Media

HKU weekly notice (from September 24 to October 1, 2016)

23 Sep 2016

 

HKU to present Honorary University Fellowships to five distinguished individuals
The Pro-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) Dr the Honourable Sir David Li Kwok Po will confer Honorary University Fellowships upon five distinguished individuals at a ceremony on September 28, 2016 (Wednesday).

Honorary University Fellowships are conferred to individuals in recognition of their contributions to the University and society. The five distinguished individuals to be conferred at the Presentation Ceremony are:

Mrs Margaret LEUNG KO May Yee
Professor Frederick MA Si Hang
Mr MAN Cheuk Fei
The Honourable Abraham SHEK Lai Him
Mr WONG Kai Man

Details of the Honorary University Fellowship Presentation Ceremony:
Date: September 28, 2016 (Wednesday)
Time: 5:30pm
Venue: Rayson Huang Theatre, University Main Campus

HKU Honorary University Fellowships website: http://www4.hku.hk/honfellows/.

For media enquiries, please contact HKU Communications and Public Affairs Office:
Ms Melanie Wan, Senior Manager (Media), Tel: 2859 2600 / Email: melwkwan@hku.hk); or Ms Rhea Leung, Manager (Media), Tel：2857 8555 / email：rhea.leung@hku.hk).

HKU ecologists reveal causes of butterfly diversity in HK’s first urban park butterfly study
Hong Kong is home to a dazzling diversity of over 250 butterfly species, many of which can be found during a casual walk through urban parks in the city. Dr Timothy Bonebrake, Assistant Professor at the School of Biological Sciences, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and his PhD student Mr Toby Tsang, set out into the urban wilderness to find out how parks serve as a habitat for butterflies. Their recent research published in the journal Landscape Ecology revealed that butterfly diversity and species in local urban parks are attributed by both environmental factors and spatial properties.

Dr Bonebrake and Mr Tsang will meet the media to elaborate the relevance of the environment and disturbances in urban parks to butterfly diversity and make recommendations on park design to improve the habitats. Details of the media briefing are as below:

Date:   September 29, 2016 (next Thursday)
Time/Activity/Venue:
10:50    Gathering at the main entrance of the Main Building, Main Campus, Pokfulam, HKU (Map)
11:00    Photo taking at Main Building
11:15    Press briefing at Conference Room, Room 6N-11, Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building

Media enquiry:
Communication and Public Affairs Office Ms Rhea Leung (Tel: 2857 8555/ 9022 7446; email: rhea.leung@hku.hk)
Faculty of Science Ms Cindy Chan (Tel: 3917 5286/ 6703 0212; email: cindycst@hku.hk)

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 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)

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 tradition of porcelain making and decoration in China is well known 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.