PORTRAIT—PAK-HEEN
Interviews with like-minded creatives and progressive designers who, like us, refuse to be pigeon-holed and labelled.
We continue our interview series with tech creative Chris Wong AKA PAK-HEEN , who recently left his job to explore new horizons. From Toronto house parties to a summer sabbatical in Southeast Asia, Chris is diving into fresh soundscapes mixing for CSUPER’s studio dance floors.
When it comes to curating music for a project or mixtape, what drives your selection process?
I strive for thematic cohesion when it comes to music selection for mixes, regardless of genre. I may choose a theme or name of a mix before I even start to dig through my digital crates. This process forces me to go deep into the archives, and often leads me to some unexpected transitions or an old track buried away and forgotten somewhere.
How did growing up immersed in video games influence your approach to technology and soundscapes?
Video game music in particular not only evokes emotion, but strong memories for me. Conversely, memories of existing in a faraway place that may or may not have ever been real is a feeling that resonates. Even if it’s just a passing hint of something you can’t quite put your finger on, but it’s there. I like to approach technology and music with equal measures of knowable and unknowable; familiar, but not quite.
What books are you reading?
I’m currently reading The Dark Forest, the second book in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy by Liu Cixin. As someone who is Chinese but grew up with Western media, it’s fascinating to read a perspective from my own culture on how humans would react to finding out that we may not be alone in the universe.
What does creative freedom mean to you?
I’m in the process of exploring this again for myself in a new context after a sabbatical I took this year. For now, it probably means to be free of myself and my own preconceived ideas – things that I held a little too close and the unwillingness to let go. I hope that this is the companion piece to simply exploring new things, or re-exploring old talents with a new lens worn with age.
CSUPER x PAK-HEEN LISTEN HERE
SOUNDCLOUD: @shimmershack
Photography by James Grego
