HKIA Arts & Culture Festival 2023
A Visual Voyage: Hong Kong and Scenes
Pilgrimage to Intangible Cultural Heritage
@ HKIA Arts & Culture Festival 2023
Organisers: Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong Arts Centre (Comix Home Base)
HKIA Arts & Culture Festival 2023 official website: https://www.hongkongairport.com/tc/relax-fun/art-culture
Hong Kong Arts Centre (Comix Home Base) and the Hong Kong International Airport collaborate again in promoting Hong Kong's unique culture and its various forms of arts. Two exhibitions titled A Visual Voyage: Hong Kong and Scenes and Pilgrimage to Intangible Cultural Heritage are curated in HKIA Arts & Culture Festival 2023. Blending together comics, illustrations, movies, and Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), both exhibitions feature different expressions of visual arts to present Hong Kong as a vibrant city of cultures to international and local audiences arriving Hong Kong from all over the world.
A Visual Voyage: Hong Kong and Scenes
Venue: Ground Transportation Centre Downramp South
Date: 28/09-19/11/2023
Participating artist: Kwan-ho CHEUNG
Hong Kong cinema is internationally renowned, with on-location shooting being one of its greatest signatures. Film director Peter Bogdanovich once emphasised that scenery is equally important to characters in a movie. Scenery plays an indispensable role as it not only enriches the depth of the story but also documents the city. Cityscapes across different periods of time can be encapsulated through the portrayal of shooting locations and storytelling. Despite its compact size, Hong Kong is full of unique and diverse cityscapes that can be staged as mise en scènes for countless genres of film.
In this exhibition, comics artist Kwan-ho Cheung, well-known for his Searching for Views In Hong Kong series, uses perspective techniques to recreate six iconic Hong Kong movie locations and depict the city's grand landscapes and bustling corners with a rich local flavour: fishing villages from Ballad On The Shore, Lion Rock Park Baseball Field 2 from Weeds On Fire, Mui Tsz Lam village from Far Far Away, Wah Fu Estate from Men On The Dragon, a cha chaan teng (or 'tea restaurant') from The Midnight After, and a local store from The Way We Keep Dancing. These scenes, which were meticulously selected from Hong Kong-produced movies from the past decade, are illustrated through Cheung's keen perspective. Every detail is skillfully depicted in his black and white originals, with added warmth and ambiance from Cheung's palette of colours.
By showcasing Cheung's artwork and film stills, the exhibition invites audiences to discover Hong Kong in between reality and imagination. Audiences from all over the world can appreciate the beauty of Hong Kong and its captivating stories through the lens of Hong Kong movies and the creations of local comics artists.
Film still of Weeds on Fire
©Licensed by Golden Scene Company Limited. All rights reserved.
Film still of The Midnight After
©Licensed by Golden Scene Company Limited. All rights reserved.
Pilgrimage to Intangible Cultural Heritage
Venue: Downramp from Arrivals Hall to Taxi Station
Date: 30/09-19/11/2023
Participating artist: Rex KOO
Hong Kong visual artist Rex Koo, deeply influenced by pop art and culture, depicts four intangible cultural heritage items in his signature vivid and colourful illustration style. His inspiration comes from the 8-bit game graphics of video game consoles in the 1980s. Through a massive 48-metre-long artwork, he passionately presents the traditional culture that has been passed down from ancient times.
The nationally inscribed intangible cultural heritage items – Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance and Bun Scrambling Contest of Cheung Chau Jiao Festival – turn small neighbourhoods into bustling communities overnight. The scene grows even more magnificent later at night. The intricate art of crafting flower boards, another form of intangible cultural heritage, requires a complex process to properly adorn venues for occasions. Lion dance is commonly seen in both celebratory and mourning ceremonies. Trained performers demonstrate their outstanding skills and great physical strength in horse stances and formations, fascinating audiences with their mastery.
These four items – Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance, Cheung Chau Jiao Festival, flower board crafting techniques and lion dance – are all visual feasts themselves. Their set-up, costumes designs, and ornamental details are exquisite and dazzling, embodying the skillful craftsmanship of the masters behind Hong Kong's intangible cultural heritage.
The Hong Kong Arts Centre (Comix Home Base) and Hong Kong International Airport are jointly organising the Pilgrimage to Intangible Cultural Heritage exhibition to promote Hong Kong's unique culture and its various forms of arts. The Hong Kong Arts Centre is committed to promoting intangible cultural heritage and encouraging its continuation through the reinterpretation of contemporary art. In this showcase, the aesthetic beauty of traditional craftsmanship is presented in visual form through modern illustrations.
