Cover Among the cultural events not to be missed: Alice (in Wonderland) by Hong Kong Ballet (Photo: courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet)
Among the cultural events not to be missed: Alice (in Wonderland) by Hong Kong Ballet (Photo: courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet)
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Hong Kong acts as a connection point this month, where outstanding original shows are created for the international stage while global stars come to town for some unmissable events, including Oscar and Grammy winners
October isn't only about celebrating Halloween and dressing up for fun parties. There are plenty of arts and cultural events happening around town.
For a start, West Kowloon's flagship Freespace Jazz Fest will return with more than 100 musicians this year, including composer Antonio Sánchez, known for writing the score for 2014 Best Picture Oscar winner Birdman; and American jazz legend Herbie Hancock, who has won 14 Grammy Awards and an Oscar. Secret Theatre is also back with another extravagant immersive theatre show inspired by Joker and Mission Impossible. The visual art scene showcases mind-blowing and thought-provoking installations and paintings.
If you're looking for a quick getaway from Hong Kong, there are also art shows happening in the bustling Greater Bay Area and the rest of mainland China. Hong Kong Ballet's Alice (in Wonderland) is bringing its topsy-turvy magic to Beijing, for instance.
Read on to find out more about this month's arts selections by the Tatler team.
Don't miss: How the Hong Kong Ballet reimagined ‘The Butterfly Lovers’—one of the greatest Chinese love story ever
HK Performing Arts Expo
When: October 14-17
Where: various locations
What: Hong Kong’s inaugural Hong Kong Performing Arts Expo, or HKPax, is organised by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and showcases innovative theatre, dance and music productions in Hong Kong and across Asia. The festival’s opening production, Time in a Bottle, is a scent-infused music experience, where local composer Leon Ko showcases his personal collection of historic perfume and cologne bottles paired with his compositions.
Remediation Ensemble
When: October 17-19
Where: The Theatre, East Kowloon Cultural Centre, 60 Ngau Tau Kok Road, Jordan Valley
What: Japanese sound artist Ei Wada and Hong Kong media artist Keith Lam recontextualise the function of electrical appliances in the performing arts show Remediation Ensemble to explore our relationship with digital and analogue technologies. In this production, CRT TVs, barcode scanners and neon signs are repurposed as musical instruments, which form part of the musical rhapsody performed by Japanese musician Akira Ataka, local rapper Gold Mountain and local drummer Kittlau. This will be the first performing arts production held at the East Kowloon Cultural Centre.
Art of Dying
When: October 24 to November 9
Where: Lips Cocktails & Theatre, 3/F, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, 1 Harbour Road, Wan Chai
What: Secret Theatre, which organises extravagant immersive productions, is back this year with Art of Dying, a live theatre show inspired by Mission Impossible and Joker. Guests get to choose between playing special agents or gangsters. Be warned: you are expected to take up a role in the show, interact with the actors and attempt to stop the villains from causing death and destruction—over a cocktail or two.
Meeting In-between Time
Above Meeting In-between Time (Image: Youtube/CCDC Art Chanel)
Meeting In-between Time (Image: Youtube/CCDC Art Chanel)
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When: October 18-20
Where: The Pokfulam Farm, 141A Pokfulam Road, Pok Fu Lam
What: City Contemporary Dance Company opens its 45th season with Chinese choreographer Sang Jijia’s Meeting In-between Time, a multidisciplinary, site-specific dance show set in the revitalised heritage space at The Pokfulam Farm.
