Media

HKU weekly notice (from October 1 to October 8, 2016)

30 Sep 2016

 

LUI Che Woo Prize – Prize for World Civilisation
Positive Energy Prize Laureate Public Lecture
Jimmy Carter (James Earl “Jimmy” Carter, Jr.), the 39th president of the United States, is awarded the Positive Energy Prize for all the good work that he and The Carter Center that he established in 1982 have done, which has contributed significantly to the promotion of positive life attitude and enhancement of positive energy in the world.

Mr. James Earl “Chip” Carter, III (son of President Jimmy Carter) and Mr. Curtis Kohlhaas (Chief Development Officer, The Carter Center), representatives of President Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center, will introduce the good work and the contribution in promoting harmony of President Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center, an organisation established by President Jimmy Carter.

Details of the public lecture are as follows:
Date: October 5, 2016 (Wednesday)
Time: 4pm to 5:30pm
Venue: Rayson Huang Theatre, HKU
Co-organiser: The University of Hong Kong

Founded by Dr. LUI Che Woo in 2015, the LUI Che Woo Prize – Prize for World Civilisation is an annual, first of its kind, international, cross-sector and innovative award for advancing world civilisation and inspiring people to build a more harmonious world. Each awardee will receive a cash reward of HK$20 million (equivalent to approximately US$2.56 million), a certificate and a trophy.

Media enquiries, please contact:
Ms. Leaf Wang: (852) 2201 6458  / wanglea@RuderFinnAsia.com

Exhibition at the HKU Main Library refurbished atrium
China through Western Eyes: 16th and 17th Century Titles from The University of Hong Kong Libraries Exhibition

Period:  October 5 to 18, 2016

The Libraries’ collection of Western rare books comprises over 11,700 volumes including the Morrison Collection, a collection from the Rev. Robert Morrison (1782-1834), the first Protestant missionary in China and many that belonged to the Hankow Club Library, a Club founded by the British in 1878. The strength of the Libraries’ Western Rare Book Collection lies principally in its titles on China and the Far East and includes many accounts of early travellers to Peking, particularly those of the Jesuit missionaries who sometimes held a privileged position at the Emperor’s Court long before other Europeans were able to reside in China. Through these rare titles, some of which are, you are invited to travel back in time to appreciate how China was once perceived and understood by the westerners during the Ming and Qing dynasties. 

Details of the Exhibition
Date:       5 October to 18 October 2016
Time:    08:30 – 22:00 (Monday to Friday) / 08:30 – 19:00 (Saturday) / 10:00 – 1900 (Sunday)
                  Closed on Public Holidays
Venue:    2/F Atrium/Exhibition Area of the Main Library, HKU

For more information about the Western Rare Book Collection, please visit the Special Collections website at http://lib.hku.hk/hkspc/.

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.

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.umag.hku.hk/en/

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.