Upgrade! Boston: Lily & Honglei (杨熙瑛, 李宏磊) :: May 19, 2009; 7:00 - 9:00 pm :: DIFFERENT VENUE: Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Massachusetts Institute for Technology N51-390, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, 3rd Floor, Cambridge, MA (map).

Lily & Honglei, an artist team from Beijing, recently initiated the Cyber Museum of Contemporary Art in Second Life. Built with virtual traditional Chinese architecture, Cyber MoCA houses a series of virtual installations, multimedia presentations and online performances accomplished through cross-continental artist collaborations. Lily & Honglei’s digital art reflects on folklore traditions, history, current society and the Chinese diaspora. It examines the current economic development of China within the context of globalization, while simultaneously exploring the meaning of virtual online communities in terms of global dialogues as they relate to cultural roots and the “fantasy” of China.

Lily & Honglei have been collaborating since 2005. Lily Yang is a lecturer in the Visual & Media Arts Department at Emerson College. Honglei Li teaches at the Massachusetts Cultural Council Art Program. More >>

Upgrade! Boston is curated by Jo-Anne Green for Turbulence.org in partnership with the Studio for Interrelated Media at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. It is one of 30 nodes currently active in Upgrade! International, an emerging network of autonomous nodes united by art, technology, and a commitment to bridging cultural divides. If you would like to present your work or get involved, please email jo at turbulence dot org.