Ailsa Wong (b. 1997)’s practice spans across paintings, videos, image-making, games, and installations. Wong explores ways to connect consciousness with primitive emotions to fill the vacuum of belief. Wong’s means of communication draw inspiration from fractured life experiences, wherein meaning is repeatedly dissolved and re-established.

Wong’s solo exhibitions include “1” at DE SARTHE (Hong Kong, 2025), “Disembody” at Cattle Depot Artist Village (Hong Kong, 2025), and “00:00” at Yrellag Gallery (Hong Kong, 2024). Wong participated in duo solo exhibition “This Bitter Earth” at Gallery Exit (Hong Kong, 2019), joint exhibition “I Don’t Know How to Love You Teach Me to Love” at Das Esszimmer (Germany, 2024), and “Ways of Running and Embracing” at Floating Projects (Hong Kong, 2023).

Wong currently lives and works in Hong Kong.

Can you tell us about your background and how you started your artistic journey?

I’ve enjoyed drawing since I was a child, and during my secondary school years, I was particularly drawn to illustration. My practice began to expand more significantly when I studied Fine Arts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. There, I developed a strong interest in working across different media, including painting, digital formats, image-based works, and installation.

After graduating, I have some opportunities to exhibit my work. Some projects came through invitations, while others were self-initiated or developed collaboratively with others through funded exhibitions. I just continue making work by responding to opportunities as they arise, allowing my practice to evolve naturally.

What are the main themes or concepts you explore in your new media art? Are there any particular media you prefer working with? Why?

My new media practice revolves around three closely connected themes: techno-animism, the relationship between virtual worlds and human consciousness, and artificial intelligence as both a material and a collaborator. I am interested in how contemporary technologies shape belief systems, perception, and inner spiritual experience, especially in a time when traditional frameworks of belief feel fragmented.

I don’t have a fixed preference when it comes to medium. I work with paint, rust, fabric, metal, clay, electronic devices, AI-generated images, 3D models, sound, readymade objects… Each medium carries its own texture, character, and material presence. I’m interested in bringing these different textures together to construct a world within the exhibition space that viewers can experience as a whole rather than as separate elements.

Can you describe a recent project or artwork that you are particularly proud of?

That would be my recent solo exhibition at DE SARTHE, which took place from May to July 2025. The exhibition transformed the gallery into an immersive, cave-like environment inspired by the interior of an ant nest, bringing together interactive video games, sound installation, moving sculptures, and mixed media works.

Through this exhibition, I explored ideas of techno-animism and collective existence, using the ant colony as a metaphor for interconnected systems of living, mechanical, and digital entities. Works such as the interactive games Antigora and Ant Mill invited viewers to navigate fictional belief systems and closed feedback loops, while sound and sculptural elements functioned almost like ritual objects within the space.

I was particularly satisfied with how the exhibition worked as a unified experiential system rather than a display of individual artworks. It allowed me to fully integrate digital media, physical materials, and spatial design to create an environment that visitors could inhabit, reflecting my ongoing interest in belief, consciousness, and technology as living systems.

Who or what are your biggest influences, both artistically and personally?

I would say Mark Rothko. I learned his work during my university studies, and it fundamentally shifted how I understand art: not as an imitation of the existing world, but as the creation of a new experiential reality.

A few years ago, I visited Rothko Chapel in Houston and it felt almost like a religious experience. The relationship between the space, the paintings, and the viewer created an intense sense of emotional resonance. Since then, I’ve become much more attentive to how exhibition environments shape perception and feeling, and how space itself can function as an integral part of the artwork.

What is your creative process like? Do you follow a routine or work spontaneously?

My creative process varies depending on the medium, but it is mostly intuitive and spontaneous. I don’t follow a fixed routine, and I often allow the material I’m working with to guide the process.

For painting, I usually have no drafts, approaching it almost like automatic drawing. For my rust paintings, for example, I apply chemical liquids onto metal plates and allow the natural rusting process to unfold unpredictably. I then respond to the forms that emerge, and further develope the composition.

When working with games, such as my 2D visual novel game Caves, my process becomes more curatorial. I generate a large volume of AI-produced images, then select and categorize them, pairing them with text and narrative fragments. Meaning emerges through this process of selection, association, and sequencing rather than from a fixed plan.

For installations, I usually begin with a rough draft, but the work evolves through discussions with technicians with technical considerations. The final outcome often differs from the original idea.

What projects are you currently working on, and what can we expect from you in the future?

I am currently developing a new game project that draws on research into cosmology, archaeology, and paleontology, as well as creation myths from Eastern and Western traditions. I’m interested in exploring how ancient narratives about the origin of the world can be reinterpreted through contemporary digital systems through this project.

Looking ahead, I plan to keep working across different media and continue to develop my research around virtual worlds as inner landscapes, artificial intelligence as a form of collective consciousness, and techno-animism.

Text & photo courtesy of Ailsa Wong

Website: https://ailsaw.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ailsa.ww/