Re-making the Art Appreciation Experience. Challenging the senses.
29/6 – 31/7/2018

Organised by the Hong Kong Arts Centre, Cultural Masseur: Dragonix Multi-Arts Festival was announced at press briefing today (26Apr).  Guess included: Ms. Queenie Wong, Chief Manager of Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme, Home Affairs Bureau; Dr. Almuth Meyer-Zollitsch, Director of Goethe-Institut Hong Kong; Lam Laam, Jaffa, Artist; Hugh Cho, Artist; Janice Poon, Lecturer (Playwriting) and Academic Project Coordinator, HKAPA; Shaw Mei Kwan, Artist in Residence (Acting), HKAPA; Alex Cheung, Co-Artistic Director of Möbius Strip Theatre; and Tony Ip, Community-centric, sustainable design architect and Urban designer.
 
The festival will take place from 29 June to 31 July 2018, presenting a creative makeover to the familiar art experience, where the theatre experience will be taken to another level, the guided tour will become an adventure, and the musical theatre will be turned into a romantic encounter.
 
Co-curated with cross-disciplinary artists from Hong Kong, Asia and Europe, the events span across performing arts, installation exhibition, urban exploration, and “chill chats” on arts and artistic creation. The festival is taking the contemporary art experience to the theatre and beyond, traversing the city’s old and unknown corners, a hustling and bustling mall, the harbourfront of lost times, a restaurant, virtual living spaces and the no-trespass zone at the HKAC. The programmes seek to catalyse cross-media creation, foster human interaction, challenge and open up the senses, and reveal the fascinating dynamics between the arts and our day-to-day existence. Both paid and free events are available and full details can be found at www.culturalmasseur.hk.
 
Supported by the Springboard Grant under the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and sponsored by Hysan Development Company Limited, Cultural Masseur is a 1.5-year arts and cultural programme presented by the Hong Kong Arts Centre. Body massage stimulates circulation, and massage of the mind stimulates the circulation of ideas, particularly creative ones. The Dragonix Multi-Arts Festival is the final stage of the Cultural Masseur programme.
 
The Dragonix Multi-Arts Festival consists of 12 programmes in 4 series: 【Theatre+Exhibition】, 【Site-specific Performance】, 【Thematic Walk】 and 【Chill Chat】. Full details are as follows.
 
【Theatre+Exhibition】series  (4 programmes)
 
【Theatre】 MYOUSIC – A soundscape theatre experience
Created by Swiss artist Dimitri de Perrot and debuting in Hong Kong, Myousic is in a mind-blowing sensory experience where sound and light form a surreal theatre-scape. It collapses the distance between the audience, shifts the familiar hierarchy and challenges the established ways of thinking.
 

 
【Theatre】 PIU3 – “Bleaching” life, re-making Hong Kong theatre
Artist Jaffa Lam for the first time turns a Hong Kong theatre into a laundromat that washes fatigued souls. What emerge between the sweet scents and pungent odors are the essence of life and reflections on societal issues.
 

 
【Theatre】  Unknown: living in progress – 40-year time travel, memories and youthful dialogues
How does art influence your life? Under teachers’ mentorship, acting and playwriting students from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts will take audience members on a journey through the Hong Kong Arts Centre. As this new generation of art practitioners engage in a “dialogue” with different spaces of the 40-year-old establishment, old and new memories shall cross paths and weave new meanings…
 

 
【Sound Installation】 UNLESS – A sonic oasis in hectic Hong Kong
What can you hear in a shopping mall? This Hong Kong debut of sound installation UNLESS collects sounds in-situ in a hustling and bustling mall, and reminds us of the overlooked, ordinary moments in daily life. Audience members are invited to savour the trivial and sacred of life walking through or lying down in a world of sonic harmony and discords.
 

  
 【Site-specific Performance】series  (3 programmes)
 
【Site-specific Performance】 Love & Diversity – Speed-dating music theatre
In this restaurant-turned-music-theatre (speed dating night in disguise), seven musical instruments (seven lovers in actuality) eagerly await their turn across the table. As each swap of places brings on a wave of frenzied anticipation, the participant and a new instrument get upclose and gaze into each other’s minds. Swipe left or right? And will you find your Mr Right? (Each ticket includes a non-alcoholic cocktail)
 

 
 
【Site-specific Performance】 Space in Hong Kong – An installation of light, sound, projection and cramped spaces
Inspired by the Sham Shui Po neighbourhood and Hong Kong’s housing estates, this interactive installation examines the forever dwindling living spaces in Hong Kong. Led by artists of 4 disciplines (theatre, lighting design, new media arts and urban design), students from the HKAPA and City University of Hong Kong will create three cramped apartments through light, sound and projection, and viewers will be led to rethink about space in Hong Kong in a personal, psychological and emotional experience.
 

