A quick digest of the coolest weekend happenings in Hong Kong.
Friday, November 22
If you’re looking to fill that Clockenflap-shaped hole in your weekend, Hong Kong-based blues rock and funk band The Poolcleaners will be testing out some new tunes and playing some classics at live house The Wanch (which FYI, is on our new list of best places for live music in the SAR.) Music will begin from 6pm, but The Poolcleaners will be on at 9:15pm.
9:15pm to 10:30pm at, The Wanch, 54 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai. Free.
LinkedIn Park and Soul Proprietors
The Sheung Wan live music joint Peel Fresco will be opening up the weekend with some pop/rock, alternative, and jazz funk fusion courtesy of two Hong Kong bands. Bands performing on Friday are LinkedIn Park (which is not a Linkin Park tribute act) and Soul Proprietors.
7pm to 1am at, Peel Fresco Music Lounge, 49 Peel Street, Soho, Sheung Wan. Free.
Meanwhile over at LKF live music venue The Aftermath, there’s more blues music courtesy of the 4 BluesMen.
9:30pm to late at, The Aftermath Bar, L/G, 57-59 Wyndham Street, Central. Free
Beijing-born Hong Kong-raised artist Elaine Keung will be opening her solo exhibition “Go Nuts,” which aims to challenge our perceptions of and blur the boundaries between high and low art. The paintings are made using traditional brush and acrylic, yet contain pixelated or graphic design elements, and feature a playful character “going nuts.” The exhibition will run until December 21.
6pm to 9pm at, Club Third, Shop no. 2, G/F & Cockloft, Fook On Building, 192 Third Street, Sai Ying Pun. Free.
Fireside Chat #8: African Model in Hong Kong
Rejected in the Hong Kong modelling industry for being black, Harmony Ilunga, instead of giving up on her dream, decided to create Harmony HK, a platform for models who are left out in Hong Kong for not looking a certain way. Harmony HK hosts bi-annual fashion shows that have grown to include designers, music, and art talents from various underrepresented communities in the SAR, such as refugees. Entry is free but guests are encouraged to sign up here to reserve a spot.
7:30pm to 9pm at, Africa Coffee & Tea, 15/F, Suite 1501-1504, 41 Heung Yip Road, Wong Chuk Hang.
Love in the City of Trauma: A Launch Reading
Online literary journal Cha and the International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong present the launch of Lok Fung’s bilingual volume Love in the City of Trauma, a collection of poems about Hong Kong originally published in Chinese but now with an English translation. There will be a talk featuring Lok and translators Eleanor Goodman and Andrea Lingenfelter about literature, translation, and writing about Hong Kong.
4:30pm to 6pm at, Jao Tsung-I Academy, 800 Castle Peak Road, Lai Chi Kok. Free.
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 Matthias & Maxime, a French-Canadian drama about two young men whose friendship is tested when the younger sister of one of them asks them to kiss each other as part of a short film she’s directing; The Swallows Of Kabul, an animated film based on a novel by an Algerian writer about two couples whose lives intertwine while living under Taliban rule in the Afghan capital; and Fahim, the Little Chess Prince, based on the real-life story of an 8-year-old chess prodigy who’s forced to flee Bangladesh and arrives in Paris with his dad.
Until Tuesday, December 10 at, Various locations. HK$80 and upwards.
Saturday, November 23
Tactical Media and Art Practices in the Age of Modern Control
As the protests in Hong Kong rage on, a lot of us can’t help but talk about the city’s media landscape, especially given that fake news, censorship, and even political art have all been recent talking points. This talk in English will reflect the use of tactical media in the arts throughout the years in Asia, including but not limited to the history, development, advantages, and limitations of it within and outside of the art ecosystem.
3pm to 4pm at, Para Site, 22/F Wing Wah industrial Building, 677 King’s Road, Quarry Bay. Free.
Meditate & Stretch – Peel Street Wellness
Coffee shop Fineprint will be hosting this outdoor yoga event on Peel Street (the one with the slope) in support of the Movember Foundation’s MOVE incentive. This class is free but guests are encouraged to make a donation to the Movember Foundation on the day. Remember to bring your own mat.
8am to 9am at, Fineprint, 38 Peel Street, Central. Free.
Suzanne Jen x Lost Stars Livehouse
Taiwanese singer Suzanne Jen will be performing some jazz and blues to kick off your Saturday evening at Tai Kok Tsui live house Los Stars. The performance will be split into three sessions, and patrons will be able to order food and drink during the 20 minute breaks in between sessions.
8pm-9:50pm at, Lost Stars Livehouse Bar & Eatery, G/F, Shop 506,11 Li Tak Street, Square Mile, Tai Kok Tsui. Free, but patrons must buy food or drink from the eatery.
Avant-garde director Terayama Shuji’s creative projects that are often interconnected: his surreal films and dramas are intertwined to form something that can only be described as an eerie imaginary world filled with dreams of erotic fantasy and escape. This event will showcase his feature films and experimental short films with a live performance. Films on show include Pastoral: To Die in the Country, and Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets. All films are in Japanese with English subtitles.
2pm, 4:45pm, and 8:30pm (Sat), 7:30pm (Sun) at, Hong Kong City Hall, 5 Edinburgh Place, Central. HK$60.
Ackbar Abbas Seminar + Blade Runner Screening
We’ve made it to November 2019, which means its time to revisit Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. The sci-fi film (set in a wildly futuristic year 2019) stars Harrison Ford as an LA cop who reluctantly comes out of retirement to help hunt down six new replicants, or synthetic humans, who have revolted and are killing their masters.
Despite receiving lukewarm reviews when it was released, the film as gone on to become regarded as a modern classic and one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time, and is credited with founding the cyberpunk aesthetic and influencing future films like Ghost In The Shell.
The film screening will be preceded by a one-hour lecture by Professor Ackbar Abbas on sci-fi writer William Gibson, cyberpunk culture, and Blade Runner before the screening.
7pm to 10pm at, JC Cube, 10 Hollywood Rd, 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 24
It’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas shopping, and nothing says Christmas like a market selling handmade gifts. This Discovery Bay market is hosted by Handmade Hong Kong, and will feature some of the city’s makers and designers showcasing items from handmade bags to stationery. If you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind gift, head on down to Disco Bay.
11am to 6pm at, Discovery Bay. Free.
The Jazz ensemble Tjoe w/NTBM (which stands for “not-to-be-missed”) is a collective of some of Hong Kong’s most adventurous and offbeat jazz musicians led by guitarist and composer Tjoe Man Cheung. Check them out here.
9pm-midnight at, Peel Fresco Music Lounge, 49 Peel Street, Soho, Sheung Wan.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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