Experimental musician, composer, music activist and sound artist Kung Chi-shing has long been one of Hong Kong’s boldest sonic experimenters. Combining elements of pop and classical music, with an emphasis on improvisation, he uses music as an artistic tool for social commentary, with work that examines how public spaces are affected by music.

In 2022 he was appointed head of contemporary performance, performing arts at the West Kowloon Cultural District. Born and raised in Hong Kong, he studied classical music and composition at the University of Hawaii and the University of Pennsylvania, where one of his professors was legendary avant garde composer George Crumb. His first job in Hong Kong, from 1987, was as head of the dance department music programme at the Academy for Performing Arts; that was also the year that he launched possibly his best-known venture, theatrical music ensemble The Box, alongside writer Peter Suart, which had an outsize impact on the city’s experimental performance scene.

He set up Kung Music Workshop in 2008 and the following year founded his Street Music Series, through which he has so far staged more than 150 concerts on Hong Kong street corners. Since 1996 he has composed and staged six full-length musical theatre pieces, and he has performed in countries including Japan, Cuba, Uzbekistan, the US, the UK, Germany and Italy.