Birds of Paradise Theatre Company

Scotland's touring theatre company promoting disabled artists and supporting the arts sector

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video still of the importance of sleep showing a clock face and a man looking out as if behind a window. The man's image is repeated twice, once upside down. He may be waving. Another man with his back to the viewer is wiping a cloth across as if cleaning a winow.

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Telepresence at SPARK Festival

A new piece of accessible interactive digital storytelling

In the second part of 2024, Birds of Paradise Theatre Company (BOP) and Arts for the Disabled Association of Hong Kong (ADAHK) commissioned Jack Li, a D/deaf, Disabled and/or Neurodivergent Hong Kong artist, to create a new piece of accessible interactive digital storytelling. 

Using existing skills in film-making, animation, and photography, Jack created was supported to deliver a storytelling work via interactive Telepresence technologies.

The finished work was presented on BOP’s pioneering disability-centred digital arts platform website Locked World during SPARK III: Healthy Futures festival 2024. 

Watch the recording of The Importance of Sleep on Locked World- BOPs accessible digital arts platform <here>

Meet the Artist

A young East Asian man with glasses and a neutral expression. He is wearing a business shirt and posed against a blue backdrop.

Li Yip Fuk (Jack) is an Artist of the Arts with the Disabled Association Hong Kong and Associate Royal Photographic Society (ARPS). Jack’s journey in photography began with the support of the Hong Kong Association of the Deaf and the mentorship of Mr. Au-yeung Chi-kong. With different trainings at Arts with the Disabled Association Hong Kong, he started to overcome various challenges posed by hearing impairment and capture diverse environments with his camera.

Over the years, Jack has received various achievements in both local and international photography competitions. He has also represented Hong Kong to join the Abilympics for three times overseas (in Japan, South Korea, and France) where he earned two gold awards and one silver award. Additionally, Jack has collaborated with various organisations in photography projects. He hopes to encourage more people with disabilities to explore photography, broaden their horizons and express their inner worlds through artistic creation.

Speaking about the SPARK project, Jack said,

In this work, I focus on the theme of sleep and dreams, hoping to present a surreal style that showcases imaginative thinking. I explore the importance of sleep for physical health. Through this opportunity, I aim to break free from the constraints of my past creations, using my photography skills to piece together a world that relates to everyday life while transcending reality.

What is Locked World?

Locked World is a radically accessible digital arts space conceived by BOP Young Artists. The artworks all have accessibility creatively embedded into the work. This creatively embedded access is vital to artworks created by BOP.

The term ‘Locked World’ means different things to different people. To some, it may mean feeling excluded from the world, while to others it may mean advocating for their right to privacy from doctors, benefits assessors and passing strangers.

You can visit Locked World <here> to see all commissioned works.

What is SPARK?

SPARK is a space for creativity, collaboration and visionary thinking. A British Council festival combining face-to-face and online elements, it offers a platform for cultural exchange between Hong Kong and the UK, celebrating connections and inclusion in our communities.

SPARK III: Healthy Futures Festival 2024 focussed on the theme of Health and Wellbeing for young adult audiences.

Find out more about SPARK III <here>.

What is Telepresence?

Cartoon style image of a British town flooded with 3 metres of water. There are two online performers who are Telepresent within the image- one person is floating around inside a bin, the other person's head can be seen just above the water. The water does not look clean.
Image: screengrab from Paul Sermon’s telematic tragicomedy ‘Coombe Hill or High Water’ (click on the link to participate in this example of telepresent storytelling)

Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, and to give the appearance or effect of being present via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location. In this project, audience members will feel as if, and look as if, they are present in the storytelling piece. You can view Telepresence Stage showreel video <here> for inspiration.

Jack’s piece responded to the themes of ‘health and wellbeing’ and ‘Locked World’, enabling a young adult audience to engage interactively with the stories being explored.

This digital storytelling work was experienced in-person at SPARK festival in Hong Kong and also remotely via Locked World.

Audiences could choose to engage with the artwork in an ‘active’ or more ‘passive‘ role:

When ‘active’, audience members appeared in the Telepresent artwork via webcam (as you can see in the screengrab above) on the Locked World website (from anywhere in the world). Because the storytelling piece is short, lots of people can have the chance to participate!

When ‘passive’, audience members watched the artwork (with the ‘active’ audience members in it!) either in-person on a large screen at SPARK festival OR on the Locked World website.