Media

HKU weekly notice (from March 25 to April 2, 2016)

24 Mar 2016

 

HKUL Book Talk: Man’s Last Song
Speaker:     Mr James Tam
Date:            31 March 2016 (Thursday)
Time:           6:30 to 8:00pm
Venue:         Special Collections, 1/F, Main Library, The University of Hong Kong
Language:  English
Registration: http://lib.hku.hk/friends/reading_club/bt2016_02.html

About the author:
JAMES TAM was born in Hong Kong. He lived and studied in Canada in the 70s and returned to Hong Kong in the mid-80s to start his own environmental engineering practice, as well as a software company which subsequently won the premier IT Excellence Award and the HK Industry Award in 1996. In 2008, he realised his long-term plan to leave business before too late, and started to write. He now writes fiction and non-fiction mostly on his blog www.guo-du.blogspot.com. Nearly all his writings are done bilingually in English and Chinese. His occasional poems have received honorary mentions in competitions, and his short stories have appeared in anthologies, the Asia Literary Review, and 香港作家.  Being a scientific realist, he’s often mistaken for a morbid cynic because he sees ample evidence that 21st Century Homo sapiens is a delusional and self-endangered species. Nevertheless, he remains irrationally optimistic, happily married, with two lovely daughters.

About the book:
In MAN'S LAST SONG, the human race faces imminent extinction. The year is 2090. The global population has shrunk to less than half a million; median age about sixty. After forty years of universal sterility, humanity is vanishing while the rest of the planet makes a healthy comeback. A few survivors in Hong Kong, dwelling in the concrete remains of an empty metropolis, face the challenge of adjusting to life as post-modern savages, rediscovering instincts long suppressed by civilization. To them, life has become a lonely journey of self-discovery in which they find their relationships with nature, each other, and themselves have fundamentally changed. The dilemma, pain and pleasure of love, friendship, compassion, and ageing have been heightened by pragmatic dictates. The unknowable — God, Dao, death, even reality — has assumed new and shifting dimensions in man's dying world.

Looking back with fictional hindsight, they find our world — today’s world — absurd, even suicidal. They wonder how Homo sapiens reached this dire situation. While the end looks near, some hang on tenaciously to one thing that has not changed: hope.

Media Contact:  Mr. Gary Chin, Tel: 2859 2211 / Ms. Marina Yeung, Tel: 2859 8903

Education Seminar Series (13) by Faculty of Education, HKU “How to Develop Children’s Bilingual Proficiency in Hong Kong?”
The Faculty of Education, in support of the University’s drive to strengthen knowledge exchange, one of the three strategic themes of the University’s Strategic Development, takes the initiative in knowledge sharing with the public by organizing a series of education seminars for parents.  The past seminars on Mathematics, English, Liberal Studies, Information Technology, sending children abroad, the use of voice, creativity, private tutoring, parent-school partnership, early childhood education and social media held since 2010 received enthusiastic response.

Our Faculty is going to organize the 13^th seminar on “How to Develop Children’s Bilingual Proficiency in Hong Kong?” in April 2016.  In the seminar, Professor Tse Shek Kam, Honorary Director of the Centre for Advancement of Chinese Language Education and Research (CACLER) of the Faculty, will talk about how to develop bilingual proficiency of children in Hong Kong with teachers and parents.

Hong Kong is a multilingual society.  Students studying in Hong Kong are required to master multiple languages simultaneously, including spoken language: Cantonese, Putonghua, English; written language: English and Standardized Modern Chinese. Many teachers and parents are querying how to learn language effectively under “bi- and tri-lingualism”.  Professor Tse will introduce some cases on how to develop children’s bilingual proficiency (English and Chinese).  He will also introduce how kindergartens and primary schools in other areas develop children’s bilingual proficiency.  After the talk, Professor Tse will invite participating teachers and parents to share their successful experience in developing children’s bilingual proficiency.

Media representatives are cordially invited to the seminar and details are as follows:

Date:               April 2, 2016 (Saturday)
Time:              10:00 am – 11:30 am
Venue:           Room 1, Library Extension Building (LE1), The University of Hong Kong
Language:     Cantonese

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Emily Cheung, Senior Manager (Development and Communications) (Tel.: 2219 4270 / E-mail: emchy@hku.hk).

