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The Museum Society is delighted to have Lee Mei-yin guide us through this special exhibition.  (Please note this tour will be conducted in Cantonese.)

With their vast repository of Buddhist art, the Dunhuang Caves have been acclaimed as an “Encyclopaedia of the Middle Ages”. This newly curated exhibition will highlight the achievements of digitisation projects of the Dunhuang Academy, together with a presentation of unearthed artefacts, the grotto art of Dunhuang, and the latest multimedia technology, to allow visitors an opportunity to study Dunhuang culture up close and appreciate the stories of the Buddhist realm and the ordinary people.

Technology plays a more and more important role in the cultural heritage conservation. The Dunhuang Academy is a pioneer in the field among the cultural institutes in Mainland China and has made substantial achievements in digitisation, 3D scanning and virtual reality representation of the Dunhuang relics, not to mention its accomplishments in promoting the cultural heritage of Dunhuang through internet and multimedia programmes. The exhibition will showcase over 100 exhibits including the replica cave of Mogao Cave 285, virtual caves, a digitised monumental mural of Mogao Cave 61, Mount Wutai, artefacts and archives, interactive multimedia installations and audio-visual programmes, and will offer a unique museum experience that allows visitors to learn about the history and art of the Dunhuang Caves.

Resource Persons

Collector Lee Mei-yin (李美賢) is a special research Fellow of the Dunhuang Academy and an advisor to the HK Institute for the promotion of Chinese Culture. She has conducted in-depth research on Chinese ethnic culture, Buddhist art and Chinese embroidery for many years.

 

H Queen’s is the first vertical high-rise purpose-built art and lifestyle building in the world.  With 24 levels, the design was conceived 5 years ago to cater to the growing art market in Hong Kong.  The project began with research into the requirements of grade A international galleries in order to cater to their specific needs.  The result is a custom designed high rise with 4.65m floor to floor height, with extra floor loading capability, and a unique way of hoisting artwork through a lifting crane installed on the roof.  A 3m x 4.5m opening can be created on each floor though the custom designed sliding curtain wall system which also lets in natural ventilation if desired.

The building is conceived as a translucent cloudy-white “Jewelry” box to house the artworks. One of the first buildings in Hong Kong entirely utilizing low-e glass, it is highly energy efficient, allows zero UV penetration and hence protects the artworks.

There are several restaurant floors designed to include outdoor dining area in the form of terraces or large folding doors to create a full length openable side for the restaurant, plus a roof top dining/ bar area for 100 people.

Developed by Henderson Land, the building has received numerous design awards prior to its grand opening, including the Asia Pacific Property Awards 2015 – Retail Architecture, China Property Awards 2014 – Best Commercial Development (Hong Kong), LEED for Core & Shell Precertification in 2014 – Gold Level, China Green Building Design Label in 2015 – 3-Star Rating.

Resource Person

As Founder and Managing Director of CL3 Architects Ltd. (CL3), William Lim brings over 20 years of experience to his projects. An acclaimed architect and artist, William graduated from Cornell University and has spent the past two decades at the forefront of architecture, culture and art.

With a keen appreciation of humanities and art, William’s designs are distinctive and contemporary. “Architects have a social obligation to improve urban environments,” explains William. “Architecture is about people. I always feel that architects are only doing part of the job—the rest is really shaped by the occupant using the space. We treat every project as a unique challenge and pay attention to every single detail – from the architecture to the interior detailing– to create human-oriented and quality designs with artistic value.”.

Since founding CL3 in 1992, William has established a notable presence on the global design scene. The studio’s diverse, award-winning portfolio includes architectural and interior projects for hotels, restaurants, retail, corporate, residences and art installation design.

William is also active in the art space with a focus on public art. Throughout his career he has held several solo exhibitions showcasing his public art installations, most notably the Lantern Wonderland 2003 & 2011, Venice Biennale’s International Architectural Exhibition in 2006 & 2010, as well as Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture in 2007, 2009 and 2017. His works have been exhibited in Hong Kong, Chengdu, the United States and Holland. More recently, his signature piece, “West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre”, was awarded the Grand Award and Special Award for Culture in Design for Asia Award in 2013.

Committed to promoting culture and education, William is currently the Advisory Council Member of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning at Cornell University and a Member on the Asia Pacific Acquisition Committee for Tate. Closer to home, he is also one of the Gallery Advisory Committee Members for The Asia Society Hong Kong Center and Museum Expert Advisers for the Hong Kong Museum.

