ABOUT
Welcome to Cultural Vitamin Solutions, a Hong Kong-based NGO founded by creative technologist Kwan Ng and transdisciplinary artist Amy Cheung, with a background in educational psychology. Inspired by Denmark's successful model, we deploy innovative solutions at the intersections of art, nature, culture, technology, education, and psychology to enhance the well-being of underserved communities. Our cultural prescriptions include visual art, music, literature, experiential actions, and art-tech, supporting individuals facing stress, lack of motivation, and other mental health challenges.
MISSION
Our mission is to harness the power of culture to improve mental and physical health. We aim to create a society where cultural engagement is a vital component of well-being, fostering a healthier and more connected community. Rooted in community collaboration, we partner with local artists, environmental and cultural institutions, mental health professionals, and NGOs to create a supportive network ensuring that everyone benefits from the healing power of culture and nature.
WORK
Our structured workshops are tailored to community members' needs, ranging from one to ten-week modules, to help participants rediscover joy, motivation, and social connection.
TimeBank
The Game
Commissioned by the Urbanism\Architecture Bi-City Biennale (UABB) of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, this six-week alternate reality game aimed to enhance youth mental well-being by shuttling between virtuality and reality. Participants completed climate action missions like bread-saving, ocean cleaning, repurposing fallen trees into furniture, DIY solar lamps, and regenerating soil. The hours they invested earned them TimeCoins tracked through a TimeBank account. Combining environmental art with serious gaming, the game fostered agency and hopefulness while promoting social-psychological wellbeing. Four winners each won $10,000 to start their own environmental project.
Off-Duty Gods Workshop
Drawing from the contemporary Chinese tradition of relocating old religious statues to street corners, this workshop raises questions about abandonment, rituals, and objects. Senior citizens created paper clay models of meaningful objects and shared stories about how they each dealt with outdated beliefs, ideas, and ceremonies. We then 3D scanned these delicate models, dissolved them, and transformed them into glowing pixels, making them appear as if they were stars shining in the universe.
Magic Crayon Workshop
Inspired by Harold and the Purple Crayon, this workshop for transitional families involved moms taking kids to a wet market to discuss what kind of fish they liked. On the workshop day, children drew the fish with crayons, which were then scanned by our team. In just a few seconds, kids could see their fish come to life, swimming in the projected ocean.
