A quick digest of the coolest weekend happenings in Hong Kong.
Friday, June 21
M for Malaysia: Documentary Screening and Q&A
Asia Society will present the documentary M for Malaysia, which documents the dramatic events of the 2018 Malaysian general elections, when voters — led by 92-year-old former prime minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad — took one of the longest-ruling governments in the world out of its reign of power. There will also be a Q&A Session with the film’s directors Dian Lee and Ineza Roussille, only on 21 June, 2019.
6:30pm to 9pm (Friday) and 2pm to 4pm (Saturday) until Saturday, June 22 at Asia Society Hong Kong Center, 9 Justice Drive, Admiralty. HK$100 (Asia Society members and friends of the Malaysia Chamber of Commerce) HK$150 (non-members).
Vivek Mahbubani: Live at Eaton HK
Hong Kong-born Indian comedian Vivek Mahbubani is a stand-up comedian who performs in both Cantonese and English, and has previously been crowned the funniest person in Hong Kong (for both the Chinese and English categories) at the Hong Kong International Comedy Competition. His stand-up sets typically tackle issues Hong Kong-specific issues such as how racism manifests in the city.
9pm to 11pm at Terrible Baby, 4/F Eaton HK, 380 Nathan Road, Jordan, Kowloon. HK$200.
Botanaesia, at Club Third, is the first solo exhibition in Hong Kong by the LGBT artist Kaidusa. Kaidusa’s watercolors are influenced by his peripatetic upbringing, which took him to countries such as Egypt, China, France, and the US. His sense of being a perpetual outsider informs his work, as does his experience growing up in a disciplined, etiquette-obsessed household from which he long sought to break free. Though his paintings are suffused with a sense of melancholy, they also traffic in bright colors, taking inspiration the warning markings of deadly animals and plants. The opening reception for the exhibition is on Friday evening, and the exhibition runs through July 27.
6pm to 9pm (opening reception) at Club Third, Shop 2, G/F Fook On Building, 192 Third Street, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong
This musical takes audiences back in time and follows five “groovy gals” in England who come of age during the swinging sixties. The musical chronicles the early days of women’s liberation and the change in attitudes about gender. There will be arrangements of everyone’s favorite sixties classics, from Goldfinger, These Boots Were Made For Walkin’, Son Of A Preacher Man, and more. Expect big hair, go-go boots and lots of dancing.
4pm to 6pm and 8pm to 10pm until Saturday, June 22 at McAulay Studio, Hong Kong Arts Centre, 2 Harbour Rd, Wan Chai. HK$240 and HK$290.
This themed exhibition is the third installment of Pace Gallery’s Chewing Gum series, following Chewing Gum (2015) and Chewing Gum II (2017). The exhibit looks at the individual creative states of contemporary artists from different regional and cultural backgrounds, with a special focus on the relationships between people and objects. The exhibition will include work by Lee Ufan, Louise Nevelson, Joel Shapiro, Kiki Smith, and Song Dong, among others.
11am to 7pm until Thursday July 4 at Pace Gallery, 12/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Central. Free.
This exhibition will for the first time display drawings, paintings, and notes by artist Lee Wen dating from 1978 to 2014. Lee is a Singaporean performance artist often credited with being the man who shaped the development of performance art in Asia and introducing contemporary art to Singapore. One of Lee’s most notable works is The Journey of a Yellow Man, a series of installations and performances that evolved from a critique of Orientalism into a mediation on freedom, climate change, humility, and religious practices. This exhibition is in memory of Lee, who died last month.
10am to 6pm until Saturday, June 29 at Asia Art Archive, 11/F Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan. Free.
Saturday, June 22
Table of Two Cities is a grassroots project that brings together refugees living in Hong Kong, and allows them to share their stories with others through food. They’re putting on this event to coincide with this week’s World Refugee Day, and have put together an evening of stand up comedy acts, live music performances and canapés for a good cause.
7pm to 10pm at Social Room, 3/F, Won Hing Building, 74-78 Stanley Street, Central. HK$200 (online) HK$250 (at the door).
This Town Needs will be presenting a night of indie/alternative pop and dream pop music on Saturday night, featuring Taiwanese bands Deca joins, The Fur, Science Noodles, and local band Thud.
7pm to 11pm at This Town Needs, 1/F, Commercial Accommodation, Ocean One, 6 Shung Shun Street, Yau Tong. HK$350 (advance) HK$450 (at the door).
Saturday Afternoon Poetry Reading – at exhibition by Claire Lee
Visual artist and poet Claire Lee will be hosting a poetry reading from her collection of poems called Being Alone Together – Poems on Solitude From 3 Cities. She will be surrounded by some of her new artworks and share inspirations in making art and reflecting on solitude and loneliness which participants will be invited to join in with.
3pm at Yoga BamBam, 1/F 10 Shin Hing Street, Central. HK$200 (at the door).
Sunday, June 23
Grappa’s Cellar will be hosting a night of Broadway music for the musical theater nuts out there. There will be musical numbers from Rent, Wicked, Dear Evan Hansen and others.
7pm to 9:30pm at Grappa’s Cellar, Jardine House, 1 Connaught Place, Central. HK$270.
Dungeons & Dragons for Charity: Defeating Displacement
The Aftermath bar will be hosting their inaugural Dungeons and Dragons charity event. Whether you are an expert at the game or a complete novice, they’re saying they want you to grab a pew and join in nonetheless. Proceeds from this event will go to Learning Together, a local NGO that hosts education programs to help empower asylum seekers and refugees in Hong Kong.
3pm to 7pm at The Aftermath Bar, L/G, 57-59 Wyndham Street, Hong Kong. HK$100.
International Day of Yoga 2019
The Consulate General of India in Hong Kong and the Asia Society are hosting this one-day yoga event which is suitable for people of all ages and abilities. There will also be special classes for those who want to pick up on a few exercises to cope with stress, and mediation classes. Sessions will be conducted in English and or Cantonese, and snacks will be available.
10am to 5:15pm at Asia Society Hong Kong Center, 9 Justice Drive, Admiralty. HK$20.
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).
Chen Danqing: Disguise and Paintings from Life Opening Reception
Tang Contemporary Art will present the opening reception for a solo exhibition by Chinese-American artist Chen Danqing. The Shanghai-born artist who started his trajectory as an artist creating propaganda posters depicting Mao Zedong’s feats was later inspired by the realist paintings of western artists like Jean Francois Millet — and it’s this combination of Western aesthetics and Chinese culture that makes his portraits so visually striking. This exhibition will mark Chen’s first major solo presentation in Hong Kong, and features a series of oil paintings of live models.
6pm to 8pm until Saturday, June 29 at H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Central. Free.
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.
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).
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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