On this Guided Tour, the HKU Museum Society will be taking you to not one but two exhibitions. The first is the current exhibition on ink painting “Tradition to Contemporary: Ink Painting and Artistic Development in 20th-century China” at the University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) with Dr. Fongfong Chen, and the second takes you to the Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole to see “The Companionship of Art II (ii)—Exhibition of Artworks by Ding Yanyong” with Dr. Tang Wai Hung.  To register on-line, please visit: https://goo.gl/5knCLq

“Tradition to Contemporary: Ink Painting and Artistic Development in 20th-century China” is curated from artworks within the museum’s permanent collection, and trace the evolution of ink painting in Hong Kong, including many well-known masters that have helped to build the city’s art scene and museum collections. The exhibition offers audiences a broad overview of the provenance and aesthetic quality of individual works, and the cultural interactions among twentieth-century Chinese artists, curators, collectors and scholars in Hong Kong, mainland China and abroad.                             

“The Companionship of Art II” at the Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole of The University of Hong Kong, displays artworks by four artists who had a profound friendship with Professor Jao Tsung-i between the 60s and 80s of the 20th century, including Liu Bing-heng (1915-2003), Ding Yanyong (1902-1978), Zhao Shao-ang (1905-1998), and Wu Hao (1930-2017). In this exhibition, most of the artworks are from the collection of Yun Quan Studio, and the collaborative painting with Professor Jao belongs to the Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole of The University of Hong Kong, with most of the works dating from the 60s to the late 70s, containing his landscape, figure, bird-and-flower paintings, and cursive script calligraphy. Through these art pieces, art lovers are able to acquire a general idea about Ding’s unique style.

Resource Persons

Dr. Fongfong Chen is an Associate Curator at the University Museum & Art Gallery (UMAG) and an Honorary Assistant Professor at the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). She was a J.S. Lee Memorial Fellow (2013/2014) and a visiting scholar at the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), Berkeley, USA. Her research focuses on images of women and women’s fashions in different visual media in China from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Her articles have appeared in academic journals and exhibition catalogues, including Ming Qing Yanjiu, Beauty Revealed: Images of Women in Qing Dynasty Chinese Painting, Der Perfekte Pinsel: Chinesische Malerei 1300-1900 (The Perfect Brush: Chinese Painting 1300-1900), and Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook 2008.

Dr. Tang Wai Hung is Deputy Director of the Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole, The University of Hong Kong, and is an experienced art collector and connoisseur. He was a senior executive in several television corporations in Hong Kong and Macau, and managed the production of numerous programmes, including a series on the National Palace Museum in Taipei and Palace Museum in Beijing. He has lectured in a number of tertiary institutions. He is the author and editor of hundreds of publications on various subjects including Chinese painting.

This unprecedented exhibition from the collections of Mr. Luigi Bellini and Mr. Robert McCarthy features works by Florentine master
sculptors such as Francesco di Valdambrino, Donatello and members of the Della Robia family.

Tai Kwun is Hong Kong’s centre for heritage and arts. Situated at the meticulously restored Central Police Station compound, Tai Kwun is one of Hong Kong’s most significant revitalisation projects, with the three declared monuments of the former Central Police Station, Central Magistracy and Victoria Prison. The site is a unique mix of heritage and contemporary architecture. With a deep respect for authenticity, 16 heritage buildings have been meticulously restored for adaptive reuse. Two new additions were added, featuring designs inspired by the site’s historic brickwork.

Central Police Station – Completed in 1919, the Police Headquarters Block is one of the most impressive heritage buildings in Tai Kwun. Forming the public face of the complex, the north-side façade is a Neo-Classical revival while the south side features Classicist design. It was originally used for a variety of purposes ranging from dormitories, offices to a gymnasium.

Central Magistracy – The Former Central Magistracy is one of the most historically significant buildings on site. Originally established in the 1840s, it underwent two reconstructions. The current structure was built between 1912 and 1914. The colonial architecture was a symbol of the importance and power of the court. The building is notable for its connection to the police and prison functions that provided an “all-in-one” service.

Resource Person

Brian Anderson is Managing Partner of the Hong Kong office of PURCELL having joined the Practice in 1985. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and is a guest lecturer both in Hong Kong and at The Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London.

PURCELL was founded in 1947 following the aftermath of the Second World War in Europe, which left many thousands of derelict buildings in need of repair. PURCELL was one of very few architectural practices at this time engaged in what is now familiar to us as building conservation.  The challenges then, as now, were: what should be kept and what techniques should be used to achieve this objective?  In recent times, further questions have arisen as to how to adapt buildings to new uses in order to secure a sustainable future for them and for our historic cities.

