Artists who Love Animals & Nature (A.L.A.N) is a non-profit platform created to gather creatives who want to use their skills to help raise awareness to animal, conservation and environmental issue, with the aim to drive social change. A.L.A.N brings like minded talents to collaborate for a common goal.

The most recent project A.L.A.N has been working on, has been in response to the recent wild boar/human interactions. Dubbed “Live With Boars”, A.LA.N has brought together talented local artists and NGO’s together and created instagram filters and animated stickers on WhatsApp, with the double edged aim of not only raising greater awareness as to certain characteristics of wild boars, but also to open dialogue on how we can achieve a peaceful co-existence with animals in Hong Kong.

In this instalment of Tell Me More, HKALPO interviews the co-founders of a cross-discipline design & technology studio, who continue to create digital, experimental and living art, not only as a way of raising greater awareness of the challenges that face both humans and animals, but also to educate the public, so we do not make the same mistakes again: -

• Andy Stokes & Anita Lam: Co-Founders of The Collective, who are continuing to inspire, educate and raise awareness through a technologically creative and curated lens.

1. Can you describe the motivations behind starting Artists who Love Animals and Nature (ALAN)?
Anita and I are co-founders of The Collective, a digital art creative studio that specialises in crafting interactive installations and immersive experiences. Over the years we’ve been lucky enough to work with some great clients and through these connections we’ve been given several opportunities to create Art works with an open brief.

Since Anita and I are huge Animal lovers whenever we have the chance we always veer towards creating works that can raise awareness to the plight of animals or the environment.

Over the course of doing these projects, we connected with more like-minded artists both locally and around the globe who share similar values. 

To encourage further potential collaborations we registered ALAN as a non-profit platform to unite more Artists and creative technologists with the aim to work together to create artworks that can convey messages through art and technology, ultimately to help change behaviours.

2. What are the different methods that you have employed to raise awareness for animal conservation and environmental issues?
To date our work ranges from physical kinetic sculptures, interactive projection spaces and Augmented Reality. Through our work we are always on the lookout for creative & unexpected  ways to use new technologies in a way they weren’t actually designed to be used. 

Since oftentimes our subject matter can be quite heavy we feel the public may switch-off. Using the combination of Art+tech helps us engage with our audience & communicate in a softer way.

The next generations need hope to make conscious choices to build a more sustainable future, which is why our works always aim to leave the audience feeling hopeful & optimistic. 

3. Have you found Hong Kong to be receptive to the fusion between technology and art to promote awareness?
Indeed. All our works to date people seem very happy to engage with & share. I think because we always want to encourage fun! If it was too dry or serious, many people would likely ignore the work.

We are currently coaching some young people to use art and technology to create artworks and they are very keen and always come up with a serious social topic.  We believe it is a great channel for younger generations to express, to share and to learn.

4. The BREAK THE CHAIN campaign to create awareness into wildlife trafficking  in Hong Kong was highly successful and the law has recently been amended to reflect the seriousness and criminality of wildlife crime. What are some of the other projects you are working on currently?
Recently we kick-started “Live with Boars”, an Art and Education Project to help raise awareness on the plight of our beloved boars. Given the recent situation with the wild boar culling we feel it is important for the public to be more conscious about wildlife and their existence in our city.

We are also working on an interactive installation about corals and ocean acidification which will be on-show at the Hong Kong Art Festival, Feb 2022.

5. What have been some obstacles that ALAN has faced in relation to the projects that you have worked on?

First of all, finding the right balance without bias is not an easy task.  Art is self-expression, there are emotions and judgement.  However, when we want to convey a social topic, it should be neutral to allow a holistic discussion.  

In a practical sense, the biggest obstacle is funding.. We’ve been lucky that some forward thinking NGO’s have supported our projects, but in general it’s hard to receive any financial support. Time is an issue too. If we had our way we’d be doing these kinds of projects all the time, but we do need to keep the roof over our heads and work on commercial projects, so finding a balance is always tricky.

6. How can we (both local artists and the public) support ALAN and future projects?

Sharing our work is one of the best ways the public can help… It’s quite early days for the platform, but we really hope to prove this non-conventional approach, using art and technology, as a way to promote awareness and to educate can be effective.

For artists we are always keen to connect with like-minded individuals (hi@wearealan.org)

If you’re a property owner we’d gladly welcome space in your compound to show our works and Of course, we would gladly welcome financial support to help facilitate creating works & growing the movement too :-)