Heyse Ip

Heyse Ip (b.1995, Hong Kong) is a multi-disciplinary artist and researcher based in London and Hong Kong. His current works in moving image, performance, sculpture and sound explore themes such as power dynamics in surveillance and public spaces through a lens of absurdity and humour. Informed by his interest in the idea of a human becoming an animal and a human becoming an apparatus, he creates a deliberate intersection between the digital and the animal, offering alternative narratives around the subjects of his works.

Ip holds an MA in Contemporary Art Practice from the Royal College of Art, UK (2020-22) and a BA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Arts, UK (2015-18). In 2019, he had his first solo show at Lumenvisum, Hong Kong. He also exhibited and performed as part of various group shows, including Meta Alarm (2022), Here’s one I made earlier (2022) by Offsite Project and Plicnik Space Initiative (2020), amongst others. He further worked as one of the coordinators of Hybrid Realities CAP festival 2022.

Heyse Ip's current project proposes a world where a CCTV camera exists as an owl-like hybrid animal. In this world, he is a bird enthusiast, navigating the role of a predator but also a potential prey. I like watching birds and they like watching me sets out fictional encounters with this animal, based on encounters with a real CCTV camera.