VISIT SITE
NEONSIGNS.HK
An online exhibition that turns crowdsourced neon signs into an interactive map

Neonsigns.hk is an online exhibition presented by the M+ museum from the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong. The website features an interactive map that crowdsources neon sign photos submitted by the public. The online exhibition also contains essays, video documentaries, photo galleries, and a timeline, telling an in-depth multimedia story about neon signs' history and development.

The site builds a database of neon signs from the public, which can reveal patterns about the neon's geographical distribution, and the M+ museum is using the site's tagging system for research in the long run. Concurrently, the online exhibition raises the awareness of one of the threatened features from Hong Kong's streetscapes.

#hkneon

Neonsigns.hk provides an opportunity for users to digitally discover the neon signs in the city of Hong Kong. The public can easily submit photos of the signs to the neon map via Instagram, which are then organized by their corresponding districts and categories for others to explore in different, meaningful ways. The public can experience the neon signs erected in the streets of Hong Kong and help to digitally archive them via the crowd-sourcing capability of neonsigns.hk. Through the multimedia content in the online exhibition, the public gets exposed to more in-depth knowledge and stories behind the neon signs in different visual and cultural contexts.

Public submissions of neon signs in Hong Kong

Neonsigns.hk has received attention from a wide range of news outlets locally and internationally. Covered from design and culturally focused online publications such as FastCoDesign and Hypebeast, to established channels such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times, the online exhibition digitally introduces neon signs from Hong Kong to the rest of the world.

Saving neon

Through the multimedia experiences, the online exhibition reintroduces the neon signs of Hong Kong in different contexts. Due to the advancements of technology, neon signs in the streets of Hong Kong are slowly disappearing, replaced by LED signs or multimedia displays. By raising the awareness and inducing the appreciation of these nostalgic glowing tubes, neonsigns.hk brings hope to find alternate roles for neon signs to live on as part of our culture.

Gallery of lost neon signs
Hand-drawn sketches of neon signs
Neon timeline
Essays with interactive annotations
Video on the making of neon signs
Audio guides of neon walks in the city
Content contributors

The multimedia content on Neonsigns.hk are curated and contributed by professionals across the cultural facets. From renowned cinematographer and photographers to respected novelist and professors, the team provides rich content for the online exhibition in forms of artwork, essays, videos, audio walks, and image galleries.

Christopher Doyle
Cinematographer
Wing Shya
Photographer
anothermountainman
Artist / photographer
Kacey Wong
Visual artist / Assistant professor, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Keith Tam
Typographer / Assistant professor, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Christoph Ribbat
Professor, University of Paderborn, Germany
Yankwai Wong
Writer / art director of film
Lolita Hu
Writer / cultural observer
Choi Sai Ho
Musician
Yuen Che Hung
Local storyteller
Liu Wai Tong
Poet
Cédric Maride
Sound artist
Lawrence Pun
Novelist / cultural critic
Aric Chen
Curator, M+
Tobias Berger
Curator, M+
Birde Tang
Curator, M+
Results

The site has received over 4000 submissions from 21 March to 30 June 2014, ranging from younger users active on Instagram, to nostalgic photos from the older generation, and pictures by professional photographers. Neonsigns.hk has received attention from a wide range of news outlets locally and internationally. Covered from design and culturally focused online publications such as FastCoDesign and Hypebeast, to established channels such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times, the online exhibition digitally introduces neon signs from Hong Kong to the rest of the world.

4,000+
neon signs submitted by the public via instagram
140,000+
views on "The Making of Neon Signs" video
15
categories of neon signs crowd sourced
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