“Punch”, The Korean Family on Screen by Asia Society
The traditional notions of family have undergone drastic changes during Korea’s rapidly moving modern history. Though remnants of it survive today, a much more self-interested attitude pervades. Wishing to explore these changes in family values, the Asia Society will be showcasing four Korean films throughout the month of October. The first of these films will be Punch, the story of an underprivileged high school student and his father, who one day advises his son to meet his Filipino mother.
Date: Saturday Oct. 4
Venue: Asia Society Hong Kong, 9 Justice Drive, Admiralty
Ticketing: Free admission, registration required.
Registration: asiasociety.org.hk/hong-kong/events
Anatomy of Anxieties
You may already known this, but the best way to understand your own trauma might be by expressing it. This group exhibition aims to dissect the physical and metaphorical structures of anxiety, whether through movement of the human body or the contours of a building. Featuring a broad generation of artists, “Anatomy of Anxieties” explores and deconstructs our cultural notions of trauma with dark humour and playful fascination.
Date: Until Oct. 6, 10am – 7pm
Venue: Edouard Malingue Gallery, First Floor, 8 Queen’s Road Central
1984 – A Cinematic Opera
Thirty years have passed since George Orwell’s ominous year of 1984, and yet the notions set forth by the novel continue to linger on in society’s deepest fears and its most reprehensible behaviour. Join “1984 – A Cinematic Opera” to understand why. Alternating between the visual forms of film and opera, the show will allow audiences to experience imagery moving from Orwell’s 1984 to the actual world of 2014, and question their parallels like never before.
Date: Oct. 10, 8pm, Oct. 12, 5pm
Venue: Multi-Media Theatre, HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, 135 Junction Road, Kowloon
Ticketing: Urbtix, (+852) 3761-6661
Swire Maestro: Jaap’s Mahler 5
Come and witness classical music in its most epic and extreme form. Experience the marriage between Gustav Mahler’s beloved “Symphony No. 5” and modern conductor Jaap van Zweden this month. Amersterdam-born Van Zweden is one of today’s most sought-after conductors, and his expression of Mahler’s “No. 5” promises a journey full of profound discovery and intensity.
Date: Oct. 17 & 18, 8pm
Venue: Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, 10 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Ticketing: Urbtix, (+852) 3761-6661
“Globalisation of Contemporary Art” Symposiums
This is quite the treat for all you history of art lovers out there. M+, the new museum of visual culture hailed as the centrepiece of the West Kowloon Cultural District, will be presenting two public programmes exploring the topic of globalisation in contemporary art, for free! All you have to do is register online. Featuring scholars and curators from distinguished universities and museums, these two symposiums are sure to be packed with insightful discourses on the current globalised state of art.
Date: Saturday Oct. 18, 2:00pm – 5:00pm
Venue: Rayson Huang Theatre, the University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road
Registration: www.westkowloon.hk/mplustmatters
Banned in Burma: Painting Under Censorship Exhibit
Interested in seeing insurgent art produced under the oppressive governmental forces of censorship? Then visit the Nock Art Foundation, which will feature more than 50 works by Burmese painters who have laboured under the country’s strict state censorship for the past 50 years. Enjoy a rare glimpse into the cultural community of a closed society. This will be the first international exhibition for many of the Burmese painters.
Date: Oct. 20 – Nov. 9
Venue: The Nock Art Foundation, Kwai Bo Industrial Building 16/F, Workshop A, 40 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Central
Ronald Chin’s Percussion Concert
Get ready for some serious drumming. Virtuoso of a myriad of types of Chinese and Western percussion instruments, and named “Outstanding Musician of the 20th Century” by Cambridge University, the renowned Ronald Chin will stage his latest work, Xiang-Ren-He (“Percussions in Harmony”) in Hong Kong. Percussion at its finest, guaranteed.
Date: Oct. 30 & 31, 8pm
Venue: Sheung Wan Civic Centre, 5/F Sheung Wan Municipal Services Building, 345 Queen’s Road, Sheung Wan
Ticketing: Urbtix (+852) 3761-6661
The World Was Made on a Sunday: A Music Theatre Work with Butterflies and Chess
In 1917, the Blosheviks revolution convulsed Russia, and a bloody civil war ensued. Novelist Vladimir Nabokov fled Russia, composer Dimitri Shostakovich stayed, and Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin consolidated his power into a terrifying regime. “The World Was Made on a Sunday” looks at these three men, at childhood memories (in connection with Nabokov’s autobiography Speak, Memory), at butterflies and chess, and at power and art, through music, speech and theatrical gesture.
Date: Oct. 31 – Nov. 2
Venue: Shouson Theatre, Hong Kong Arts Centre, 2 Harbour Road, Wanchai
Ticketing: Urbtix, Tel: (+852) 3761-6661
Hong Kong Canadian Brass
Brass band buffs are in luck this month! The iconic quintet Canadian Brass is coming to town. The Grammy-nominated group will be performing works by Mozart, Bach, Schumann, and Brahms, as well as traditional American and Chinese melodies. Highly entertaining and with a reputation for building a rapport with their audience, the ensemble exudes warmth, wit and fun while delivering their unique brass sound.
Date: Oct. 31, 8pm Venue: Auditorium, Tsuen Wan Town Hall, 72 Tai Ho Road, Tsuen Wan, New Territories
Ticketing: Urbtix , (+852) 3761-6661
Gonkar Gyatso’s ‘Pop Phraseology’
Ever wonder about the connection between your own psyche, society’s collective consciousness and pop culture? Well, Gonkar Gyatso, Tibet’s pre-eminent artist, certainly has. He’ll be showcasing his brand of Buddhist, post-modern, East-meets-West cultural expression this fortnight at the Pearl Lam Galleries. Be sure to bring your pop culture references, as well as your spirituality.
Date: Until Oct. 31, Monday – Saturdays, 10am –7pm
Venue: Pearl Lam Galleries, 6/F Pedder Building, 12 Pedder Street, Central
Words: James Kim
