A quick digest of the coolest weekend happenings in Hong Kong.
Friday, November 15
This solo exhibition by artist Eric Fok features his signature paintings that amalgamate various historical eras into a single painting. In this exhibition, the artist attempts to envisage the future of Hong Kong and Macau on a series of woodblock paintings. It’s an exhibition that invites the viewer to imagine the future, while also remembering to engage with our past.
11am to 7pm until Saturday, December 7 at, Karin Weber Gallery, 20 Aberdeen Street, Central, SOHO. Free.
This three-day pop-up food festival at the Peak will feature some of the city’s best-known chefs creating original one-of-a-kind dishes that you can only get at this event. This event will feature top chefs like May Chow from Little Bao, and Vicky Lau from TATE, as well as rising culinary stars, there will be award-winning mixologists from bars like Tell Camellia and The Old Man, and live music will be provided by Mukzi and the Island and DJ Kulu.
6pm to 10pm (Fri to Sat) and 12pm to 4pm (Sun) until Sunday, November 17 at, Rooftop, Peak Galleria, 118 Peak Road, The Peak. HK$1,800 (at the door).
The Hong Kong French Film Festival 2019
The Alliance Française de Hong Kong will be presenting the 48th edition of the Hong Kong French Film Festival, which will screen over 40 films across two categories: Retrospective, which celebrates the French New Wave of the 1950s and 60s; and French Cinepanorama, which highlights some of the best new French film releases of the year.
Films on show this weekend include Last Year In Marienbad set in a luxury hotel, and centers on a man and a woman who may have contemplated or started an affair, and a second man who may be the woman’s husband; A Man And A Woman about two people — both widowed and both single parents — who form a friendship and then a romance; and Paris Belongs To Us about a literature student who befriends a group of twentysomethings in Paris united by the apparent suicide of an acquaintance.
Until Tuesday, December 10 at, Various locations. HK$80 and upwards.
Saturday, November 16
Jazz Dialogues: Eugene Pao X Teriver Cheung
Jazz guitarists Eugene Pao and Teriver Cheung will be joining forces for this night of jazz music.
8pm to 9:30pm at, Jao Tsung-I Academy, 800 Castle Peak Road, Lai Chi Kok. HK$200.
The Goethe Institut in Hong Kong will be hosting this screening of the 2018 German film The Silent Revolution, set in West Berlin in 1956 and telling the story of a group of high school students who stage a two-minute period of silence in class in solidarity with the victims of the Hungarian struggle against Soviet oppression. The gesture leads to unforeseen consequences that force the students to choose between standing together or not.
3:30pm at, Premiere Elements, Level 2, Elements, 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon. HK$95 (adults) HK$81 (concessions).
Although this will technically be more of an assembly than a parade after police issued a letter of objection today, don’t let that stop you from getting loud and proud this year. The past year saw some important developments for Hong Kong’s LGBTQ community, from the government officially recognizing same-sex partnerships for spousal visas, to a landmark ruling saying same-sex spouses were entitled to the same employer-provided benefits as opposite-sex ones. Still, there’s a long way to go in terms of equality for the city’s LGBTQ community — as evidenced by another recent ruling closing the door on same-sex civil partnerships — so be sure to get out there this Saturday and make your voice heard.
2pm to 6pm at, Edinburgh Place, Central. Free.
Did you know that Hong Kong is home to more than 530 species of birds? One person who tried to capture some of them is urban sketcher Gary Yeung, who was last spotted by the Coconuts HK team sketching the Hong Kong Way, and who is best known for his pen and paper sketches of the city. He will also be hosting an exhibition displaying his sketches of birds native to Hong Kong at this cozy gallery in Wan Chai. Some of the birds Yeung sketched include Eurasian tree sparrows, spotted doves, and a fork-tailed sunbird.
1pm to 7pm until Sunday, December 1 at, Part-Of Gallery, 16 Sik On Street, Wan Chai. Free.
Louise Nevelson is an American sculptor known for creating monochromatic wooden wall pieces. Yin Xiuzhen is a Chinese contemporary artist known for her colorful sculptures and installations. Pace will be presenting a two-person exhibition that juxtaposes the works of these two opposites, and explores the relationship between their respective styles of expression. The exhibition runs until November 15, and Yin will be present for the opening reception.
11am to 7pm (closed on Sundays) until November 15 at Pace Gallery, 12/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central. Free.
Hong Kong the way it was, by Ed van der Elsken
We’re all feeling a bit nostalgic about old Hong Kong these days (and with the ongoing protests, who can blame you?). F11 Foto Museum will be celebrating its fifth birthday with this exhibition of photos of old Hong Kong taken in 1959 and 1960 by Dutch photographer Ed van der Elsken. The collection will feature 130 black-and-white photos of Elsken’s 13-month stay in Hong Kong, a city he reportedly once described as “the prettiest of harbor cities.”
2pm to 7pm until February 28 (closed on Sundays) 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, November 17
City of Darkness by Greg Girard & Ian Lambot
Blue Lotus Gallery will present this exhibition featuring photographs of the famous and long-gone Kowloon Walled City by Greg Girard and Ian Lambot. For more than 50 years, the walled city was a source of fascination for observers; it began as a squatter settlement, and later became known as the most densely populated place on earth, a lawless labyrinth where crime, commerce, and community co-existed.
Nearly 30 years on from the Walled City’s demolition — Kowloon Walled City Park now sits in its place — this project will offer a unique insight into the people who lived there.
11am to 6pm until Sunday, December 8 at, Blue Lotus Gallery, 28 Pound Lane, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. Free.
From Me to Us: Metalwork Artwork Exhibition
Hong Kong artists Joe Li and Ivan Keung first met each other at a metal-smith training course at university. Years later, the two have reunited to collaborate on an exhibition featuring intricate metalworks.
1pm to 7pm until Thursday, November 21 at, 794729metalwork, S507, 5/F, Block A, PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central. Free.
The Age of Robots Exhibition: Novembre Numérique
Alliance Française de Hong Kong will be hosting the third Digital November, or Novembre Numérique, which is a month-long technology and art event. There will be video art exhibitions, artistic performances, virtual reality screenings, a hackathon, and photo exhibitions.
As part of this event, they’re presenting a photography exhibition and forum called AI, Ethics And The Public Good. The exhibition is centered on Yves Gellie’s series The Age of Robots, and each photograph depicts a “mise en scène” where the robot takes on the role of humans in a nursing home.
10am to 7pm until Saturday, November 16 at, TriAngle (DLB 306), 3/F, David C. Lam Building, Hong Kong Baptist University (Shaw Campus), Kowloon Tong. Free.
This exhibition is part of the Emerging Curators Project, and explores the relationship between “an art object and the practice that results in the art object.” It invites guests to explore how contemporary art has shifted its focus away from “art for art’s sake” and towards viewing objects on their own in isolation.
2pm to 8pm (Mon) and 11am to 8pm (Tues to Sun) until 31 December at JC Contemporary, Tai Kwun Contemporary, 10 Hollywood Road, Central. Free.
Reader Interactions