Mr Danny Yung is a household name in arts and culture in Asia. Yung is a pioneer of experimental art, theater performance, video, and installation art in the Sinophone region, and the Co-Artistic Director of Zuni Icosahedron (www.zuni.org.hk) – Hong Kong's leading experimental arts collective. Yung is the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards Artist of the Year 2015, a Fukuoka Prize Laureate (2014), the recipient of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2009), and of the UNESCO Music Theatre NOW Award (2008).

Born in Shanghai, China in 1943. At the age of five, he moved to Hong Kong with his family. After finishing secondary school, he went to the United States to attend the University of California at Berkeley and obtained a bachelor's degree in architecture. He then went on to graduate school at Columbia University, where he earned a master's degree in urban design. In the past 40 years, Yung's original theatre productions are over 100, as director, scriptwriter, producer and/or stage designer, which were staged in cities across the world, including Tokyo, Yokohama, Toga, Singapore, Taipei, Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Brussels, Berlin, Munich, London, Lisbon, Rotterdam and New York. Yung keeps a close watch on the arts and cultural policy and education development in Hong Kong as well as in the Asia Pacific regions.

12.04 What is cultural laboratory?

How cultural development is related to socio-political and economic development? My fellow once asked. Such a broad subject, I don't know how to answer. Yet, I can share some of my observations, for instance, cultural policy always comes late; cultural institutions bring forth least development in real terms but merely provide entertainment services; another observation is, cultural studies seemingly do not catch up with the development of the forward-thinking cultures. After all, "What is development?" which is the question we shall ask. More to come, "Why development is needed?", "Is there any prerequisite for development?", "What do the so-called pre-set framework and structure mean in terms of development?". That leads on to other questions like "What is art?", "What is museum?", "Why art is needed?", "Why art centers are needed?", "Are there any differences among art creation, art curatorship and art criticism?", "Any prerequisite attached to these three areas?", "What do the so-called framework and structure mean in culture?"