Cao Fei Lights Up “Same Old, Brand New” On Hong Kong Skyscraper

Same Old, Brand New is Chinese multimedia artist Cao Fei’s major new piece that lit up the city’s skyline each night during Art Basel Hong Kong 2015 (March 13–17). The 10-minute show was projected onto the façade of the International Commerce Centre (ICC)—the tallest structure in Hong Kong—located on the waterfront of West Kowloon. The large-scale animation referenced iconic images from 1980s video games, such as Pac Man and Tetris, and was synchronized to a sound piece by Hong Kong sound artist Dickson Dee, which was heard from the terraces of the International Finance Centre (IFC) across Victoria Harbour, on Hong Kong Island.

As soon as the music started and the countdown for the installation’s debut began, viewers watching from IFC were instantly able to recognize the classic soundtracks and icons. The spinning wheel that emerged once the countdown commenced turned into a fish-tailed Pac Man figure that ran up the side of the building. While eating through a path of dots, a bow-embellished skull chased Pac Man instead of the ghosts most of us know from childhood. Throughout the show, the lights morphed into several gaming images—Pac Man became a large Tetris figuration, which turned into a version of Space Invaders that shot down Chinese characters. Also on display was a fist continuously punching a box featuring an image of a face. With every hit a symbol would emerge, such as a recycling sign or a diamond—a sequence reminiscent of Super Mario punching for mushrooms.

Cao taps into popular culture and draws from classic arcade games to show how the notion of escapism is still relevant today and, perhaps, even more heightened given the range of technology we have access to nowadays. In this way, the installation of Same Old, Brand New at ICC was a timely reflection on the chaotic and rapid changes taking place in current Chinese society, the processes and results of which have grave effects on the rising generation’s dreams and goals, the competition they face and their desires to elude reality.