Step Through 'The Gate': HKUST's New Surreality Exhibition Teleports Viewers Between Hong Kong and Guangzhou
Imagine you could defy the boundaries of space: in an instant, you travel from HKUST's Clear Water Bay campus to its Guangzhou campus, and then back again in the blink of an eye. It is like stepping through Doraemon's "Anywhere Door" – transcending geography, dissolving distance.
In today's world, this is no longer science fiction. Thanks to groundbreaking technologies like Mixed Reality (MR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), this magical experience has become a reality. And this summer, it is happening right at HKUST.
Welcome to "SURREALITY．幻實之境" – a state where reality and dreams blur into a fantastical, hallucinatory experience. It is a new reality where the digital world coexists with the physical in an immersive way, making it nearly impossible to distinguish what is real from what is virtual. And this concept is at the heart of the world's first large-scale, cross-regional MR × AI digital art exhibition.
Co-organized by HKUST and the Center for Metaverse and Computational Creativity at HKUST(Guangzhou), the SURREALITY Mixed Reality (MR) × Artificial Intelligence (AI) Digital Art Cross-City Exhibition is one of the WOW events celebrating HKUST's 35th anniversary. It showcases how creative arts and digital technology can merge in bold new formats, transforming the campuses into a global hub for arts innovation and technological excellence.
Attending the exhibition were Prof. Nancy Ip (fourth left), President, HKUST; Prof. Lionel Ni (fourth right), President, HKUST(GZ); Dr. Louis Ng Chi-Wa (third left), Museum Director, Hong Kong Palace Museum; Prof. Pan Hui (third right), Chair Professor, Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas, HKUST and Acting Head and Chair Professor of the Thrust of Computational Media and Arts at HKUST(GZ); Prof. Benjamin Seide (second left), Associate Professor, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Ms. Katerina Semenko (second right), Russian conceptual phygital artist; Dr. Adam Nash (first left), Honorary Fellow, RMIT University; and Mr. Zhang Yishuai (first right), PhD student, Thrust of Computational Media and Arts at HKUST(GZ).
Guests don headsets to explore MR artworks around the Clear Water Bay campus.
Internationally Renowned Artists
The exhibition brings together nearly 50 works by more than 70 digital artists from 23 countries and regions, representing a truly global creative community spanning the United States, Germany, Russia, Australia, Bolivia, Singapore, South Korea, the Chinese Mainland, and Hong Kong.
Among the internationally acclaimed luminaries is Eduardo KAC, a pioneer of bio-art and a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His iconic work "GFP Bunny" – featuring Alba, the transgenic rabbit that redefined art, ethics, and biotechnology – is recreated using MR technology. The piece has even made cameo appearances in The Big Bang Theory and The Simpsons, cementing its status as a cultural touchstone.
Another standout is Benjamin SEIDE, a media artist, visual effects specialist, and Emmy Award-winning Associate Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His work pushes the boundaries of visual storytelling in the digital age. Also among the participating artists is Katerina SEMENKO, a Russian conceptual phygital artist and winner of the American IDA International Design Award, who sees the digital realm as a tool to expand human consciousness. Dr. Adam NASH, an Honorary Fellow of RMIT University in Australia, brings his unique philosophical perspective, asserting that digital art is "fully real in its own right" and owes the physical world no resemblance.
The exhibition also proudly showcases talent from within the HKUST community. Zhang Yishuai, a PhD student in Computational Media and Arts at HKUST(GZ), presents "Earth Echo 2.0" (《地球迴響2.0》), an AI-generated interstellar city that adds a futuristic dimension to the exhibition. Meanwhile, the HKUST XRIM Lab contributes "Unfolding Touch," a soft-robot-mediated installation that enables a handshake between the Clear Water Bay and Guangzhou campuses, integrating sensing and tactile replication to create a shared touch experience across distance – a poignant embodiment of the "One HKUST" spirit.
A "Portal" That Connects Two Cities
On June 16, 2026, an exclusive media preview was held at the Clear Water Bay campus, offering a first glimpse of this mind-bending exhibition. The following day, the exhibition officially opened at HKUST(GZ), where it will run through July 31, 2026, before returning to Hong Kong for public engagement.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is "The Gate" (《門》) – a digital portal built around the vision of "One HKUST, Complementary Campuses". As an armillary sphere slowly rotates, a shimmering portal emerges. Step through it, and you are instantly "teleported" to the Guangzhou campus, experiencing seamless cross-regional connectivity in real time. It is the magic of Doraemon's "Anywhere Door" brought to life through cutting-edge spatial computing and real-time rendering technologies.
Three Thematic Zones of Wonder
With such extraordinary global talent contributing to the exhibition, the experience is structured into three distinct, technology-driven art zones, mapped with centimeter-level precision onto the physical environment:
Area 1: Living Currents (浮生潮汐)
A zone where aquatic ecosystems, virtual life forms, and mycelial networks flow together like the tides, reminding us of how interconnected the world is as a living system.
Area 2: Future Fables (未來寓言)
This area serves up thought-provoking sci-fi narratives exploring themes such as AI and interstellar civilizations, mirroring how society lives now and raising questions about what may come next.
Area 3: Beyond Mind (無界心域)
Featuring "Kunpeng" (《鯤鵬》), a giant flying fish-bird from Chinese mythology that symbolizes unbounded freedom and surpassing oneself. The artwork presents a stunning visual spectacle in which a giant fish leaps from the sea near Clear Water Bay and transforms into a bird that soars into the sky.
Another notable piece is "Twin Trees" (《雙生之樹》), which constructs a flowing life system with the World Tree and virtual life forms, symbolizing how all things echo one another like the tides.
Visitors can immerse themselves in a selection of VR digital art pieces designed to spark discovery.
This soft-robot-mediated installation by the HKUST XRIM Lab enables a handshake between the Clear Water Bay and Guangzhou campuses, integrating sensing and tactile replication to create a shared touch experience across distance.
A Vision for Cultural Mobility and Innovation
Speaking at the opening, Prof. Nancy IP, President of HKUST, emphasized the exhibition's significance: "This event signifies a major milestone for HKUST in its pursuit of integrating technology, humanities, and cross-regional innovation." She noted that the national 15th Five-Year Plan explicitly supports Hong Kong's deepening development as the East-meets-West center for international cultural exchange. She also highlighted that HKUST's Strategic Plan 2031 identifies the integration of innovation and the humanities as a key direction for the University's future development, with initiatives such as SURREALITY poised to develop into prominent international platforms that foster arts and cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world.
Prof. Lionel NI, President of HKUST(GZ), added: "When Clear Water Bay and Nansha are integrated through a digital portal, we see not only a technological breakthrough, but also a future-oriented model of educational collaboration – where engineering meets aesthetics, algorithms meet poetry, and global vision meets local engagement."
Prof. Pan HUI, Chair Professor of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas at HKUST and Director of the Center for Metaverse and Computational Creativity, explained the exhibition's guiding philosophy: "We envision that in the future, the digital world will coexist with the physical world in an immersive way, to the extent that it becomes impossible to distinguish what is real from what is virtual. We call this new reality 'surreality'."
A Vision for the Future
"SURREALITY" is more than an exhibition – it is a vision for the future in which art and technology transcend boundaries and connect communities. When the exhibition returns to Hong Kong later this year, audiences will once again have the chance to lose themselves in a surreal fusion of imagination and innovation. This experience truly redefines what it means to be human in an increasingly digital world.
