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Press

2018-01-16

【Hong Kong Arts Centre】 PLAY! Hong Kong Comix Touring Exhibition
Touring Finale: Let’s Draw Hard, PLAY Hard!

Exhibition Period: 10th January – 1st February 2018

The Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) and Comix Home Base (CHB) present PLAY! Hong Kong Comix Touring Exhibition at Comix Home Base, Wan Chai, from 10th January to 1st February 2018. After touring four months to Europe and Japan, it’s time for the dynamic Hong Kong comics to PLAY back home. The touring exhibition showcases a variegated collection of Hong Kong comics – old classics, newfound favourites and other excellent works – published in the past 60 years. A fun playground with lots to explore, after a whirlwind trip across the world, the exhibition comes back to its hometown to engage with local readers, comics artists and practitioners, allowing them to gain insights into Hong Kong comics and to meet visiting comics artists and professionals from Brussels, Helsinki and Tokyo.
 
The exhibition is sponsored by Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). It is an accredited event celebrating the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR.
 
Through its various and diversified exhibits, PLAY! Hong Kong Comix Touring Exhibition connects Hong Kong comics to overseas audiences to important original comics since its emergence over six decades ago, thus embodying the aim of the Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) and Comix Home Base (CHB) in bringing local comics to the world. The exhibition went to Brussels and Helsinki in last September with great acclaim, followed by a fruitful exchange and showcase in Tokyo of Japan, the country of comics, in November. With an in depth analysis of the development of Hong Kong comics and their characteristics during different periods of time, the exhibition showcases comics as a popular art form, and its relationship with pop culture and social issues.
 
All nine Hong Kong comics artists and professionals who joined the Europe and Japan stops show their works again in the final stop in Hong Kong. They will also join in the discussions with their counterparts. The participating Hong Kong comics artists and professionals are: Ah To, Chi-man Ho, Lai Tat Tat Wing, Miloza Ma, Alice Mak, Karson Mak, Overloaddance, Andy Seto, and Justin Wong.
 
They will be joined by overseas artists and professionals,  including: Belgium comics artist and illustrator Lucie Bryon, Finnish comics artist and illustrator Joonas Rinta-Kanto, Franco-Belgian comics publisher Casterman’s Exclusive Agent in Greater China, Sally Mak, Latvian independent comics publisher David Schilter, and Director and Senior Research Fellow of Kadakawa ASCII Research Laboratories Inc, Satoshi Endo, in a series of talks and live drawing demonstrations.
 
The past 60 years witnessed the flourishing of Hong Kong comics, with each decade having its own distinctive “playful” titles. In the 1960s, there were Old Master Q, 13 Dots and others; kungfu comics such as Little Rogues were born in the 1970s. While this kungfu trend continued into the 1980s and 1990s, subject matters became increasingly diversified, and one often saw intertextual linkages between comics, film and other mass media. Upon the turn of the century, independent comics abounded as comics artists have been seeking new paths beyond the mainstream market. The HKAC branched out into comics in the 1980s, and in recent years, it has organised a lot of longer-term local and overseas projects that helped gather comics practitioners with a view to fostering their exchange and collaboration with their counterparts abroad.
 
Examples include Comix Home Base, an exhibition project that ran from 2006 to 2007 in Hong Kong, Kaleidoscope – History of Hong Kong Comics Exhibition, a travelling exhibition presented in Shanghai, Angouleme, Taipei and Hong Kong between 2009 and 2013, as well as the participation in Angouleme International Comics Festival under the sponsorship of CreateHK in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017, etc. In 2013, the HKAC established Comix Home Base (CHB) into a physical space in Wan Chai by transforming a cluster of historic buildings to provide regular exhibitions of comics works as a way to continue their devotion in promoting Hong Kong comics.
 
The PLAY! Hong Kong Comix Touring Exhibition is supplemented by talks and live drawing demonstrations. Over the weekend of 20th and 21st January 2018, a series of talks and live drawing demonstrations  will be organized for local participating artists and visiting artists from overseas to mingle and share their insights with local comics lovers. Their active participation encourages direct dialogues with local audiences, who in turn could have a better understanding of the artists’ creative backgrounds and styles.
 
Details of PLAY! Hong Kong Comics Touring Exhibition in Hong Kong: http://www.hkac.org.hk/en/calendar.php?t=u&p=1&id=2223
Image Download: http://ftp.hkac.org.hk/MDD/CHB/PLAY_201718/HK/
 
Presenter: Hong Kong Arts Centre, Comix Home Base
Sponsor: Create Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Supporters: Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Tokyo, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Brussels
In Association with: Hong Kong Comics & Animation Federation, Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Association, Brussels Comic Strip Festival, Helsinki Comics Festival, Belgium Hong Kong Society
Special Thanks to: Dorsett Hospitality International, AGORA Hospitality Group
 
PLAY! Hong Kong Comics Touring Exhibition is an accredited event celebrating the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
 
Disclaimer for the Hong Kong stop of PLAY! Hong Kong Comix Touring Exhibition: The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise take part in the project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) are those of the project organizers only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Communications and Creative Industries Branch of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Create Hong Kong, the CreateSmart Initiative Secretariat or the CreateSmart Initiative Vetting Committee.  
 
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ABOUT THE PRESENTER
 
Hong Kong Arts Centre
Established in 1977, Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) is a self-funding organisation whose mission is to promote contemporary arts and culture within Hong Kong and beyond. Home to artists' creative exploration, the HKAC features various art forms by showing local and overseas artworks through exhibitions, in addition to organising programmes ranging from performances, conferences, seminars, screenings, art festivals and public art projects, all through the year. Always keeping up with our efforts, the HKAC is committed to enhancing Hong Kong’s position as an artistically vibrant city and linking art to the community. 
www.hkac.org.hk
 
Comix Home Base
Located between Mallory Street and Burrows Street in Wan Chai, Comix Home Base is a cluster of pre-war Grade 2 historic buildings refurbished by the Urban Renewal Authority, and operated by the Hong Kong Arts Centre for the five years following its opening in July 2013. Through exhibitions, master classes, seed programmes, provision of reading space, book release presentations and seminars, local and international comics are promoted to audience in Hong Kong and all over the world. CHB also encourages comics and animation creations through diverse aspects, including education, retail, research, documentation, etc. Revitalised from a historic architecture into the first art community featuring comics and animation in Hong Kong, CHB marks a milestone in the preservation of local history and promotion of comics and animation art culture. Not only will the CHB be a gathering point for comics and animation artists, it will also be an important platform for interaction and exchange between Hong Kong and overseas comics and animation art.
www.comixhomebase.com.hk 
 
ABOUT THE SPONSOR
Create Hong Kong 
Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) is a dedicated office set up by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to spearhead the development of Hong Kong’s creative industries.
www.createhk.gov.hk

Hong Kong Arts Centre
Annie Ho
Marketing and Development Director
Tel:2824 5306 / 9481 8706
Email:aho@hkac.org.hk

Fiona Lau
Marketing & Development Officer
Tel:2582 0215
Email:flau@hkac.org.hk