ABOUT
Photo by Samuel Shek @sheklesuk
Donald Shek is a British-born Chinese multidisciplinary artist and architect whose work explores themes of cultural hybridity, perception, and belonging. Rooted in ideas of the ‘third space’, his early practice employed drawing and traditional printmaking to construct imagined environments that reflected his experience of navigating multiple cultural identities. Through the creation of these speculative worlds, Donald sought to explore questions of place, memory, and belonging that emerged from his hybrid cultural upbringing.
The integration of digital technologies, particularly augmented reality, marked a significant development in his practice. For Donald, augmented reality became more than a technical medium; it offered a means of visualising the overlapping realities that emerge from diasporic experience, where multiple histories, cultural narratives, and identities can coexist within the same space. By merging physical and digital worlds, his work investigates how realities are constructed, perceived, and continually reshaped through personal and collective experience.
Donald’s first major commission came through Kakilang, a platform championing British East and South East Asian artists. Created for the Kakilang Festival in 2019, Augmented Chinatown was a site-specific augmented reality experience set within London’s Chinatown, exploring cultural symbolism, identity, and hidden narratives embedded within the urban landscape.
Between the project’s initial presentation and its later development, Donald undertook a residency with esea contemporary, where he researched geo-located augmented reality and place-based digital storytelling. This period of experimentation became instrumental in shaping Augmented Chinatown 2.0 (2021), an expanded iteration developed with a larger interdisciplinary team of writers, actors, musicians, and composers. Together, these projects marked a significant shift in Donald’s practice towards collaborative storytelling, immersive technologies, and narrative-led moving image work.
More recently, Donald led the 3D worlding of Home X, an experimental theatre production originally commissioned by the British Council Hong Kong, for which he was also a co-conceiver. Combining live performance, theatre, music, gaming technologies, and virtual reality, the production toured nationally with presentations at York Theatre Royal, Cambridge Junction, and the Barbican Centre as part of the Kakilang Festival in 2023. The work was subsequently nominated for the UK Theatre Awards Digital Innovation Award 2023.
Donald’s current practice continues to explore the intersections of moving image, immersive technology, performance, and storytelling, creating spaces where personal histories, cultural memory, and imagined realities converge.
Exhibited
2026 - Celebrating the Year of the Horse - Westminster City Hall, London, UK (Group)
2025 - It’s Paradise Up North - Paradise Works, Manchester, UK (Group Show)
2025 - Celebrating the Year of the Snake - Westminster City Hall, London, UK (Group Show with Artist Qu Lei Lei)
2024 - Land Of Kings - Exhibition - Omnibus Theatre, Clapham, London, UK (Solo)
2024 - Peckham Digital Festival - Digital Reel - Film Screening - Land Of Kings - Donald Shek | The Hub, 42 Bonar Rd, London, UK (Group)
2024 - Moongate Mix Salon Session #11 - The Takeaway, Then, Now, Tomorrow - Panelists: Angela Hui, Bec Boey and Donald Shek | Omnibus Theatre, Clapham, London.