UMAG exhibitions
1. UMAG receives two limited-edition prints from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation: Ghada and Sayed from the series Our House is on Fire An exploration of humanity through conflict

Period: March 23, 2016 (Wednesday)

The University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has been selected by the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation (RRF) to receive a donation of two photographic prints by distinguished Iranian artist Shirin Neshat.

Ghada and Sayed, portraits of an Egyptian woman and man, are from Neshat’s Our House is on Fire series, which was commissioned by the RRF in 2012 as part of their One-to-One initiative, in which contemporary artists create work in the service of human rights. In the series, Neshat investigates the universal experience of pain and mourning on national and personal levels as part of her exploration of Egypt’s Arab Spring. In Egypt, the artist invited people to sit down in front of her camera and share their individual stories of loss. By photographing her subjects at such close range, Neshat creates a poignant connection between subject and viewer. She overlays the images with a nearly indecipherable veil of text, generated from poems written during the Iranian Revolution. The Persian calligraphy inscribed across the folds of each face mirrors the way in which a national calamity has become embedded in the personal history of each individual, while bringing into conversation the Arabic speaking Egyptian world and Neshat’s Persian roots.

Born in Iran, as an artist and filmmaker, Neshat regularly explores the themes of gender, femininity, religion, and violence. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions at galleries and museums worldwide, including the Detroit Institute of Arts; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; the Serpentine Gallery, London; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. She has been the recipient of various awards such as the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale (1999), the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2006), and the crystal Award at the World Economic Forum, Davos (2014). In 2009 she directed her first feature length film, Women Without Men, which received the Silver Lion for Best Direction at the Venice International Film Festival. Declared Artist of the Decade in 2010 by The Huffington Post, Neshat is represented by Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels. 

Before departing for Egypt in 2012, Neshat’s studio assistant, Larry Barnes, lost his 22-year-old daughter. His grief, combined with the levels of despair she found in Cairo, inspired Neshat to capture how people experience loss on both a personal and national level. By asking Egyptians that she met on the street to share stories from the Revolution as she photographed them, Neshat created a profound body of work that compels viewers to face another’s pain. This experience was the inspiration for her series Our House is on Fire.

“Due to the recent events in Europe and the Middle East, we believe that it is more important than ever to engage in cross-cultural discussions,” said Christy MacLear, executive director of the RRF. “Neshat’s project embodies Rauschenberg’s own belief that art could change the dialogue for challenging international issues.” 

Thirty-three top institutions were selected by the RRF through a competitive process. Each institution submitted a proposal for how they would incorporate the prints into their curriculum, daily life, and campus-wide events. Institutions are to utilise the portraits to foster challenging conversations on issues ranging from gender roles and inequality, to the effects of war and cross-cultural understanding. 

UMAG Director Florian Knothe notes that “HKU has an international cohort of teaching staff and affiliated students who will be able to study the context of the artworks and their significance. These powerful images will generate discussions on political, religious and social topics. Likewise, we will be able to explore the artist’s meaning and modes of engagement through the images.”

Other institutions receiving the prints include: American University of Beirut, Brandeis University, Columbia University, Dartmouth University, Duke University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Rhode Island School of Design, Stanford University, Tufts University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas at Austin, University of Virginia, University of Washington, Vanderbilt University, Wesleyan University, and Yale University. 

Opening Hours:
09:30 – 18:00 daily
Closed on University and Public Holidays
Venue: 1/F, Chi Wah Learning Commons, Centennial Campus, HKU
Tel/Email: (852) 2241 5500 (General Enquiry) / museum@hku.hk
Admission: Free

About the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation
The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation fosters the legacy of the life, artistic practice, and activist philosophy of one of the most important artists of the 20th century. Through exhibitions, scholarship, grants, and a residency program, the Foundation furthers Rauschenberg’s belief that art can change the world. For more information, please click here.

