The Antarctica expedition and exhibition was one of most ambitious educational experiences ever attempted and its success is due to a remarkable team of educators, artists, scientists and friends who all believed in an unbelievable idea.

I owe much to the shared vision of our Provost, Professor Arthur Ellis my Dean Professor Jeffrey Shaw and Chair Professor and Associate Provost Christian Wagner. Dr. Eva Lui in the Provost’s office was the catalyst in bringing all the elements together smoothly and Ms. Emily Ko Tsz Kei in the SCM General Office and Ms. Polly Leung were brilliant liaisons.

The programme spanned the entire university under the leadership and support of Chairman of the Council Mr. Herman Hu Shao-ming and President Professor Way Kuo. I would like to thank Mr. Simon Tang Siu Kee, Ms. Katy Lee Ming Tak, Ms. Carina Chan Pui Shan and their colleagues in the Finance Office, Ms. Mary Fung Chuen Yee and her colleagues in the Development Office, and Professor Matthew Lee, Ms. Ida Leung, Miss Christina Wu and the fine team in the Communications and Public Relations Office. The Office of Education Development and Gateway Education has now helped us reach both the desert and the bottom of the world thanks to the support of Professor Shuk Han Cheng, Dr. Rodney Jones, and Mrs.Carmen Pong.

Many professors stepped forward and worked directly with the programme or students. Dr. Stephen Tsang, Dr. Marko Skoric, Dr. Ray Cheung, Dr. Per-Johan Dahl, and Dr. Peter Morse all assisted in selecting the finest proposals. Mr. Frederico Camara and Dr. David Jhave Johnston helped with the interviews and Dr. Jane Prophet, Mr. Tobias Gremmler, Dr. Shannon Walsh, Mr. Tamas Waliczky, and Mr. Albert Yu all worked directly with our students.

Preparation was key to our success and I thank explorer Dr. Rebecca Lee for her inspiring and practical advice. Dr. Rob La Frenais’ early critiques of the student proposals put the students on the right paths. Our research assistant for the expedition, Mr. Alexander Wong Kwun Piu was instrumental to the planning and success of the journey. Mr. Tony Wong Kwok Hei joined us for the exhibition as project manager and his extensive knowledge of design and fabrication benefitted every student project as did Mr. Zhai Yan’s assistance with the specialized SCM technologies. I am always encouraged when I meet professionals who can so effectively convey their knowledge to students.

‘Presented by the School of Creative Media” is a simple sentence but means that my entire school was affected. We moved over a ton of equipment to Antarctica and back and without Mr. Garry Luk Gar Hon and the SCM Production Equipment Centre or Dr. Joshua Pun Chun Chung, Mr. Antony Chan Kwong Chau, Mr. Joe Leung Ka Pak and the SCM IT Support Team it would not have been possible. SCM’s events team, Ms. Ada Leung Wing Yee, Mr. Jasper Fung Tsun Yin and Miss Fion Ng Yin Chun insured that the exhibition would be of the highest standards; and both Miss Ida Cheng Kam Tin and Ms. Estella Tong Mei Mei helped to make sure our paperwork was done correctly. Dr. Harald Kraemer taught us all about professional exhibition design and dynamo Dr. Charlotte Frost helped edit this catalogue, mentor a team and assist in the interviews.

On the expedition, Mr. Gary Stokes proved much more than a brilliant photojournalist and added conscience, insight and skills to the expedition. Captain Leonid Valentinovich Sazonov (Леонид Валентинович Сазонов) and the crew and scientists aboard the Akademik Ioffe delivered us safely to some of the most isolated sites on the planet and gave us access to scientific equipment and data that enriched our understanding. The One Ocean organization quickly synched with our vision and made nearly every student project possible—their assistance with logistics, equipment, support and research was astounding. Led by Mr. Chad Gaetz and Mr. Nick Meyer, the whole team was phenomenal. Thank you Mette Eliseussen, John Rodsted, Shiho Itooka, Sarah Scriver, Rose Papworth, Rob Bartl, Quinn Dennehy, Noah Strycker, Michelle Grant, Dana Glenn, Beau Pruneau, Andy Pollitzer, Cody Burwell, Cheryl Randall and Dr. Joan Louwrens.

