Why is this work relevant for Creative Data?

The ‘Art of Progress’ is an art piece that combines technology, big data and new media artforms to tell HSBC’s new chapter in its wealth growth story. The art piece turns real-time movements of Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index into dynamic art. Peaks, valleys, slopes, and inclines shift according to the volatility of the market. It is HSBC's first-ever time to create a new form of art as part of communications, which is named "FINART" - blending finance with art.

Background

HSBC needed an experience that celebrates the launch of the new, luxurious HSBC Wealth Centre. This new wealth centre services high-net-worth customers and showcases the Bank’s commitment in being Asia’s leading wealth manager. Throughout history, HSBC strives to help grow the wealth of customers. Hong Kong, especially, has a vital role to play. That is why the development of the WEALTH CENTRE is such a key milestone for the Bank. Located in one of HK's landmarks, this new centre aims to facilitate the wealth decisions of clients. The Bank also needed a new centrepiece that showed its progressive attitude. Leveraging the trend of NFTs and digital art, HSBC created “the Art of Progress” to create harmony between data technology and the arts – as a metaphor for what HSBC stands for. On one hand, it was an effective use of the digital screens that kept

Describe the Creative idea / data solution (20% of vote)

Working with ‘HK’s top NFT artist’ Victor Wong, we had to choreograph a whole new piece of technology to collect the real-time data from the Hang Seng Index that creates daily and weekly art pieces, ensuring that no 2 art pieces are ever alike. Going back to the early 1800s at the HSBC archives, we also took design schemes of the HSBC bank notes, which represent wealth, and blended it with the digitally-formed art piece. Motifs include the iconic local tram, bank, and birds. The design of the art piece is also inspired by traditional Chinese landscape paintings, but with a modern twist. The Hang Seng Index is the financial pulse of Hong Kong, while art has always been a passion for High-Net-Worth Individuals. The idea combines the two to create a uniquely calming brand experience – an antidote to Hong Kong’s hustle and bustle.

Describe the data driven strategy (30% of vote)

The Hang Seng Index is an open-source API which our artist and his programming team could leverage to create an evolving art piece. The data then triggers the artist's propreitary alogrithm that takes the market index and plots a new mountain peak. Every 10-seconds, a new mountain peak is formed based on the market index at that time. Furthermore, to ensure that the art piece doesn't look too volatile even when the market is experiencing drastic ups and downs, we leveraged a 'normalisation' technique which normalises the look of the volatility. This art piece is placed in the HSBC Wealth Centre, where high-net-worth clients frequently visit to gain advice and solutions. This centre piece helps reinforce HSBC's tech-led solutions and how it is a brand for the mdoern times.

Describe the creative use of data, or how the data enhanced the creative output (20% of vote)

Every day when the market opens, ‘Art of Progress’ is recreated from scratch using the Hang Seng Index’s open-source market data. The artist’s proprietary algorithms then trigger updates throughout the day so that ‘Art of Progress’ is never the same from minute to minute, or from day to day. The art piece also features different versions based on different times of day. When the market is open, we run the original algorithm. When the market is closed (in the afternoon), it recaps the last market opening. When the market is closed on the weekends, the algorithm aggregates the past week's movements and also turns it into an art piece for people to appreciate and recap the last week's stock index.

List the data driven results (30% of vote)

Reported in media across Hong Kong and Asia Pacific. Target audience reactions were overwhelmingly positive and generated a lot of further discussions about implementing this art piece to more wealth centres built across Hong Kong. It also helped the brand boost brand love based on the thousands of visitors that the Wealth Centre welcomes every day.