 
【Site-specific Performance】 Gone Wood –Hong Kong’s old Jianghu brought back to life in Kungfu and dance
The show’s Chinese title “Jianghu”means the way of life of itinerant martial arts performers and fortune tellers in the bygone era. The Sheung Wan harbourfront bazaar, aka The Poor Man’s Night Club, was one such thriving hub of entertainment, and had ended to make way for reclamation in the early 1990s. This outdoor performance is going to bring back the good old days of “Jianghu” with dazzling tumbling, parkour and Kungfu-infused dances.
 

 
【Thematic Walk】series  (3 programmes)
 
【Thematic Walk】 ENGEKI QUEST – The Rainbow Masseur – Urban exploration project in Choi Hung created by Japanese artist
Day to day we construct tangible and intangible walls that narrow our perspectives. Japanese artist Chikara Fujiwara has created an urban exploration project called ENGEKI QUEST in different cities to break through these walls. Having toured to Germany, Korea and the Philippines, the project’s next stop will be Choi Hung, Hong Kong! As “Rainbow Masseurs”, participants will be given an adventure book and ramble through both Insta-worthy and hidden spots in Choi Hung, celebrating the district’s beauty through a foreigner’s perspective.
 

 
【Thematic Walk】  Bon Voyage – A “dancing” walking tour
When we encounter new adventures on a journey, we conquer the unknowns and unleash our potential. In Bon Voyage, artist Enoch Cheng will take participants on a special journey to the unknown corners at the Hong Kong Arts Centre - one that combines elements of contemporary dance and Cantonese Opera movements with a guided tour. Participants will be led by dancers to move, dance, and walk - sometimes barefooted - as they explore every single corner of the building and uncover various hidden stories.

 
【Thematic Walk】 Before Tomorrow．Fallen City – Listening to our city before it gets underwater
What would you do if your city were to be underwater in 24 hours because of global warming? The Victoria Harbour we so dearly loved has turned against us and the city is in full-blown panic. In this thematic walk, participants will go on an adventure through the coastline in the Central and Western District and listen to the nature.

 
【Chill Chat】 series  (2 programmes)
 
【Chill Chat】 Chill Chat – A platform to make interdisciplinary art proposals happen
Chill Chat is an initiative to help aspiring artists who can use some guidance and expertise from 8 local and international experienced art professionals. Send in an interdisciplinary art proposal that addresses current issues, and you will stand a chance to meet the art professionals face to face and turn your ideas into a reality. 3 best proposals will be awarded not less than HK$50,000 as start-up capital! (Actual amount will depend on the nature of proposal)
 

 
【Chill Chat】 Panel Roundtable – Exchanging perspectives on art with 8 art professionals
8 local and international experienced art professionals will offer their own perspectives to the meaning of art as they share their thoughts and insights on the Dragonix Festival. Join the conversation and let us hear your experience and ideas!
 

 

Cultural Masseur Full Programme Details:
Website: www.culturalmasseur.hk
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/culturalmasseur/

(Image Captions)

• Image01: (From left to right) Teresa Kwong,  Programme Director of the Hong Kong Arts Centre; (third from the left) Almuth Meyer-Zollitsch, Director of Goethe-Institut Hong Kong; Ian Leung, Programme Manager of the Hong Kong Arts Centre; Queenie Wong, Chief Manager of Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme, Home Affairs Bureau
• Image02: Group photo of participating artists of Cultural Masseur - Dragonix Multi-Arts Festival
• Image03: Participating artists, sponsors, supporting organizations and the working team of the Hong Kong Arts Centre
• Image04: PIU³: (From left to right) Hakgwai, Musician; Jaffa Lam, Artist; Fong Ki Tuen, Director
• Image05: Gone Wood: (From left to right) Hugh Cho, Artist and TS Crew
• Image06: Space in Hong Kong: (From left to right) Xplor and Tony Ip, Community-centric, sustainable design architect and Urban designer 

Media enquiry
Annie Ho
(Marketing & Development Director)
Tel: 2824 5306 / 9481 8706
Email: aho@hkac.org.hk

Sandy Au
(Marketing & Development Officer)
Tel: 2582 0282
Email: sau@hkac.org.hk

Josie Lee
(Programme Coordinator)
Tel: 2582 0248
Email: jlee@hkac.org.hk