During the exhibition period of “Rue du Moulin Vert”, the associated project for French May 2018 organized by Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery, an exhibition talk and guided tour will be held on Jun 7, 2018 (Thu) at 6 – 8 pm at Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery.

In 1948, Zao Wou-ki (1920-2013) and his artist wife Lalan (1921-1995) moved to Paris from China, and settled at a studio on Rue du Moulin Vert in the 14th district. Since then, Zao befriended many French abstract artists whom occupied an important role in the development of post-war abstractionism, such as Pierre Soulages (1919-), Sam Francis (1923-1994), Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955) and Georges Mathieu (1921-2012).

The exhibition “Rue du Moulin Vert” specially puts together the distinctive works by Zao Wou-ki, Lalan and their internationally celebrated artist friends, providing an exceptional opportunity for the audience to appreciate the wonderful masterpieces, and to understand each artist’s concept of creation and their unique characteristics.

During the talk, Ms Catherine Kwai, founder of Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery, will present an in-depth introduction of the works, the artists and their influence under the background and history of the Abstractionism in France.

The Executive Committee is delighted to host a morning coffee with Dr Peter Pfrunder, the Director of Fotostiftung in Zurich. Dr Pfrunder will give us a guided tour of Bosshard in China, a comprehensive exhibition of photos and documentary films produced by Swiss photo journalist Walter Bosshard in China in the 1930s. This exhibition is supported by the Swiss Consulate in Hong Kong and the Museum Society as part of our 30th anniversary celebration.

Bosshard was one of the early and internationally famous journalist. He lived in China from 1933 through 1939 and travel extensively. The exhibition is organised in different parts and it gives insights into Bosshard’s travels and the city and landscapes he encountered, the social conditions he witnessed, and the political personalities he met. Among other famous personalities, Bosshard visited with Mao Zedong, and he took photographs and very early sound-less films to document him and his peers.

Following earlier exhibitions at UMAG of Magnum photographers and their oeuvres in the West, Bosshard in China exemplifies a contemporary’s work in East Asia, and documents the land and people during a time when China underwent much change. Also during that era, photo journalism was little developed, few journalists travelled as extensively as Bosshard did in China, and so his works testify to the kind of image of the East published photos disseminated in the West.
Resource Person
Dr. Peter Pfrunder, was born in Singapore and grew up in Switzerland. He studied German, as well as European and English literature in Zurich, Montpellier and Berlin. From 1995 until 1998, Pfrunder served as co-director of the Forum for Swiss History and the Schweizerisches Landesmuseum in Schwyz. Since 1998, he is the director and curator of the Fotostiftung Schweiz in Winterthur. He publishes extensively on photography and is specialist on photo journalist Walter Bosshard and his work.

Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief is conceived by multidisciplinary artist Samson Young for the 57th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale 2017. Featuring a series of sculptures, objects, videos, sound installations and site-specific pieces, the exhibition offers a unique audiovisual experience that re-examines the popularity of charity singles from the 1980s. Creatively repurposing and misreading iconic songs made by popular artists for charitable causes, Young draws on seemingly unrelated past and current events to explore the social, political, and philosophical implications of ‘charity singles’ in a cross-cultural context.

Our tour will be led by Curator of Hong Kong Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2017 and M+ Guest Curator, Ying Kwok.

Resource Person
Ying Kwok is noted for her inventive curatorial approach, which is centered on “boundaries of collaboration” between curators, artists, and the wider community. Kwok is the sole curator at the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art in Manchester in the UK between 2006 and 2012. Since 2013, Kwok became independence curator working internationally. She curated Collector Club in Oi, Hong Kong, co-curated Harmonious Society, as part of Asia Triennial Manchester 2014, From longing to belonging at Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art in Poland, No cause for alarm at La MaMa Galleria in New York. Kwok is the lead curator of LOOK International Photography Festival and curator for Hong Kong presentation in Venice Biennale 2017.

In 2014, Kwok was awarded the Asia Cultural Council Fellowship to carry out a five-month-long research on participatory and engagement projects in the US. To encourage critical thinking and initiating effective discussions in Hong Kong, Kwok founded Art Appraisal Club with a group of local art professional. The group provides regular exhibition reviews and their articles are published in magazines and various cultural networks. The group launched the bilingual bi-annual journal, Art Review Hong Kong in 2016.