A quick digest of the coolest weekend happenings in Hong Kong.
Friday, June 7
Thud is a dream pop group made up of five self-confessed “weirdo” indie kids who have been causing a stir since releasing their first two singles Lime and Venture, before releasing their EP Floret. Thud’s sound is best described as a heavy mix of synths and distortion with experimental shoegaze, layered with ethereal vocals.
8:30pm to 10pm at Terrible Baby, 4/F Eaton HK, 380 Nathan Road, Jordan, Kowloon. HK$100.
The Waiting Room by A Common Collective
This new play set an abortion clinic feels somewhat timely given recent developments in the US over abortion rights, which has in turn prompted a large number of women to share stories on social media about their experiences with abortion. The Waiting Room blends a physical performance with these stories told verbatim, in multiple languages, by a cast of characters who find themselves faced with an unplanned pregnancy and forced to make a choice.
8pm to 9pm until Saturday, June 8 at The Hive Studios, 8/F Cheung Hing Industrial Building, 12P Smithfield Road, Kennedy Town. HK$220.
Get Redressed Secondhand Pop-Up Shop
Vintage clothes and high street brands for as low as HK$50 will be on sale at this secondhand pop up store. Don’t forget to bring your own tote.
11am to 9pm (Friday) and 1am to 2pm (Saturday) until Saturday, June 8 at Loft 22, California Tower, 30-32 D’Aguilar St, Central. Free.
The Sin Lounge : a Kinky Horny Cabaret
Following the success of its RITUAL RADNESS! Garden of the Gods Cabaret, Mercury Events presents a new two-hour cabaret show. The show begins with an entrance into Madame Poutine’s “Sin Lounge,” an underground club where you can eat poutine all night long and taste other “forbidden fruits.” Psychic entertainer and hypnotist Stuart Palm will also be performing in what has been described as a “world of hypnotic sense play.”
8pm to 12am at Salon 10, 10 Arbuthnot Road, Central. HK$300 (seating) HK$150 (limited standing room entry).
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 8
City Poetry By Romain Jacquet Lagrèze
As Coconuts HK discovered last year, 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, and photographers have also been rushing 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.
He’ll be hosting a talk on Saturday from 4pm to 6pm where he’ll talk more about the inspiration behind the exhibition, and also sign copies of his books.
11am to 6pm until Sunday, July 14 at Blue Lotus Gallery: G/F 28 Pound Lane, Sheung Wan. Free.
The Hand Me Down Collective will be holding their regular second-hand goods sale featuring pre-loved clothes.
12pm to 4pm at Print House Sing Teck Factory Building, 44 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang. HK$50.
PMQ will be holding a gin festival that will feature live entertainment and more than 40 different craft gins to try and buy. The ticket price includes a “tap it” wrist band which will have HK$250 on it for guests to spend at the festival, as well as a Ginsanity reusable tumbler valued at HK$20.
2pm TO 10pm at PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central. HK$250.
Over at Causeway Bay, John Anthony will be hosting another gin festival event which will more than 30 different gins. The entrance fee will get you unlimited tastings of gin for four hours, and cocktails and nibbles will cost HK$50 each. All attendees get a complimentary drink upon arrival.
12pm to 4pm at John Anthony, 1 Sunning Road, Causeway Bay. HK$250.
Patty Chang ‘Milk Debt’ Artist Performance
Artist Patty Chang presents this performance that explores “individual actions and collective fears through the lens of motherhood, the boundaries between fear and desire, and cycles of reciprocation.”
6:30pm to 8pm at Tai Kwun, 10 Hollywood Road, Central. Free.
Music Night Kowloon: Music That Breaks the Mold
If you’re feeling tired of live music nights in Hong Kong that just play straight up or dated versions of pop, rock, classical and blues, how does a night of “music that breaks the mold” sound? Hong Kong-based musicians Nelson Hiu, Wilson Tsang, Evan Binkley will present a program of experimental and innovative music. We’re not quite sure what that would sound like, but there’s only one way to find out.
8pm to 9:30pm at Jao Tsung-I Academy, 800 Castle Peak Road, Lai Chi Kok. HK$160 (early bird discount), HK$200 standard.
Mumbai-based businessman Atul Khatri entered the world of English stand-up comedy in his 40s to tick off a bucket list item, and since then he has gone on to gain global popularity, held three sold out shows in 2017 and even has a Netflix special called My Happiest Ending as part of their Comedians of the World series.
7:15pm and 9:15pm at Shouson Theatre, Hong Kong Arts Centre, 2 Harbour Rd, Wan Chai. HK$440 (VIP), HK$340-$380 (stalls), HK$250 (circle)
Sunday, June 9
This handmade craft market will feature local and independent vendors selling their handmade and self-designed wares. There will be bags, jewelry, home accessories, fine art, stationery and paper crafts, and children’s accessories. Promo for the market promises visitors that it’ll be packed with one-of-a-kind and limited edition items.
11am to 6pm at Discovery Bay Main Plaza, Discovery Bay Plaza, Discovery Bay Road, Discovery Bay, Lantau. 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 (children aged 11 and under, and disabled).
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