TBWA's DAN Explores the Science of Art & Robots for Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered Bank is hosting its 14th annual community arts event, ‘Arts in the Park Mardi Gras’, at Victoria Park this weekend.

Last year’s event saw over 120,000 visitors take part in one of Hong Kong’s most vibrant and inspiring celebrations of art.

Each year, Arts in the Park showcases a unique theme, which explores different art forms. This year’s theme explores the marriage of ‘Science and Art’ through robotics.

For the weekend-long event, TBWA’s Digital Arts Network (DAN) Hong Kong created the ‘Robot Baker’, which uses robotic mechanisms to enable audiences to create their own original robots, combining various body parts using the fully automated machines.

There are 1,000 design combinations to choose from – a punk robot head can be matched with a street-art style body, or even with retro-style robot arms. Some of Hong Kong’s leading illustrators contributed to the robot designs, including CLOT’s Mark Goss who has done work for Converse and Vans. Additional artists include Parents Parents, Used Pencil, Miss Quai, Barlo and Man Tsun.

The ‘Robot Baker’, located in Victoria Park, consists of a large booth resembling a robot factory. Inside, there are two machines, each with three screens on top of each other with a dial on the side. Turn the dial on each screen to select the robot’s head, body and legs.

Once the design is complete, the machine produces a passcode, which can then be input to the ‘Robot Baker’ at the end of the booth. The output is an original die-cut, cardboard version of your designed robot, which you can take home and build yourself.

The design of ‘Robot Baker’ was intentionally made transparent so the audience can see exactly how the robot was created from end-to-end.

Rita Wong, Head of Sustainability, Corporate Affairs at Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong commented, “The event was borne out of the common ground between science and art, seeking to discover the unknown and create something new. The ‘Robot Baker’ definitely brings this union to life in a splendid fashion.”

“Millennials were born into the world of micro- and even nano-devices, where manufacturing processes have become obscure,” added Jan Cho, Director of DAN Hong Kong. “The ‘Robot Baker’ celebrates the spirit of creation with the aesthetic of art beautifully embedded. I believe the younger audiences will love it.”

The event runs this weekend, from Saturday November 15 to Sunday November 16 at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay.