Biography — ALEXMALISM

Photo taken by Arman Dzidzovic, Sharon Lee, and Winston Yeung

Alex Yiu (He/They) is a Hong Kong-based music producer, singer-songwriter, sound artist, writer, and researcher. He holds an MMus in Sonic Arts from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a PhD in Creative Media from the City University of Hong Kong, with a thesis on experimental club music scenes in Shanghai. His creative work explores queer themes, language, spatial dynamics, and performance practice through music, video, sound, writing, and performance.

Yiu’s musical output dissolves the boundaries between pop, industrial, and experimental electronic music. His debut album, TKO (Absurd Trax), utilizes pointillistic synth patterns and industrial rhythms to reflect Hong Kong's socio-economic landscape. In his 2022 self-titled Cantopop-electronic album, ALEXMALISM, he shifted toward introspective songwriting, blending Deconstructed Club, Trip-hop, and Trap to process identity, digital relationships, and urban anxiety. As an active performer and DJ, he hybridizes experimental club sounds, featuring in a Boiler Room "Hard Dance" mix and performing at CTM Festival, Sónar Hong Kong in 2019, M+, Tai Kwun Contemporary, and NTS Radio.

As a sound artist, Yiu creates audiovisual work and installations that frequently integrate musical elements, TouchDesigner, and Ableton Live. His work has been exhibited at Para Site, Tai Kwun, and A+ Contemporary. He also curated the 2019 exhibition "Play. Boredom. Worship" at EatonHK. Parallel to his artistic practice, his critical writing and exhibition reviews on contemporary Asian art have been featured extensively in ArtAsiaPacific. He currently works as a Music Copy Editor for a major streaming platform, localizing editorial content for Hong Kong audiences.

姚少龍 (他/TA) 是一位香港音樂製作人、唱作人、聲音藝術家、作者及研究員。他擁有倫敦大學金匠學院聲音藝術音樂碩士學位，以及香港城市大學創意媒體學院博士學位，其博士論文聚焦於上海的實驗俱樂部音樂場景。他的創作涵蓋音樂、錄像、聲音、寫作與表演實踐，深入探討酷兒主題、語言以及空間動態。

姚氏的音樂打破了流行、工業及實驗電子音樂之間的界線，其以化名 Alexmalism 推出的首張專輯《TKO》(Absurd Trax 發行) 運用點描式的合成器音型與工業節奏，映射香港複雜的社會面貌。在 2022 年推出的同名粵語流行電子專輯《ALEXMALISM》中，他轉向內省的歌曲創作，融合 Deconstructed Club、Trip-hop 與 Trap 等元素，藉此梳理酷兒身份、數碼關係與都市焦慮。作為活躍的表演者及 DJ，他擅於混合實驗俱樂部聲響，曾為 Boiler Room 錄製「Hard Dance」混音，並於柏林 CTM Festival、Sónar Hong Kong、M+、大館當代美術館及 NTS Radio 等國際舞台與文化機構演出。

身為聲音藝術家，姚氏經常結合音樂元素、TouchDesigner 及 Ableton Live 等媒介，創作音樂錄像及裝置藝術。其作品曾於 Para Site 藝術空間及 A+ Contemporary 展出，他亦於 2019 年在 Eaton HK 策劃了展覽「遊戲。無聊。崇拜。」(Play. Boredom. Worship.)。在藝術實踐之外，他亦發表了大量探討亞洲當代藝術的評論與展覽回顧，文章常見於《ArtAsiaPacific》。他目前於大型音樂串流平台擔任音樂文案編輯，負責為香港聽眾進行編輯內容的在地化工作。

Educations:

2025 PhD in Creative Media - School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong
2015 Master of Music in Sonic Arts - Goldsmiths, University of London
2012 Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in Music Composition/Production - Hong Kong Baptist University

Major Exhibitions:

2022-23 "Myth Makers—Spectrosynthesis III", Taikwun Contemporary, Central, Hong Kong
2019 “Play. Boredom. Worship.” Co-curating with Suze Chan, Tomorrow Maybe, Eaton HK, Jordan, Hong Kong
2018 “Kotodama”, Para Site, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong
2016 “What Potions Have I Drunk of Siren Tears”, A+ Contemporary, Shanghai
2016 “At Wit’s End”, Kula-Bazaar, Asia Kula Kula-ring, Asia Culture Center, Gwangju
2015 “Nook Echoes, A Joint Exhibition of Cross-media Arts”, PMQ, Hong Kong
2014 “Yasi * We Friend -- A Cross-Media Response Exhibition to Leung Ping Kwan”, Hong Kong Fringe Club, Hong Kong

Performances/Compositions:

