A quick digest of the coolest weekend happenings in Hong Kong.
Friday, July 26
This unscripted and interactive play will feature real-life barristers, a judge, other legal professionals, and the audience as the jury in a trial of Hamlet (yes, that Hamlet), who stands accused of murdering Polonius. This play will be in English and a Cantonese version will be performed next week. Audience members must be aged 12 and over.
7pm until Saturday, July 27 at Tai Kwun JC Cube, Tai Kwun, Central. HK$300.
South Canton Soul Train with Fergus Heathcote
If you want to start your weekend with a bit of disco music, then good news: The soul train is here. The South Canton Soul Train, that is. Music will be provided by DJ and producer Fergus Heathcote, who’ll present an “intercontinental journey” through time, connecting the dots between Canton funk, Laos boogie, Seoul soul, Japanese, city pop, Italo disco, and classic house. As it’s disco-themed, dress code will be disco, 60s, 70s, 80s, cheongsams and birthday suits. Prizes will be awarded to the night’s best-dressed. To attend, RSVP at southcantonsoultrain@gmail.com.
11pm to 3am at Mudita, G/F, 24-30 Ice House Stree, Central. Free.
Bubbles wine and cheese tasting
If you ever wanted to know the difference between Pet-Nat, sparkling wine and champagne, then Central-based wine caller La Cabane a Vin will be covering tasting notes from wines produced in France and Australia (and some cheese) for this event. To book your place, email info@lacabane.hk.
7pm to 9pm at La Cabane a Vin, B/F, 97 Hollywood Road, Central. HK$200.
Pacific Cello Orchestra Hong Kong 2019 Grand Concert
This all-cello orchestra made up of advanced-level cellists under the age of 18 will be performing a repertoire that includes some all-cello arrangements of Spanish pieces. There will also be the world premier of a piece called Taste of Old Hong Kong — Kai Tak Airport, named after the famous now-closed airport in Kowloon where the planes flew so close to the buildings.
8pm to 10:30pm at Hong Kong Jockey Club Amphitheater, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, 1 Gloucester Rd, Wan Chai. HK$200 (adult) HK$120 (adult) HK$100 (concessions).
Madsaki is one of Japan’s most influential artists, and his exhibition If I Had a Dream features paintings and installations that combine inspiration from Andy Warhol with iconic scenes from Hong Kong cinematic classics like Kung Fu Hustle and In The Mood For Love.
11am to 7pm until Saturday August 17 at Perrotin Hong Kong 17/F, 50 Connaught Road Central. Free.
“I am glad to hear you’re doing fine”: Chung Wing Sze Wallis Solo Exhibition
The title of this exhibition is borrowed from the Swedish film A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, in which the line “I am glad to hear you’re doing fine” is repeated constantly, and represents an uncanny significance both for the one who says it, and whoever hears it. The various pieces of work consist of Chung’s reflections on her daily life, which have been described as “detached and descriptive yet emotionally disturbing at the same time.” This is your last chance to catch this exhibition
9am to 5pm until Wednesday, July 31 at Naked Hub, G/F 5-13 New St, Sai Ying Pun. Free.
Saturday, July 27
Junels Place Fundraiser: Save the Community’s Karaoke Restobar
This Filipino “restobar” has been a mainstay and cornerstone for the Filipino and Sai Ying Pun community, and is especially known for hosting fun karaoke nights that can get pretty big and rowdy. After 10 years of operation, however, it’s being evicted at short notice — so the restaurant is hosting this fundraising event that will (hopefully) keep it running at its original location. The funds needed: at least HK$150,000. Click the link above for specific details on how to support Junels Place, or just show up at Saturday’s fundraising gathering.
7pm to 2am at Junels Resto 11 Lai On Lane, Water Street, Sai Ying Pun. Free.
Golden Scene Selection July edition
Golden Scene Selection is a monthly event organized by the Hong Kong Arts Centre and Golden Scene Company that showcases a selection of films from around the world. And with the extradition bill furor still ongoing, a lot of the films on this weekend seem to have a common theme.
On Saturday, they’ll be showing two films at 2:15pm and 7:15pm. The afternoon film is the Korean film A Taxi Driver about a Seoul cabbie who unintentionally becomes involved in the events of the 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement. In the evening, they’ll show Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom starring actor Idris Elba as Nelson Mandela.
