2026 | Illustration & Embroidery Workshop & Art Experience |  The Mills & HK Arts Development Council

PROJECT INTRODUCTION

TIME POCKET STATION is an interactive time-travel art experience that connects an imagined future of 2090 with everyday life in 2026. Set within the neighbourhood of Tsuen Wan, the project invites visitors to become “Time Voyagers” and return to the present through the eyes of a future traveller.

Looking Back from 2090

The project began with a question: What might we miss if our future city becomes too clean, efficient and perfect? As urban environments continue to transform, everyday textures, traditions and traces of local life can gradually disappear. Rather than imagining time travel simply as a journey into the future, the project uses it as a way of looking back at the present — encouraging us to slow down and notice what is still here.

ILLUSTRATION x EMBROIDERY 

Led by illustrator UUendy Lau and embroidery artist Stephanie Kwok, the project brings together two distinct artistic practices: illustration and embroidery. Although they move at very different paces — a drawing can emerge from a quick sketch, while embroidery may take much longer to stitch a single line — both begin with close observation. A line or thread becomes a way of tracing, recording and interpreting the city.

The artists were particularly drawn to the changing shadows of Tsuen Wan: the fleeting shadow of a passer-by, the shifting and stretching shades of trees and architecture as the sun moves, and the less visible “shadow of culture” left behind as traditions and everyday life are gradually transformed. These observations became the basis for a series of illustrations, embroidery works and interactive experiences exploring the colourful shadows of the city.

TIME POCKET STATION 《時間旅行過境站》

Venue: The Mills M02 

Organised & Supported by: HKADC

Curated by: In Time Of

Participating Artists: UUendy Lau, Stephanie Kwok (Little Dream Embroidery)

Exhibition Graphic Design: UUendy Lau

CO-CREATING WITH STUDENTS 

An important part of the project was its collaborative process. Through 10 co-creation workshops, student ambassadors explored Tsuen Wan through their own observations and perspectives, documenting details of the neighbourhood and transforming them into creative responses. Their works became part of the final public experience, extending the project beyond the artists’ own interpretations of the city.

INTERACTIVE ART EXPERIENCE FOR THE PUBLIC

Visitors to TIME POCKET STATION are invited to participate as Time Voyagers, moving through a series of interactive steps including receiving a time-travel kit, completing an identity card and clocking in with a travel ticket. Along the way, they can collect and record urban shadows through postcards, and create their own embroidered piece inspired by the patterns of traditional metal gates.

Public workshops further opened up the processes of illustration and embroidery, allowing visitors to experiment with the two artistic practices themselves.

THE PROJECT CONTINUES

Holding on to What Remains

At TIME POCKET STATION, time travel is ultimately not only about moving between the future and the past. It is an exercise in slowing down, looking closely, and noticing what is already here. Through observing, recording and creating, the project seeks to hold on to fleeting moments of light and shadow, and to consider which parts of our everyday city are worth remembering.