Read more: Choreographer William Forsythe On His Interactive Installation And The Future Of The Performing Arts
Exotica
Above A painting at Exotica (Image: courtesy of Hauser & Wirth and the artist)
A painting at Exotica (Image: courtesy of Hauser & Wirth and the artist)
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When: Until March 1 2025
Where: Hauser & Wirth, G/F, 8 Queen’s Road Central
What: American artist Mark Bradford’s solo exhibition Exotica, at Hauser & Wirth, features 20 new paintings created with the artist’s signature technique, which involves using caulk to create shadow-like imprints. A group of paintings on view are centred around a specific agave plant that blooms only once at the end of its life; on a conceptual level, the work deals with the idea of otherness. The exhibition’s title draws from a 1970s academic text that catalogued “exotic” plants from a western perspective. With this exhibition, Bradford prompts us to think about how we classify, perceive and define ideas, people and places we don’t necessarily understand. A special programme, featuring a series of workshops designed by Bradford and the gallery for young people aged 16-18 from the Sham Shui Po neighbourhood, will run alongside the exhibition in partnership with the Bridge+, a local social enterprise. Additionally Bradford will collaborate with the students to create a mural in the Bridge+ space, depicting a map of Hong Kong.
Floating World
Above Floating World (Image: courtesy of M+ and the artist)
Floating World (Image: courtesy of M+ and the artist)
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When: Until February 2 2025
Where: M+, West Kowloon
What: Floating World, an exhibition at M+ created by London- and Tokyo-based artist duo AA Murakami— Alexander Groves and Azusa Murakami—is made up of two installations with an innovative technological approach. Known as “ephemeral tech”, a concept the artists came up with, the technology is used to reimagine the idea of creation to project possible futures. One work traces the trajectory of a digital realm and the other reveals a space created with floating bubble clouds. Both works intend to challenge and inspire ideas about what is real and what is artificial. The duo are known for large-scale, often immersive sculptural installations that combine film and digital art, and seek to create otherworldly experiences.
Love in the Bamboo Grove
Above Love in the Bamboo Grove (Photo: courtesy of Hong Kong Arts Festival)
Love in the Bamboo Grove (Photo: courtesy of Hong Kong Arts Festival)
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When: From October 12 to 22
Where: various locations
What: Love in the Bamboo Grove is a modern Cantonese opera created by veteran artist Sun Kim-long alongside a new generation of practitioners. Featuring western theatre and cinematic elements and Cantonese opera singing techniques modified for contemporary tastes, it reimagines the legend of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, a group of learned men in 3rd-century China, who distanced themselves from political conflicts to engage in Daoist-inspired discussions, poetry and music. Its premiere at the Hong Kong Arts Festival last year received rave reviews.
This year, the show, which is sponsored by the China National Arts Fund, will be staged again in Hong Kong before touring Guangzhou, Foshan and Zhuhai later this month.
In case you missed: From waterfall-inspired towers to green terraces: How architecture firms are shaping the Greater Bay Area’s cultural and social development
Alice (in Wonderland)
Above Alice (in Wonderland) (Image: courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet)
Alice (in Wonderland) (Image: courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet)
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When: November 15 and 16
Where: Opera House, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing
What: After its Asia premiere in Hong Kong in 2018 and rerun in 2021, Hong Kong Ballet’s Alice (in Wonderland) is heading to Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts next month. Adapted by artistic director Septime Webre from Lewis Carroll’s fantastical tale, the production dazzles the audience with mind-blowing choreography that captures the story’s topsy-turvy magic, ravishing costumes and elaborate sets. In 2019, it won three Hong Kong Dance Awards: Outstanding Costume Design, Outstanding Ensemble Performance and Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer.
Dance lovers in Hong Kong: fret not. In January, there will be a special tea party in Tuen Mun Town Hall where excerpts from Alice will be performed. And yes, you can dress up.
Freespace Jazz Fest
Above Herbie Hancock (Photo: courtesy of West Kowloon and the artist)
Herbie Hancock (Photo: courtesy of West Kowloon and the artist)
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When: From October 24 to 27
Where: West Kowloon Cultural District
What: The sixth edition of West Kowloon’s annual jazz festival will present more than 100 local and international jazz musicians. Highlights this year include Grammy-winning Mexican drummer and composer Antonio Sánchez, known for writing the score for 2014 Best Picture Oscar winner Birdman; and American jazz legend Herbie Hancock, who has won 14 Grammy Awards and an Oscar—for the soundtrack to 1986 film Round Midnight—over his five-decade career. As well as free and ticketed performances, the festival will also offer jazz workshops (and of course plenty of F&B options).
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