About Kwan-ho CHEUNG
Kwan-ho Cheung has published a series of Searching For Views In Hong Kong with Hong Kong real cityscapes as its theme. Adopting his established comics drawing techniques, Cheung hopes to set down scenes of Hong Kong which is familiar to you and me. Searching For Views In Hong Kong has been well-received, and therefore got invitations for collaborative project from many local entrepreneurs.
In 2018, Cheung founded FIREFLYHK with his friend to launch a selection of comic-related merchandise in collaboration with different creators. In the same year, he published Searching For Views In Hong Kong Vol. 1 featuring drawings of Hong Kong streetscapes. A series of Searching For Views In Hong Kong has started since then. Apart from that, Cheung also hoped to launch a platform that can gather creative units from different mediums of art for a passionate and interesting exchange. Thus, he started publish FIREFLY Collection (Illustration & Comic) in 2021. Cheung wishes to realise his creative dream step by step in his downtime through hard work and passion.
Facebook: 張君豪 | Instagram: @cheung_kwanho
About Rex KOO
Rex Koo, a Hong Kong born visual artist. His style is deeply influenced by pop art and the cultures in the 1980s. He has been devoting himself to graphic design and illustration works since the Millennium. In 2013, he started his career as an independent designer. He released four publications themed on Hong Kong movies, including Bleeding and Death are Two Different Things, a book themed with blood and death scene of Hong Kong movies; its original and print exhibition was held in Hong Kong and France respectively.
Rex began to create comics of a fantasy story which using Hong Kong as a stage in 2018. It took about a year to complete the first episode of Strange Tales of Walled City. The book has won the Bronze Award at the 14th Japan International Manga Awards. In 2022, inspired by Hong Kong kung fu cinema, he released I Know Kung Fu in which classical kung fu masters and manoeuvres are portrayed with his distinguished bold colour schemes. This year, his latest solo art show named Snake Cat Dog was held at the Gallery by the Harbour in Hong Kong. It featured a series of adorable works with erotic symbols, taking local provocative magazine Lung Fu Pao as creative inspiration.
Facebook: rexkoofeelblue | Instagram: @rexkoo
About Hong Kong Arts Centre
Art for Passion, Art for Life, Art for All.
Since 1977, the Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) has been a platform for nurturing and supporting artists, and infusing art into everyday life. Its unique arts and educational programmes aim to make the arts accessible for all. The HKAC believes in the transformational power of art for people from all walks of life. Established more than four decades ago, the HKAC bring art to the people of Hong Kong – by presenting programmes for visual arts, performing arts, moving images and media arts, comics and animation. Other areas also cover arts education, conferences, festivals, public art and community projects, all done with the vision and mission of engaging and inspiring creativity in the Hong Kong community.
In 2000, HKAC founded its educational arm, Hong Kong Art School (HKAS). The HKAS provides award-bearing programmes to nurture artists and art practitioners, as well as short enrichment courses for the general public. The HKAC aspires to engage everyone in the community to become an active participant in the arts – as an enthusiast, an artist or a patron.
Let's continue to embrace 'Art for Passion, Art for Life, Art for All', and share the inspiration.
Official website: hkac.org.hk | Facebook: HongKongArtsCentre | Instagram: @hongkongartscentre
About Comix Home Base
Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) believes that comics and animation are important local pop culture and artistic creations. HKAC has been dedicated to planning and organising diverse and unique activities to promote the arts and culture of comics and animation to the local community and abroad.
Since 2006, HKAC curated Comix Home Base project (CHB) and hosted over 700 ani-com-related events, such as exhibitions, talks, workshops, performances, publications, screenings, public arts, etc. Outside Hong Kong, the footprints of Hong Kong comics can be found in France, Belgium, Britain, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Japan, Singapore, Mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, etc. Through the uniquely planned programmes, several Hong Kong comics artists have got chances to initiate international collaborations in publishing their comics in foreign languages in Europe and US. These all have made an impact on the international comics scene and helped to raise the profile of Hong Kong comics internationally.
HKAC (CHB) continues to proactively look for opportunities to promote Hong Kong's diverse comics and animation arts, with the aim of increasing international recognition and awareness of Hong Kong's comics artists and their unique works.
Official website: www.comixhomebase.com.hk | Facebook: hkacchb | Instagram: @comixhomebase
