KJCKorea
Journal Central

This article aims to explore the ontological dimension of urban experience that is most often exploded by a plethora of neon signs through the lens of new materialisms. What follows is an in-depth analysis of the online exhibition called <neonsigns.hk>, which is run by the M+ Museum located in Hong Kong. New materialisms is an interdisciplinary strand of research that investigates the world where we live, in which both material and immaterial aspects are complexly entangled. Instead of relying on a set of strict binaries between material and immaterial, human and non-human, nature and artifice, reality and virtuality, and figure and ground, new materialisms pays attention to their mode of coexistence and imbrications. According to new materialisms, neon sign is considered not only a means of advertising but also a threshold enabling us to look at the phenomenological dimension of the city. While neon sign has most often been criticized due to its visually distracting and flickering qualities especially during the nighttime, this article highlights that such urban strata evoke the past urban memories and senses of nostalgia, although fragmentary and temporary due to its unstable but dynamic materiality.

Entanglement, Neon Culture, Neon Sign, New Materialisms, Urban Experience