Wong Kit Yi

A River in the Freezer

Essay film, 25”, 2017

A River in the Freezer is a 25-minute essay film that combines directed and found footage in order to meditate upon glacial memory, cryogenics, and frozen fiction. Kit Yi synthesizes disparate subjects—including the Norwegian town of Longyearbyen (where no one is allowed to die), the fair-haired manga character Cygnus Hyōga, colour wavelength theory, the 19th-century global ice trade, and the cost of ice cubes in Hong Kong today, among many others—within a karaoke-inspired sing-along format.

Artist's bio

The artist Wong Kit Yi (born in Hong Kong) is currently living in New York. Her conceptual and performance-based work animates human interactions by measuring, locating, and quantifying the intangible. She regards growing up in Hong Kong as a major influence on her work. Kit Yi is especially inspired by the sea of her mother’s random thoughts, her spirituality, and her proactive business strategy. In 2015, artist participated in an Arctic Circle Expeditionary Residency with support from the Jerome Foundation, producing several commissioned works and an essay film structured in her signature karaoke-inspired format. She is currently the 2017/18 SHIFT Resident at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York. Kit Yi speaks native Cantonese, fluent English, and hysterical Mandarin.