2025 Art Week Opening Party at M+, multimedia performance with Jas Lin and IV Chan, M+, West Kowloon, Hong Kong

2020 Online streaming concert, E(ar)-Storm | ReNew Vision, New Vision Arts Festival, Hong Kong
2020 Soundtrack for Kit Wan Studios Capsule Collection 20/21 conceptual film
2020 Absurd Trax vs Selam X, “Liminal”, CTM Festival, Berghain’s Säule, Berlin, Germany
2019 “Lush Processes”, Sound Forms 2019, Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong, McAulay Studio, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Wanchai, Hong Kong
2019 Art After Hours: Hong Kong Visions with Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong, JC Contemporary, Tai Kwun, Central, Hong Kong
2018 EP “TKO” release concert, HKCR, Foo Tak Building, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
2018 “Chinese Hill Billies” (Do not hasten to bid me adieu), Lecture-performance, Para Site, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong
2018 “UNPOP”, Burning Man 2018, Audio Games Lab, Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong, Black Rock Desert, NV, USA
2018 “Livecraft”, Steve Hui x Alex Yiu, Twenty Alpha, Foo Tak Building, Wanchai
2018 “Alter Ego”, Fresh Form II, Sound Forms 2018, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Wanchai
2018 “Chinese Hill Billies” Lecture performance, Gold Saucer Studio, Sponsored by HKADC, Vancouver, Canada
2017 “You Millions, I Embrace You!” participatory performance in “Proletarian Punk”, Institution for Provocation, Salt Projects, Beijing, China
2017 “Doublé”, multimedia composition, Cycle Music and Art Festival, Gerðarsafn, Kópavogur Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland
2017 “Ever Since I Left the CityU”, sound performance, XXX Gallery, Tai Kok Tsui, Hong Kong
2017 “You Millions, I Embrace You!”, participatory performance, 100ft. PARK, Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong
2017 Sonic Anchor #29 Part II & #31, sound performance, Comix Home Base, Hong Kong
2017 “Dance off” by Joseph Lee, sound design/performer, Hong Kong Jockey Club Contemporary Dance Series, Black Box Theatre, Kwai Tsing Theatre, Hong Kong
2016- DJ at Hong Kong Community Radio, live stream performance, Hong Kong
2016 “Snark”, Curated by Andre Chan, performer, Tai Kok Tsui, Hong Kong
2016 “What Potions Have I Drunk of Siren Tears”, sound performance, A+ Contemporary, Shanghai 2016 “In between the Tropic of Cancer”, sound performance at Tokyo University of Arts, Tokyo
2016 “EXPERIMENTAL SERIES #2”, sound performance, Fringe Upstairs, Fringe Club, Hong Kong
2016 Papay Gyro Nights 2016 Hong Kong, group improvisation, Focal Fair, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
2016 “Spaces Traces, Places”, performer, Modern Academy 2.0, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Unit 12, Cattle Deport Artist Village
2016 “noise=noise [] THE HIDDEN []”, audiovisual performance, Multimedia Theatre, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, Hong Kong
2015 “Boundary Music”, Angharad Davies, Rie Nakajima at Whitechapel: Music for Museums”, White Chapel Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2015 “Practical Vocation” with Francesco Moraca and Serenella Martufi, sound design, The Old Laban Centre, London, United Kingdom
2015 SONIC STRIP: Goldsmiths MMus Degree Show, audiovisual performance, New River Studios, London, United Kingdom
2015 “PureGold 2015”, audiovisual performance, Southbank Centre, London, United Kingdom
2015 “Impression: Fire Dragon Dance” for Chinese Orchestra, CCC & Music Friends, "Chinese Music Impression" concerts, Hong Kong
2014 “Sonic Anchor #16 Fieldwork and Housework”, audiovisual performance, CMHK, Hong Kong
2013 “Hong Kong Composer On Stage”, sound performance, 2013 Chinese Composers' Festival, Hong Kong Composers’ Guild, Sheung Wan Civic Centre, Hong Kong
2013 Midday, Quarry Bay” for percussion ensemble, New Generation Concert, RTHK Radio 4, Hong Kong Composers’ Guild, Hong Kong
2012 “La Soledad” for viola da gamba, Concert “After Gesualdo”, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, St. Joseph Chapel, Sai Kung
2012 “Here and There” by LeeCat Ho, sound design, Dance Theatre "Self.Explore" by Mary Jane Tang, CCDC Dance Centre Jockey Club Dance Theatre, Wong Tai Sin, Hong Kong
2010 Graduation Song, The Complaints Choir of Hong Kong, participatory art project

Conferences/Symposiums/Presentations

2020 “Becoming ‘Hong Kong’: Sound and Music of the 2019 Hong Kong Protests”, Research Networking Day, CTM Festival, Berlin, Germany
2018 "An Overview of the Internet-based Underground Post-Genre Club Music and its Translocality: From a Hong Kong Local Perspective", presentation, “Symposium: Underground Music-Making in Hong Kong and East Asia”, Keynote speaker: Prof. Will Straw, School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, December.
2016 “Perspective on Sound Arts in Hong Kong”, performance/presentation, Special Program 3 ‘In between the Tropic of Cancer’, Cultural Typhoon 2016 ‘Can You Feel It?: Cultural Intervention in the Globalising Cities’ with Keynote speaker: Prof. Lawrence Grossberg, Tokyo University of Arts, July.

Workshops/Residencies

2018 “Sound Form”, Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong, Centre A, Vancouver, Canada

2017 Cycle Music and Lab, Modern Academy, participating artist, Spring Workshop, Hong Kong
2017 Munich Biennial – International Biennial Platform Hong Kong (Part 2), participating artist, Connecting Space Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2016 Munich Biennial – International Biennial Platform Hong Kong (Part 1), Connecting Space Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2014 “The Modern Academy”, participant, Goethe-Institut Hong Kong, Hong Kong 2009 The Complaints Choir of Hong Kong, participant, Hong Kong

Fellowships/Prizes

2016 Sonic Transmission Artist Exchange Project, Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong
2014 CASH Music Scholarship, Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong Ltd.
2013 New Generation Concert, First Prize, RTHK Radio 4, Hong Kong Composers’ Guild