Hato are a design practise based between London and Hong Kong. They have been working since 2009 across the fields of art and design.
2016 Biennial Year Find out more
Hato’s working practise specialises in collaborative approaches, working with a wide range of audiences including schools, institutions and community groups to develop creative experiences that inspire inquisitive thought. Their projects give people the tools to play, collaborate and express their ideas through design.
For Liverpool Biennial 2016 Hato were commissioned to work together with Year 7 pupils from Childwall Sports & Science Academy to transform an Arriva double-decker bus into a functioning artwork. It contains coded messages from outer space for the future of Liverpool, to be interpreted by its citizens. This ‘space bus’ pays homage to messages taken on board NASA’s Voyager spacecraft in 1977, which contained sound and images depicting life on Earth.
Hato have recently worked with the Wellcome Collection, London, UK (2016); Somerset House, London, UK (2016); Arts on the Underground, London, UK (2016) and M+, Hong Kong (2016). They have been part of the Serpentine Galleries’ Edgware Road Project, London, UK, since 2012.
Hato at Liverpool Biennial 2016
Hello Future Me, 2016
Painted Arriva bus
Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial in partnership with Arriva
On view at select Arriva bus routes in the city
Hato & Childwall Academy: Hello Future Me
“There are messages on the bus for the future citizens of Liverpool”
Designed by Year 7 pupils from Childwall Sports & Science Academy, in collaboration with artists and designers Hato, Hello Future Me contains coded messages to the future citizens of Liverpool, spelled out in an alphabet of newly invented symbols that draw inspiration from imagined futures. It pays homage to the tradition of sending messages into outer space, in the hope that extra-terrestrial beings will be able to understand more about human civilisation.
Hello Future Me, or Space Bus, is one of three functioning double-deckers that have been transformed by artists and children in a major new commission by Liverpool Biennial and Arriva North West. The buses can be seen driving on routes through the city centre, South Liverpool, North Liverpool and the Wirral.
Film by Carl Davies, FACT Video Production Services