On Sunday, they’ll be showing three films: No, about the time Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, under increasing international pressure to legitimize his regime, decides to hold a referendum on whether or not the people of Chile will keep him in power, and caught up in it all is a young ad executive played by Gael García Bernal. The second film is Neruda, also starring Bernal, about a police inspector looking for Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. In the evening, they’ll show 1987: When The Day Comes, a Korean political thriller based on a true story about the events leading up to the June Democratic Uprising in Korea, which was triggered by the death of a student protester who died during a police interrogation and the authorities’ attempts to cover it up.
2:15pm (Saturday and Sunday), 4:45pm (Sunday) 7:15pm (Saturday) and 8:15pm (Sunday) until Sunday, 28 July at Hong Kong Arts Centre, 2 Harbour Road, Wan Chai. HK$80 (adult) HK$65 (discount).
HKwalls Hong Kong Artist-in-Residence Exhibition Opening
This exhibition will feature work from four Hong Kong-based artists, and there will be free drinks and a DJ.
Go Hung is a local sculpture artist who uses cardboard and other materials collected from the streets to create sculptures that highlight the various social issues that affect Hong Kong and the world. His finishes pieces are then “littered” back onto the streets for the public to see, and this practice acts as a metaphor for the”wasteful consumerist culture” we all live in.
Espen Cook is a Norwegian visual artist and DJ who creates experimental paintings, and his art is made by gathering impressions and “drawing inspiration from different people and cultures.”
Amy Maria Tong is a Hong Kong artist known for her abstract still life and portraits, which explores the relationship between organic subjects and light; and Daisuke Tajima is a Japanese artist known for his drawings of imaginary cityscapes that combines his manga-influenced style and with a visual understanding of architecture.
6:30pm to 9:30pm at THE NATE, 176 Nathan Road, HK Tsim Sha Tsui. Free.
Craft beer joint 99 Bottles (and between you and me, one of our favourite spots in the city for cheap bottle of craft brew) will be holding a mini summer party where they’ll be giving out free pints and liquor. Supply is limited, so make haste and get there while stocks last.
4:30pm at 99 Bottles, 59A Peel Street, Soho, Central. Free.
Hong Kong dive bar and one of Asia’s best 50 bars of 2019 The Pontiac will be turning four this weekend, and to celebrate, they’ll have six guest bartenders slinging special cocktails.
5pm to 1am at The Pontiac, 13 Old Bailey Street, Central. Free.
If you’ve just finished binging Stranger Things and are feeling a bit nostalgic for the ’80s, then good news: Japanese-Peruvian fusion restaurant Tokyo Lima will be hosting an ’80s-themed disco brunch, and the theme is “Thriller” by Michael Jackson. In true brunch fashion, there will be a Bloody Mary tower, and an ’80s “dessert station.” To book, email info@tokyolima.hk or call +852 2811 1152.
12pm to 3pm at, TokyoLima Hong Kong, 18 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central. HK398 (per person) HK$180 (free flow).
Long Poses Life Drawing Session
To Kwa Wan arts gallery Swing A Cat usually holds a life drawing class on Wednesday evenings, but this week, they’ll be holding it on Saturday. Sessions start with a series of warm-ups where participants draw poses for five minutes, then 20 minutes, then one hour. Drawing tools like A2 paper, charcoal, pencils, easels, drawing boards will be provided, although participants are welcome to bring their own. WhatsApp +852 9378 8614 to register. The gallery will be using a male model.
2pm to 5pm at Swing A Cat, Rear Shop, G/F, 241 To Kwa Wan Road, Kowloon. HK$250.
Love, Bonito is a popular Singaporean clothing store known for well-made, well-fitted chic clothing. They’ll have casual wear, work wear, maternity clothing, and bridesmaids clothing on display at the launch event. Designs range from HK$220 to HK$550 per item, and the first 30 people to visit will receive a $388 gift card. The next 31-60 will receive a $288 gift card, and the next 61-100 will get a $188 gift card.
10am to 10pm until October 31 at H Queen’s Hong Kong, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Central. Free.
This is your last chance to experience this VR short film directed by Alexey Marfin, which takes the audience into the personal spaces of five strangers living in Hong Kong. The film brings you up close and personal with a cast of colorful characters: a musician, a Filipina domestic worker, a Hong Kong-Indian astrologer, and a Chinese businessman. See the trailer here.
10:30am to 6:30pm (Mon-Sat) and 2:30pm to 6:30pm (Sun) until July 28 at Osage HK, 4/F, Union Hing Yip Factory Building, 20 Hing Yip Street, Kwun Tong. Free.
