A quick digest of the coolest weekend happenings in Hong Kong.
Friday, July 5
This cabaret performance examines Hong Kong’s relationship with Cantonese, English, and Mandarin. Co-created by artists Yuri Ng, Anna Lo and Rick Lau, this performance aims to examine what it means to be a trilingual Gen X or millennial living in post-colonial Hong Kong. Expect sprinklings of Chinglish and “Cantonghua.”
8pm and 3pm until Sunday, July 7 at Tai Kwun JC Cube, Tai Kwun, Central. HK$280.
Free yoga class by yoga apparel and equipment store Free Flow Factory Co. This class is good for beginners and intermediate yogis, and will focus on conditioning exercises that will prepare your body physically and mentally for achieving certain asanas or yoga postures and positions. Remember to bring a yoga mat, small towel, and water.
7pm to 8pm at Tamar Park, Harcourt Road, Admiralty. Free.
World Premiere VR film Kowloon Forest
This VR short film directed by Alexey Marfin 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 such as a musician, a Filipina domestic worker, a Hong Kong-Indian astrologer, and a Chinese businessman. Click here to see the trailer.
6pm to 8pm at Osage HK, 4/F, Union Hing Yip Factory Building, 20 Hing Yip Street, Kwun Tong. Free.
An evening of soul, rock and a bit of folk music, perfect for the hot and humid Hong Kong summers. Music will be provided by Arizton Pamplona, Bus Uncle, Banyan Bay Ensemble, and Glen Alfred.
8:30pm to 12:30am at The Aftermath Bar, L/G, 57-59 Wyndham Street, 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, where 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 hearing it. The various pieces of work consist of Chung’s reflection on her daily life, which have been described as “detached and descriptive yet emotionally disturbing at the same time.”
6pm to 8pm at Naked Hub, G/F 5-13 New St, Sai Ying Pun. Free.
FWD Mellow Yellow Music Festival
Underground HK presents the inaugural Mellow Yellow Music Festival at the Central Harbourfront, which will feature live performances from Brigitte Mitchell, Ewan Ying Wai Ho, Another Kitchen, R.O.O.T., Mark Tai and many others performing genres from jazz to acoustic pop. Food and beverage will be supplied by The Flying Pan, and merchandise will also be on sale.
3pm to 9pm at Central Harbourfront Event Space, 9 Lung Wo Road Central, Central. Free.
The Pie & Beer Shack Block Part 2
If you missed Tai Tai Pie Pie’s last block party, never fear — there’s another one on this weekend. Locally produced pies and beer under one roof courtesy of craft brewery Gwei-Lo beer and pie store Tai Tai Pie Pie. For HK$75, visitors will get two Gweilo craft beers and one savory Tai Tai pie of their choice (valued at HK$110). After 8pm, all pies will be 50 percent off, and beers will be HK$25 to HK$40 all night. There will also be live music.
5pm to 10pm at The Pie & Beer Shack by Tai Tai Pie Pies, G/F, Shop 75-76, the Apartment O (alleyway), 5 Hoi Ping Road, Causeway Bay. HK$110.
The exhibition “Van Gogh Alive” has traveled to many corners of the globe, from Anchorage t0 Alaska to Singapore, and it’s now in Hong Kong. Running until July, this immersive exhibition will display more than 3,000 artworks on LED screens, floors, ceilings, and walls, set to a classical music score that will take visitors on a journey through Arles, where he painted his famous bedroom; Saint-Rémy, where he entered the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum and painted his famous Starry Night, depicting the view from his window at night; and to Auvers-sur-Oise where he painted Wheatfield With Crows and many other works until his death in 1890. This is your last chance to catch this exhibition.
10am to 9pm (Mon-Thurs) and 10am to 10pm (Fri-Sun and public holidays) until Sunday, July 7 at 1/F, FTLife Tower, 18 Sheung Yuet Road, Kowloon Bay. Free (children under the age of 4), HK$190 (children aged 4-15, full-time students and concessions) HK$230 (aged 15 years and over) HK$550 (family tickets for two adults and one child).
