Ellen Pau is a video artist known for her influential contributions to the development of video and media arts in the region. Born in 1961, Pau graduated from Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1985 with a Professional Diploma in Diagnostic Radiography. However, her passion for art emerged during her final year at university, when she began working with the Super 8 film format.
Pau’s debut film, Glove (1984), showcased her interest in expressionist art and surrealist cinema. In the late 1980s, she joined Zuni Icosahedron, a renowned experimental theatre company in Hong Kong, where she worked as a videographer, producing video elements and documentation for multi-media performances. At Zuni’s, Pau’s exploration in experimental video and MTV led to her producing a number of videos for Cantopop concerts [Cantonese pop music produced in Hong Kong].

In 1986, Pau co-founded Videotage, the first video art collective and media art archive in Hong Kong. Over two decades, she served as the artistic director and chairperson of Videotage, fostering artistic and cultural exchanges and promoting digital and media arts in Hong Kong. Pau was also instrumental in establishing the Microwave International New Media Arts Festival in 1996 – the first of its kind in Asia. The festival evolved to offer artist residencies, lectures, conferences, school tours and workshops. In 2008, the Videotage Media Art Collection (VMAC) was launched, housing a comprehensive collection of media art programme materials, artworks, sound bites and moving images. Videotage and Microwave remain influential art initiatives in Hong Kong, and VMAC stands as a unique media art archive in the region.

Recycling Cinema (1998) represents one of Pau’s most acclaimed works. This video installation explores the language of cinema and the act of looking in an urban setting, depicting vehicles racing along a Hong Kong expressway near the harbour. Recycling Cinema was showcased at the Hong Kong Pavilion of the 49^th Venice Biennale in 2001 and later exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2017.

In the 2000s, Pau’s artistic endeavours expanded to include curatorship. Notable exhibitions she organised include D.V. Drops Selection No. 3 (2005) at the Istituto di Cultura Casa Giorgio Cini in Italy and Digit@logue (2008) at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. She also initiated projects such as the open-source festival Wikitopia in 2010. In 2016, Pau served as the Satellite Events Director for the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) at Hong Kong.

In 2022, Pau created The Shape of Light, a digital installation designed for the M+ Façade, one of the largest media screens in the world. The installation combines live-action figures with dynamic light sequences, conveying a message of hope amidst Hong Kong’s social conflicts and the COVID-19 pandemic. Pau’s recent projects also explore the intersection of art and science, including her ongoing trilogy on the genetic profile of Hong Kong’s floral emblem, Bauhinia x Blakeana.

Pau’s artistic contributions have been recognised internationally, with her works being held in prestigious collections such as those of M+, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. Through her dedication to video and media arts, Pau has played a significant role in shaping Hong Kong’s artistic landscape.