456
456 (pronounced Four Five Six) is an interactive narrative project that combines video
game storytelling with immersive installation art. Set within a life-sized reconstruction
of a 1960s Hong Kong tenement unit, the project invites participants to explore
my family’s migration story from China to Hong Kong to Canada. Using a blend of
historical research, personal memory, and digital interaction, the work examines how
stories are passed down through generations and how physical space can preserve
and activate cultural memory. Through game play and exploration, 456 transforms
family history into a shared, participatory experience.
ORIGINS OF THE IDEA
The name 456 comes from the unit number of the tenement house my family lived in while in Hong Kong. I’ve heard stories of “456” my entire life—fragments of memory shared by my father, vivid moments described in passing, and family anecdotes passed down over the years. No photos of our unit exist; my only connection to it is through these stories. As a first-generation Canadian, this place lives in my imagination, shaped entirely by memory and language.
456 is a way to document and preserve those stories by reconstructing the space using 3D technology—an act of remembering through design. Blending oral history with archival research, the recreated tenement unit becomes a portal to other key moments in my family’s migration from China to Canada. The experience unfolds as a non-linear narrative, allowing players to explore the timeline in their own way—connecting with different parts of the journey, from my great-grandfather’s life in China to my sister’s early experiences as a new immigrant in Canada.
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