3D content creation tools and 3D modelling and fabrication. 

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Media Theory & Cultural Studies

Media Theory & Cultural Studies

Richard Allen, Chris Wagner, Yuk Hui, Hector Rodriguez, Olli Tapio Leino, Louisa WeiDamien Charrieras

In support of the practice-based orientation of the School, faculty research widely in the fields of media and cultural studies using both humanities and social sciences approaches. Research areas include, the philosophy and cultures of technology, film studies, game studies, social media, law and media, and the sociology of everyday life, with a significant emphasis on Chinese and Hong Kong media and cultures.

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New Media Art & Installation

New Media Art & Installation

Tamas Waliczky, Scott Hessels, Ip Yuk Yiu, Hector Rodriguez, Daniel Howe, Miu-Ling Lam, Alvaro Cassinelli, Tobias Klein, PerMagnus Lindborg, Ryo Ikeshiro, Koala Yip.

New Media Art and Installation lies at the core of SCM’s faculty practice intersecting technological innovation with artistic creativity to create prize winning work that is at the leading edge of contemporary new media art practice. Faculty engage interactive and immersive art, brain-computer interface, computer graphic art, fog projection, software art, sound art, mixed media art, AR and VR installation, data visualization and sonification, and 3D printing craftmanship, and multimedia performance among other activities.  
 

Physical Computing & Fabrication

Physical Computing & Fabrication

Kening Zhu, Alvaro Cassinelli, Can Liu, Tobias Klein, Daniel Howe, RAY LC

Physical computing—the making of smart objects in art and design—is assuming increasing importance as our researches extend the boundaries of what constitutes art and challenge the distinctions between art and design objects. Our faculty are engaged in the creation of a multiplicity of experimental objects from smart screen displays, robotic sculptures, and spatially interacting physical computing systems, to wearables and prosthetic devices. Research on Digital fabrication involves 3D printing inspired by traditions of decorative art, the physical transformation of 3D substrates, and laser printing.
 

Playable Media

Playable Media

Ryan Lam, Dick Thung, Olli Tapio Leino, Chris Wagner, Jussi Holopainen

Faculty are engaged in a wide range of playable media and game design research which is supported by sustained inquiry into the existential conditions of game play and well as social science research into the value and satisfaction derived by gameplayers from gaming.
 

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Socially & Ecologically Engaged Art

Socially & Ecologically Engaged Art

Phoebe Man, Zheng Bo, Elke Reinhuber, Daniel Howe

Faculty of the School engage in a very wide variety of socially engaged art practice, ranging from participatory art installations involving victims of domestic and sexual abuse to interventionist software which challenges the web-based data collection practices of advertizers. Eco-art based research practice is of growing importance to SCM among both faculty and research students, and it forms part of a research and teaching collaboration with the Shared Campus Initiative (https://shared-campus.com/)

Software Art, Machine Learning & AI

Software Art, Machine Learning & AI

Daniel Howe, Hector Rodriguez, Miu Ling Lam, Alvaro Cassinelli

Software art practices engage both image-based media and natural language processing and our faculty are actively engaged in the development and deployment of AI and Machine Learning protocols in the creation of new media and software art. Often works using machine learning are used to reflect upon the uses and abuses of machine learning in society as whole and thus are linked to forms of social engagement. In this connection, SCM is hosting the second of a Bi-Annual conference Art Machines 2: International Symposium on Machine Learning and Art (https://www.cityu.edu.hk/artmachines2/)

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Sound Art

Sound Art

PerMagnus Lindborg, Ryo Ikeshiro, Charles Chan

Sound cuts across a range of research and curriculum practices at SCM. Research is conducted in sound perception in multi-modal environments, environmental data sonification, multi-channel sound installation and projection, interactive sound installation, electronic music, and in musique concrète and field recording.

ACIM  

Centre for Applied Computing and Interactive Media (ACIM)

The Centre for Applied Computing and Interactive Media is the media lab of the School of Creative Media that supports research at the intersection between computation and new technologies. It consists of collaborative research labs that focus on Immersive Interactive Media, Brain Art, Blockchain Technology for the Media Industries, Machine Learning Art, Physical Computing, VR, AR, and Mixed Reality, Robotics, Human Computer Interaction, Digital Fabrication, and Experimental Animation.

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