Hollywood photographer Bob Willoughby made a name for himself capturing candid photos of stars, and Audrey Hepburn is arguably one of the most iconic Hollywood stars of all time. To mark the 90th anniversary of Hepburn’s birth, and the 10th anniversary of Willoughby’s death, F11 Foto Museum will be holding an exhibition presenting 90 of Willoughby’s photos of Hepburn. Each photo — one for each year since Audrey’s birth — features a number of behind-the-scenes shots of some of her most well known movies, to rare candid photos of Hepburn as a mother. This exhibition has been curated by F11’s founder and director Douglas So with the help of Willoughby’s son Christopher. Guided tours will also take place on Saturday (2:30pm for English, 4:30pm for Cantonese). This is your last chance to catch this exhibition.
2pm to 7pm until Saturday, July 27 at F11 Foto Museum, 11 Yuk Sau Street, Happy Valley. HK$100 (adults), HK$50 (students and seniors aged 65 and above), free for children aged 11 and under, and disabled persons.
Sunday, July 28
End the weekend with an afternoon of board games. Press Start has more than 180 board games on offer, from big-group party games to intense three-hour strategy games.
2pm to 7pm at Press Start Hong Kong, 11C-E, Golden Sun Centre, 59 Bonham Strand West, Sheung Wan. HK$150.
International Wings Day DISCO Brunch!
So apparently there’s something called International Wings Day — and Wingman are using that as a reason to offer discounted weekend brunch. There will also be a live DJ playing out disco funk and disco house music. The early bird ticket deadline has passed, but for HK$450, you can drink and eat all you want, and if you dress up, you’ll win some “gold wings.”
1pm to 5pm at Wingman HK, 6/F, 37 Cochrane Street, Central. HK$450.
Since January 22, 2019, Hong Kong-based artist Rachel Smith has been filling one matchbox per day with a “visual commentary of the past 24 hours” — imagine a sort of micro-diorama. The project began as a coping mechanism for her growing anxiety and the panic attacks she started experiencing around the start of the year. The project was only meant to last 30 days, but Smith soon passed that mark, and the result is a visual diary in novel form. You can check out some of the matchboxes here.
10am to 7pm until September 29 at H307, Veranda, PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central. Free.
As Tai Kwun approaches its one year anniversary, it will be displaying 101 objects related to its previous life as the Central Police Station.
11am to 8pm until Thursday, September 22 at Duplex Studio LG1/F & LG2/F, Block 01 & Site-wide, Tai Kwun, 10 Hollywood Rd, Central. Free.
Christopher K. Ho’s Embassy Sites
“Speculative artist” Christopher K. Ho presents this solo exhibition, which includes sculptural, sonic, architectural, and two-dimensional work that explores the perils and potentials of transnationalism. The topic is something that resonates with Ho, who since 2016 has been returning to Hong Kong regularly after having lived and worked in the States for decades, and the exhibition draws references from the political histories, transnational desires, and infrastructures that mediate our travel, and which we consciously and unconsciously experience.
11am to 9pm until Sunday, August 18 at Tomorrow Maybe, 4/F Eaton HK, 380 Nathan Road, Jordan, Kowloon. Free.
Art gallery Chez Trente presents Kakahuette, a platform that produces limited edition art prints from photographers and sells them. The gallery will present work by 10 photographers with different styles and backgrounds, some of whom you can even meet at the opening reception on Saturday. Prints on display are also for sale, but there are only a handful, so best to head down early and have a look if you’re looking for something to liven up your bare walls.
5pm to 12am on Tuesday to Thursday; 5pm to 3am on Friday to Saturday; 3pm to 12am on Sunday, until Thursday, August 15 at Chez Trente, 6 Chung Wo Lane, Soho, Central. Free.
Takashi Murakami is a Japanese artist known for blurring the line between high and low art, and blending Japanese artistic traditions with post-war Japanese culture and society. Tai Kwun Contemporary presents this exhibition which will feature over 60 paintings and sculptures, from his large-scale post-apocalyptic works to his optimistic flower pieces to his contemplative Enso paintings, offering Buddhist visions of enlightenment. This exhibition will also showcase some of Murakami’s iconic and outlandish costume designs, which visitors will experience alongside other important video works, samples from his private art collection, and Murakami’s spectacular wall and floor art, which delivers a forceful yet complex visual impact.
10:30am to 7pm until Sunday, September 1 at Tai Kwun, 10 Hollywood Rd, Central. HK$75 (general, walk in) HK$60 (general, advance) HK$55 (concession, walk in) HK$45 (concession, advance).
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