2024 - Secret 7” - Now Gallery, Greenwich Peninsula, London, UK (Group)
2023 - State-less 無國界- Two Temple Place, London, UK (Group)
2023 - Home X - Immersive Performance - Barbican Centre, London, UK (Kakilang Production)
2023 - Home X - Immersive Performance - Cambridge Junction, Cambridge, UK (Kakilang Production)
2023 - Home X - Immersive Performance - Theatre York Royal, York, UK (Kakilang Production)
2022 Home X - Immersive Performance - Sharing Event, Jerwood Space, London, UK (Kakilang Production)
2021 Home X, A Kakilang Production, London and Hong Kong as part of Spark Festival (Commission by British Council Hong Kong)
2021 CAN x TWO TEMPLE PLACE, CAN Festival 2021, Virtual (Group)
2021 Reconnecting, Virtual (Solo)
2020 Augmented Chinatown 2.0, A CAN Production, Chinatown, London
2019 All Maps Under Heaven, Residency Open House, esea contemporary (formerly CFCCA), Manchester, UK (Solo)
2019 Diaspora Summit, Limehouse Nights, The General Assembly, London, UK (Solo)
2019 Augmented Chinatown, CAN Festival 2019. (Commission by Chinese Arts Now)
2018 Secret 7" - The Greenwich Jetty, London (Group)
2018 The Spectator - Print House Gallery, London (Solo)
2017 Skindeep - The Spectacle, The Yard, Hackney Wick (Group)
2016 Secret 7" 2016 Sonos Studio, Shoreditch, London (Group)
2015 London Calling (John Birchall Studio) (Solo)
2015 Secret 7" 2015 at Somerset House (Group)
2014 Secret 7" 2014 at Mother London (Group)
2014 I'm looking for something, someone, somewhere. Hubbub Cafe, Isle of Dogs (Solo)
2013 10x10 Drawing East London as part of Article 25 at the Granary Building Kings Cross, London. (Group)
2013 Peoples' City Photo Exhibit as part of Hidden Liverpool at the Royal School of the Blind (Group)
2013 Affordable Art Fair Battersea as part of Scream Editions
2013 Moniker Art Fair at the Truman Brewery Bricklane London as part of Scream Editions
2013 AAAA Exhibit at Ahrend as part of Clerkenwell Design Week
2013 Mother London Biscuit Building - Secret 7" (Group)
2013 Exhibited at the D3 Sketch Exhibit Fordham University.116 W. 61st Street .New York, NY
2012 Uncontained Day #13 BoxArt / 55DSL Store / Boxpark/ Shoreditch/ London-
Sponsored and Presented by Shellsuite Zombie and 55DSL
2012 Idea Generation Gallery - Secret 7" (Group)
2009 RIBA 66 Portland Place (Group)
2009 LSA Degree show (Group)
2006 LSA Degree show (Group)
RESIDENCIES
2021 CAN x TWO TEMPLE PLACE Residency, Virtual
2020 esea contemporary (Formerly CFCCA) Residency, Manchester, UK.
Publications
2023 - ‘State-less’: The Art of Belonging, ArtReview.com, 30 March.
2023 - State-less 無國界 - Kakilang Festival 2023, LondonArtRoundUp.com, 14 March.
2023 - State-less 無國界 – Kakilang / Two Temple Place, London, SaltertonArtsReview.com, 11 March.
2023 - HOME X – Barbican, London, TheReviewsHub.com, 23rd February.
2023 - HOME X – Kakilang / Barbican, London, SaltertonArtsReview.com, 23rd February.
2023 - Visual Artistry at the Kakilang Festival, VoiceMag.uk, 23rd February.
2023 - REVIEW: KAKILANG’S HOME X AT THE BARBICAN, ToDoList.London, 24th February.
2023 - Home X at the Barbican Review, @allthingsemmersive, 23rd February.
2023 - Home X Review, theStage.co.uk, 24th February.
2023 - Home X, NoProcenium.com, 28th February.
2023 - BBC Radio 4, London, 10 pm, 18th February.
2021 - Theatre Full Stop, Home, Interviews.
2020 - Augmented Chinatown 2.0, TheStage.co.uk, 21st September.
2020 - Review Augmented Chinatown 2.0, StageDoorApp.com, 14th September.
2020 - Audio Tour: Augmented Chinatown 2.0, TheReviewsHub.com, 16th September.
2020 - Review: Augmented Chinatown 2.0, Chinese Arts Now, Oughttobeclowns.com, 15th February.
2020 - CAN Festival 2020 Brochure
2019 - Issue 11 - Gate - SineThetaMagazine
2019 - CAN Festival 2019 Brochure
2017 - Issue 6 - SkinDeep - The Spectacle
2015 - Contribution to SELFZINE - Issue 1
2014 - Featured in Issue 3 - Essential Journal
2013 - Cited in Al Bahr Towers: The Abu Dhabi Investment Council Headquarters by Peter Oborn.
2012 - Featured in SSZ Magazine Issue 3.
2010 - Featured in Designboom for the Arquitectum Design Competition for Omotesando Fashion Museum.
2009 - RIBA President Medals Online Project Gallery
2009 - Shown in LSA Summer Exhibition Book
AWARDS
2023 - Home X presented by the Barbican nominated for the Digital Innovation Award | UK Theatre Awards.
2021 - Digital Culture Awards, Arts Council England, Digital Culture Network - Digital Storytelling, Chinese Arts Now and Two Temple Place.