I watched our team of 23 exhausted students unpack the bus on our return with the precision of an army…a long way from our chaotic and messy departure. Over 20+ days and tens of thousands of miles, we learned to work as an amazing team of friends and I thank these fine young adults for their humor, focus and support. Together we have achieved something miraculous and as they graduate, Hong Kong had better brace for a force of brilliant and creative professionals.

And finally, I thank my supportive family and in particular my 95-year-old mother who has too many times watched her son disappear into the wilderness and waited with patience and love.

Associate Professor Scott Hessels
Executive Producer: Extreme Environments Programme
Hong Kong
May 2014

We would like to thank Dr. Ray Cheung from the Department of Electronic Engineering and all our AppsLab groupmates who provided technical support to the Penguins Team. We’d also like to thank Ms. Cheung Wai Tsz from the School of Creative Media who brought her brilliant graphical design vision to the project.

The team would like to thank Kaspersky Lab and Xsories Hong Kong Ltd. for their support as well as Mr. Scott Hessels for organizing the event and providing support to the group along with Dr. Jhave David Johnston.

This project would not have been successful without the support of many people including world-renowned artist Scott Hessels as the expedition leader, art writer Charlotte Frost as academic mentor, Alexander Wong as project coordinator, Tony Wong as technical consultant, as well as our beloved friends and supporters on Fringebacker. What is more, we would like to show our deepest appreciation to Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, a supportive sponsor of our project promoting eco-friendly cosmetic products which bring no harm to the environment.

During the expedition and the process of the project, our team feel great honored that we have received a lot of help from family, university, and society. Without their kindly help and contribution, we cannot make such an achievement. First of all we want to give our great thanks to City University of Hong Kong and School of Creative Media for giving us the chance to be involved in this program. It was definitely a great experience in our life. We want to thank Prof. Scott Hessels and Mr. Wong Kwun Piu for their sufficient preparation and caring before and during the expedition. We also want to thank Prof. Scott again with Mr. Wong Kwok Hei for their great help and guide on our project. It’s a great honor to spend the past half year with them and we really learned a lot from them. Besides, we also feel very lucky to have a group of students and friends from all departments to spend a freezing and amazing time in Antarctica. We really enjoyed it. Thanks for Mr. Billy Kwan, Mr. Zhu Kening, Mr. Steve Fore and Prof. Christian Wagner's donation on Fringe Backer. We are really appreciated for your kindly donation. Thanks for all the sponsors including Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation, Kaspersky Lab, Ucan, XSories, Lush, Parrot, My spectral, Century Optical Hk and Dos team wear. We also want to thank Prof. Tamas Waliczky from School of Creative Media, Mr. Ronald Chan, Mr. Liu Zhizhao and Mr. Bruce King from Poly University of Hong Kong, our friends Wang Yaochen, Xiong Jinghui, Lv Yukun, Liu Xinhong, Wu Haotian for their great help on our project research. Miss Emliy Ip from Mainland and External Affairs Office and Mrs. Bonny Ip from Chan Sui Kau student residence hall also help us on promotion. Please receive our sincere thanks.

The team would like to thank our academic advisors, Dr. David Jhave Johnson from the School of Creative Media, Dr. Lam Yun Wah from the Department of Biology and Chemistry and Dr. Patrick K.H. Lee from the School of Energy and Environment.

Thank you for Mr. Scott Hessels’ work in taking care of the course, excursion, the equipment, the trip...pretty much everything from the start. We especially appreciate our project advisor Dr. Per-Johan Dahl, who provided us with many ideas and direction on our artwork. Also big thanks to other team members helping as our crew in data collection on the Zodiacs. Thank you for the support from our friends and families.

From Mubarak: Thank you to my parents for the support and being there to bounce ideas off of. Thank you to all my professors for helping me along the way with techniques, skills and ideas. Thank you to my fellow schoolmates for their never ending support. Thank you Anantika Mehra, my partner. Without you this wouldn't have been possible.

