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art in station architecture
Playcode

Artwork Title:
Playcode

Artist Name:
plusClover (Hong Kong)

Artwork Location:
Admiralty Station – Inter-platform staircase

Form of Artwork:
Mosaic tiles & Metal Panels

Artwork Completion Date:
August 2017

Artist's Concept:
The importance of communications is a common theme connecting Admiralty's history as a former naval station to its modern-day role as the largest interchange station in the MTR network.

Playcode is a digitally interactive installation that reflects historical and contemporary modes of communication, captures the spirit of MTR and enlivens the inter-platform staircase at Admiralty Station.

The artwork design reflects historical and contemporary modes of communications in its interplay between Morse code⁽²⁾ and QR code⁽¹⁾. The use of Morse code alludes to Admiralty's history as a naval base⁽⁴⁾, whereas the QR codes embedded in the design expresses how passengers today largely communicate through their mobile devices⁽³⁾. By encouraging interaction through different representations of data, Playcode opens up opportunities for transmitting, decoding, and extracting information.

plusClover designed the Morse and QR codes to transform into one another, thus blurring the boundary between the present and the past. The codes contain phrases about the MTR and the artwork wraps around and through the stairwell, with its texture shifting from sparse to dense, from grey on white to white on grey. This builds a constant motion and direction into the design that guides passengers in and through the piece, from viewing to immersing, from examining to engaging.

Please click here to view the GIF Animation (30MB)

 

 

Early design rendering of the artwork - "Playcode" at upper platform

Early design rendering of the artwork - "Playcode" at lower staircase

 

Artist Details:

Playcode is designed by plusClover, a Hong Kong-based design team led by Clover Lee. The team comes from all over the world but feels at home in the distinct neighbourhoods of Hong Kong.
plusClover: Clover Lee, David Erdman, Helina Lass, Kammy Leung, Brian Lee, Lisa Huang, Alexandra Siu, Jody Luk, Wai Yan Li, Jonathan Sinn

Axonometric diagram showing messages wrapping around stairwell

Please click here to view the "Decoding Morse Code".