Saturday, July 6
Slow Food Hong Kong: An Afternoon with Africa Coffee & Tea
Slow Food Hong Kong is a chapter of Slow Food International, which is an organization that aims to promote local food and traditional cooking. With the help of Africa Coffee & Tea, they will present some food and drinks from the African continent. The menu — which may change subject to prior notice — is expected to include chicken wings with peri peri dipping sauce, and a homemade hot wrap called a “Ugandan-style rolex.” Drinks will include either coffee, South African rooibos tea, South African beer or wine, and Namibian cider.
3pm to 5pm at Africa Coffee & Tea, 15/F, Suite 1501-1504, 41 Heung Yip Road, Wong Chuk Hang. HK$230 (per person for non-members, include.
Are you American? Still not done with celebrating the day you declared independence from the British? Continue your celebrations throughout the weekend with Alvy’s, which FYI, is featured in our list of best places for a slice. For July 4, Alvy’s will be serving their famous bourbon lemonade (HK$50 all night); pitchers of Young Master beers (HK$177.60 per pitcher, because US declared independence on July 4, 1776, geddit?); bourbon BBQ pulled pork pizza topped with deep fried pickled shallots, and hanger steak with corn salad.
4pm until Sunday, July 7 at Alvy’s, 8 Holland St, Kennedy Town. Free.
Opening Reception: Lin Jing Solo Exhibition “FEI – Part II”
Pékin Fine Arts presents the debut exhibition by artist-designer Lin Jing. Lin’s exhibition features a series of oil paintings on canvas, covered with free-flowing colors and shapes using various tools and techniques, sometimes with colors layered upon each other. The gallery notes describe these paintings as defying “the rigidity of realistic painting and traditional paradigms.”
2pm to 6pm until September 11 at Pékin Fine Arts Hong Kong, 16/F, Union Industrial Building, 48 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang. Free.
Humane Theatre is a non-profit theatre company founded by two British teachers working in Hong Kong. They will be staging a play called The Animal’s Farm — inspired by George Orwell’s book — and also featuring some of the same characters from the original book. In this play, Major (a pig) wakes up from his nap after having an incredible dream and asks his son Snowball to arrange a meeting in the barn. But before the event approaches, Farmer Jones sends Major to the slaughterhouse, leaving Snowball with the job of sharing his father’s vision of animal liberation. Also featured in the play is the hardworking and loyal carthorse Boxer, and two additional characters called Daisy and Penny. The play will be in English and is only suitable for those aged 12 and up. Video clips showing disturbing images will be played. Only 40 spots are available; call +852 2619 0000 or WhatsApp +852 6773 6361 to reserve a seat.
7:30pm to 8:15pm at Club O Building, 7/F, Cheong Ming, 80 Argyle St, Mong Kok. Free.
Sunday, July 7
Chopsticks present: Rebirth by Aruta Soup
PopArt muralist Aruta Soup is known for blending animation culture, black humor and street culture in his paintings and graffiti. He’ll be holding his debut Hong Kong exhibition this weekend, and showcasing some new paintings, which features famous cartoon characters as viewed from the artist’s “ironic point-of-view.” Aruta Soup will also hold a live painting exhibition from 3pm to 5pm on Saturday.
10am to 7pm until Wednesday, July 17 at Lucie Chang Fine Arts, 26 Tai Ping Shan Street, Sheung Wan. Free.
City Poetry By Romain Jacquet Lagrèze
As the government ramps up efforts to take down many of the city’s iconic street signs, some groups have been working to save some of these signs from the landfill — while photographers rush to document what’s left of them. Hong Kong-based photographer Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze will be holding a solo exhibition called City Poetry, which has been described as his most personal project to date. Jacquet-Lagrèze has been taking photos of some of the city’s visually striking street signs, taking them home and having them translated by his wife. City Poetry shows a number of signs taken around Hong Kong made up of different materials that have been put together to form phrases or sentences.
11am to 6pm until Sunday, July 14 at Blue Lotus Gallery: G/F 28 Pound Lane, Sheung Wan. 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, and then 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 serves up 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).
Audrey Hepburn is one of the most famous Hollywood icons of all time, and Hollywood photographer Bob Willoughby made a name for himself capturing candid photos of stars. 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 from 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).
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.
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