From Anantika: Thank you to my parents, for their immeasurable moral and financial support, and for being there whenever I needed to discuss an idea, or just some plain pep talk. Thank you to my professors, for taking time out of their busy schedule to discuss and brainstorm. Thank you to my partner Mubarak Marafa, for being a wonderfully cooperative and creative person, but mostly just for existing! Thank you to my brother, for being not jealous, but proud of his big sis. Thank you to my friends, for being helpful, supportive, excited and proud of me. And thank you to Ms. Tishani Doshi, without whose tiny article, the seed of going to Antarctica would never have been planted in my head.

Behind the team there are myriads of people who have supported and assisted us. We would like to first offer our gratitude to CityU and Mr. Scott Hessels, for giving us the opportunity to participate in this once-in-a-life-time program. Meanwhile, we would like to thank our assistants in the project, project advisors, and interviewees during the trip, without them we would not be able to become who we are now. We are also grateful to have our teammates and companions in the program, encouraging friends and families.

First of all, we would like to thank Scott and CityU for providing this unique opportunity for us to explore our little world. Also, we appreciate Ray, Walsh, Alexander and Tony for guiding us with a lot of advices and new ideas. Thanks Aporia and Patrick for the interface design and programming of the game application. Of course, thanks to our families, friends and sponsors supporting as well as encouraging us to join such a life-enriching expedition.

The team would like to thank Dr. Vincent C. C. Ko, the project advisor, for his advice and guidance for the entire project; Mr. Alexander K. P. Wong, the expedition assistant, for his guidance before and during the expedition; Mr. Tony Wong, the exhibition project manager, for his assistance on the execution of the artwork; the Department of Biology and Chemistry of the City University of Hong Kong, for their sincere assistance and support; Prof. H. L. Kwong, Prof. Michael H. W. Lam, Dr. Henry S. H. Chung, Dr. Patrick K. H. Lee, Prof. I. T. Horvath, Prof. Kenneth K. W. Lo, Dr. Andy C. K. Siu, Dr. S. G. Cheung, and Dr. Paul K. S. Shin, for their advice and support; Mr. Edvis Shum, Mr. Gary Lam, Mr. Joey Chung and Mr. Lawrence Lee for their help during the pre-test process; and all the other student participants of this expedition for their care and help during the whole journey.

Firstly, we would like to offer our special thanks towards all our backers who helped to fund this immense project. Truly, without your support none of this would have been possible. We would also like to express our gratitude towards our supervisor, Mr. Scott Hessels, for his constant guidance. His constructive advice and vision have helped to steer our project to fruition. Our grateful thanks are also extended to Mr. Tony Wong, for all his assistance in helping us plan and set up our installation.

We would like to thank Mr. Marco Tempest for being the pioneer in the frontier of cyber illusion—his ability to blend cutting-edge technology with the flair and showmanship of Houdini inspired much in this project. Thanks must also be given to many present and past top-notch magicians who ideas spill into this project, notably Mr. Roger Mayfarth, the creator of D’ Lite®, Mr. Bert Easley for his uncanny thoughts on the effect of “The Lean”, Dr. Harlan Tarbell, who generously included “The Snowstorm in China” in his grand old classics “The Tarbell Course in Magic Vol. 1”, Mr. Theodore Annemann’s advice on the “Ghost Bottle” which is described his book “Practical Mental Magic” and Mr. Richard Osterlind for his idea of using the stainless steel blindfold in the show. Also, this project would not have been successful without the advice and the unlimited patience of Mr. Scott Hessels, our project executive producer, Mr. Tony Wong for his indispensable technical and fabrication support and Prof. Lo Tit Win who showed warm encouragement from Department of Applied Social Studies. Last but no account least, we would like to thank our families for their support on our work and our friends who show the same enthusiasm for techno-illusion as we do.

We would like to thank the expedition team who sent out the bulk email during the expedition as it has provided us a unique perspective in viewing “distance”. Moreover we would like to thank Scott for his suggestions on the development of the piece and Tony for assisting us with the technology.