2. When classic meets modern The Art of Takashi Wakamiya: Contemporary Japanese Lacquer Showcasing the meticulous process of craftsmanship

Period: March 18, 2016 (Friday) to June 19, 2016 (Sunday)

The Art of Takashi Wakamiya: Contemporary Japanese Lacquer exhibition is held in collaboration with Takashi Wakamiya’s studio Hikoju Makie, and with the support of the Japanese Consulate in Hong Kong and Macau. A selection of finely executed contemporary objects in Japanese lacquer will be displayed at the exhibition.

Steeped in history, Japan has a highly developed tradition of creating exquisite objects from lacquer, both for decorative and domestic use. Over the years, Hikoju Makie has grown into a respected workshop that brings together celebrated traditions, innovations, impeccable quality and detail-oriented craftsmanship.

An acclaimed artist for 30 years, Wakamiya excels in the practice and teaching of traditional lacquer techniques with a high level of precision and has developed an interest in executing, in lacquer, East Asian objects historically made from unrelated materials, such as bronze or ceramic. His studio creates these imitations with such remarkable exactness that onlookers are fooled by the medium. The finely applied lacquer is, when held, much lighter than the metal or clay that it reproduces. A master of deception, Wakamiya and Hikoju Makie also specialise in the creation of life-like animals (beetles, grasshoppers), vegetables and fruits (corn, pumpkins).

Public guided tour
Cantonese: March 19 (Saturday, 14:00); April 9 & April 30 (Saturday, 15:30); May 7, May 28 & June 18 (Saturday, 15:00)
English: April 7 (Thursday, 13:30); April 16 & May 7 (Saturday, 15:30); June 18 (Saturday, 16:00)
Putonghua: March 24 & April 28 (Thursday, 13:30); May 28 & June 18 (Saturday, 15:30)

Lecture & Workshop
HIKOJU MAKIE Japanese Lacquer Art with Takashi Wakamiya
Venue: 1/F, Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG, HKU
Speaker: Takashi Wakamiya
Language: Japanese (simultaneously translated to English)
Date: March 19, 2016 (Saturday)
Time:
11:00 Talk – All are welcome. Free admission. First-come, first-served.
15:00 Workshop – Cost: HK$100.
Date: March 20, 2016 (Sunday)
Time:
15:00 Workshop – Cost: HK$100.

3. Major global events retold through multimedia exhibition “Chen Xi: So We Remember” Renowned Chinese artist to exhibit for first time in Hong Kong

Period: March 2, 2016 (Wednesday) to May 15, 2016 (Sunday)

Artist Chen Xi created this series of contemporary images to commemorate, to document and to provoke thought. The paintings illustrate important events that have shaped our modern world. In the current show, we present her preliminary pen and watercolour drawings along with the finished oil paintings.

Meticulous in her research and true to both the documented incident and the domestic details, Chen Xi creates historical paintings for our present and future generations. Her method directly relates to contemporary life and to a society that is informed and influenced by modern-day media. Interestingly, the artist does not simply depict a historic event, but frames within a TV screen each episode of her sequential and international narrative. By presenting the paintings within the TV's glass, they become screen shots linked to a specific moment in time and space, as well as to the living room setting where the news would have been seen. In addition, the exhibition includes four early paintings that relate to the TV series and Chen Xi's development as an artist.

All exhibition-related activities will be held at 1/F, T.T. Tsui Building, UMAG, HKU, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam.

Opening Hours:
09:30 – 18:00 (Monday to Saturday)
13:00 – 18:00 (Sunday)
Closed on University and Public Holidays
Venue: 1/F Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam
Tel/Email: (852) 2241 5500 (General Enquiry) / museum@hku.hk
Admission: Free
Website: www.umag.hku.hk/en/

Connect with UMAG on social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/umag.hku
Twitter: https://twitter.com/UMAG_HKU
Instagram: #WakamiyaLacquer, #JapaneseLacquer
Weibo: http://www.weibo.com/5411839295/profile?topnav=1&wvr=6

Media enquiries:
UMAG Communication Officer Miss Elena Cheung, Tel: (852) 2241 5512, Email: elenac@hku.hk.