Media

HKU weekly notice (from September 16 to September 24, 2016)

15 Sep 2016

 

Exhibition at the HKU Main Library refurbished atrium
HKUL - Mandela Exhibition

Period:  September 12 to 28, 2016

The South African Consulate-General, HKSAR/MSAR in collaboration with the University of Hong Kong Libraries and the African Studies Programme will hold the first Mandela Exhibition in Hong Kong. Nelson Mandela has been central to every stage of South Africa’s epic struggle against apartheid – from formulating a new approach in the 1940s to leading the mass struggles of the 1950s, from the formation of Umkhonto weSizwe in the early 1960s to imprisonment for 27 years. He initiated and led negotiations in the 1990s, and served as the first President of a democratic South Africa, building a new nation from the fragments of conflict.

Mandela’s extraordinary life is explored through six themes - character, comrade, leader, prisoner, negotiator and statesman. In each theme, the narrative is presented through dramatically visual wall displays, supported by films, books and photographs.

Details for the Exhibition:
Location:  Atrium/Exhibition Area, 2/F Main Library, the University of Hong Kong
Time: During Main Library Hours
Monday - Friday: 9:00 am - 10:00 pm
Saturday: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm
Sunday: 10:00 am - 7:00 pm
Closed on Public Holidays

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

UMAG exhibitions
1. Interruptions: with photographs by David Clarke and essays by Xu Xi -- a dialogue between photography and the written word

Period: September 14 (Wednesday) to October 16, 2016 (Sunday)

The University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) will present Interruptions: with photographs by David Clarke and essays by Xu Xi

The spine of this current project is a series of interlocking images and texts that began with a single photograph selected from David Clarke’s archive. Xu Xi then wrote an essay triggered by—but not necessarily in response to—the photograph, which led to David’s choice of a second work. The 12 images and essays construct a fascinating palimpsest of memoir and artistic expression. By “interrupting” each other’s live with a piece of art from a duelling medium, the artists were compelled to re-evaluate their own histories and creative output. What is ultimately created is a form of linked poem or renga, though without the strict stanzaic limitation of that particular form.

David Clarke is Professor in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Hong Kong, where he has taught since 1986. He has written extensively on both Chinese and Western art and culture, with a primary focus on the twentieth century, and is also active as a photographer and visual artist.

Xu Xi, a transnational “third culture” writer and Chinese-Indonesian native of Hong Kong, is author of nine books of fiction & essays, most recently Access: Thirteen Tales (Signal 8 Press, Hong Kong 2011), the novel Habit of a Foreign Sky (Haven Books, Hong Kong 2010), which was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize.

For details of this exhibition, please visit: http://www.hkumag.hku.hk/exhibition2.html

Venue: 1/F, Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam

2. "Classical Chinese Huanghuali Furniture from the Haven Collection" presents the art and craft of Ming and Qing domestic living and furniture making

Period: September 7 (Wednesday) to November 20, 2016 (Sunday)

The University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) will present Classical Chinese Huanghuali Furniture from the Haven Collection.

Chinese huanghuali furniture is world-famous and, for the longest time, has been collected in both East and West. In Ming dynasty, traditional wood architecture and Buddhist thrones inspired Chinese furniture makers and, as trade expanded, so did the amount of hardwood furniture in the form of sophisticated movable pieces and built-in interiors. Ming furniture is known for its elegant lines and carved details. During the reign of Emperor Longqing (1567–1572) China opened its borders, previously implemented import bans were lifted and a greater variety of building materials became available. Consequently, during the Ming and Qing dynasties the most celebrated types of domestic furniture were made from huanghuali and zitan woods. The elegant dark hardwood with natural shine is remarkable for the fact that Chinese furniture is typically made from solid timber, not an invisible sub-construction covered by a decorative veneer, as is so often the case in the West.

The strength of each individual furniture element and the consistent colour matters, as every detail is exposed and the precision of the joints, the size and position of the dowels, are all visual elements of an often very simple and graceful design. In some pieces the joints are detectible and accessible, sometimes demountable, or else expertly hidden in the more sophisticated pieces. Applied surface finishes were generally only a layer of wax; no stains or clear lacquer seals were added to the dense and inherently decorative woods.

Venue: 1/F, T.T. Tsui Building, UMAG, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam

3. Painted Ceramics: Contemporary Treasures by Jingdezhen’s National Masters from the Lamda Foundation -- Reinterpreting Porcelain Decoration

Period: August 19, 2016 (Friday) to October 23, 2016 (Sunday)

The University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) will present Painted Ceramics: Contemporary Treasures by Jingdezhen’s National Masters from the Lamda Foundation. Often celebrated as the most Chinese of all art forms, the tradition of porcelain making and decoration in China is wellknown and exhaustively studied. Lesser known in this millennia-long history are the artworks by twentieth-century national masters who have continued their country’s ceramic practice and achieved treasures representative of their heritage.

This exhibition introduces Jingdezhen as a manufacturing site for artefacts and it focuses on individual talents and the fame of a few master craftsmen, as well as their history and the uninterrupted production of unique high-quality porcelain objects of inherent beauty. The mastery and endurance of individual painters has left us an array of vessel shapes, compositions and iconographic subject matter that is, at times, both historic and contemporary. Displayed for the first time in public, these 44 artworks by 38 ceramicists represent the strength and ability of Jingdezhen’s artistic community through changing times.

Venue: 2/F, Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam

Opening Hours:
09:30 – 18:00 (Monday to Saturday)
13:00 – 18:00 (Sunday)
Closed on University and Public Holidays

Tel/Email: (852) 2241 5500 (General Enquiry) / museum@hku.hk
Admission: Free
Website: www.hkumag.hku.hk
For guided tours and other exhibition-related activities, please click here.

Connect with UMAG on social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/umag.hku
Twitter: https://twitter.com/UMAG_HKU
Instagram: #SpanningTime, #HKUMAG
Weibo: @香港大學美術博物館UMAG

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