The Whiteboard
The Revival of Hong Kong Night Market
Born in the era of prosperous night market, I went to the night market in Sham Shui Po with my mum every week, when I was a kid. I still remember every piece of memory of people holding a torch to check out the items, hawkers yelling to offer a bargain, etc. So, The Night Market Project is like a look back at my childhood.
The project is established by a group of Creatives & students in Hong Kong. They picked a spot, exhibited & sold what creative things they did, as means to promote Hong Kong’s unique night market culture. Owing to Hong Kong’s rapid urban development, the traditional night market is rarely seen here. It is good to have some people step up to do something, in order to conserve this culture, especially in Hong Kong who is always called as “culture desert”.
During my walk at the night market, I heard so many hawkers saying,
“Why is it so crowded tonight? What happened?”
“WOAH, I am so happy to see the revival of Sham Shui Po! Sham Shui Po forever!”
I believe the Night Market Project’ curators have made a big step!
The crowds were checking Creative City‘s map, conceived & developed by Whitespace founder Danielle Huthart and former journalist Louise Wong.
Rear Window?
We all know about how influential the classic horror movie <<Rear Window>> by Alfred Hitchcock is. Imagine how it happens in our modern lives?
German photographer Michael Wolf has a <<Window Watching>> project which he photographed how people’ lives through the window from his apartment in Hong Kong. Though it is not a breakthrough project, I feel so familiar with this, probably because I was born & raised in Hong Kong, I always live in skyscraper and I can always see what my “neighbors” doing in opposite building, especially in concrete jungle Hong Kong.
However, thinking of privacy issue, our Master Confucius’s wise say has come up in my mind,
“Look not at what is contrary to propriety; listen not to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is contrary to propriety; make no movement which is contrary to propriety.”
What do you think? ; )
Go Grandriders!
This is a documentary about 17 old riders, average age in 81 years old. 8 of them have heart diseases, 2 of them were suffered from cancer and all have joint degeneration. And they made a remarkable round-the-island motocycle journey in Taiwan, and completed the impossible dream of finishing 1178 kilometer in 13 days.
When someone lived for more than 80 years, I believe they all have wonderful stories, no matter it is with full of sadness or happiness, or both of them. During the trip, the grandriders shared all their secret stories, and you can feel how much that meant to them, it is all beautiful and with full of love. One of the grandrider, he put his wife’s photos in the front of his motor cycle. Always clean it with care, surrounded it by fresh flowers. And the reason he joined this journey is because a promise to his wife: If I can still ride motorcycle when I am 80, I will still bring you to round-the-island! Even though, his wife can’t wait until that time, he still kept his promise, and bring her to join this meaningful journey.
This documentary is using an optimistic and cheerful approach to film the journey. Even a lot of sad thing has happened on those old riders, but the film didn’t exaggerate their pain and sorrow. They tried to focus on how happy and energetic that the old riders can be, and how they eager to fulfill their dream in this journey. For me, they are just like kids, they are simple, happy, kind and with lots of hope. This documentary really changed the perspective of people on old people, they are not only about sickness, old and pessimistic, but with passion, happiness and hope. What they need is just more care, love and support from everyone. They can do something that you and I can’t imagine and able to do too!!!
Cheerful and cute Chinese calligraphy teacher
The energetic 17 old riders
The sweet couple, and the lady is having cancer
The movie is still showing!! Please spare your time to watch it!!
Mother Russia
I truly admire Pussy Riot’s feminine power in awakening worldwide concern over the life of women in contemporary Russia. I always wonder how the life of women in Russia is in a men-dominated society. Perhaps, answers can be found at “Mother Russia” which is a group exhibition by emerging 4 Russian Photographers.
The exhibition attempts to reflect the images of Russian women from different perspectives, providing an opportunity for Hong Kong people to glimpse this mysterious and ever-changing Eurasia country. It is an incredible chance for us to think about the freedom of speech, especially to Hong Kong who has growing conflict of interest with China.
Venue: The Salt Yard
Duration: 19/1 – 24/3 2013, 12n – 7pm, Thu – Sun
Details HERE
one hundred…
Quite similar to our studio event sometime ago called “You Are Here”, Art-management.com and :phunk studio have collaborated and asked their 100 friends, who mostly are influential Singaporean and international artists, to create an A4 portrait each for the group exhibition. The result is the birth of 100 amazing artwork which are now framed and for sale while 100% of the proceeds will be given to the non-profit initiative Transmission: Project.
