Media

HKU weekly notice

15 Sep 2017

 

UMAG exhibitions
1. Fibres of Life: IKAT Textiles of the Indonesian Archipelago Following the footsteps of a vanishing craft

Period: Now till November 26, 2017 (Sunday)

Looking at Peter Ten Hoopen’s Pusaka Collection from a scholarly point of view, it is worth acknowledging how it illustrates the concept of ‘unity in diversity’, which the young state of Indonesia chose as its motto upon independence. Here, the interwoven-ness of styles from its islands matter, as do their marked individuality and idiosyncrasies. Moreover, it allows for the study not just of the people’s finery, but also of their daily attire, which is lamentably absent in most collections.

An ironic illustration of the effect of this collecting method comes from Ili Mandiri on Flores. As its dark red bridewealth sarongs have been prized and venerated by the local population, this is what most sophisticated collections have aimed to obtain. The simple but lovely indigo sarongs for everyday use have been almost entirely ignored by collectors. Hence they nearly always end up worn to shreds and very few survive — rarer now than the precious and respected, hence eagerly collected, bridewealth sarongs.

What knowledge is conserved about ikat textiles and their use in the Indonesian archipelago consists primarily of the records of missionary and scientific fieldwork, predominantly compiled by non-Indonesians. The coverage is thin— many weaving regions are covered by only one or two sources, and several regions have never been studied in any detail. Much traditional knowledge is being lost, especially in the more remote island regions in the Indonesian archipelago, which require concerted effort if any trace of their culture is to survive.

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

2. Hong Kong by Guo Zhiquan: Cityscapes in Ink

Period: Now till November 12, 2017 (Sunday)

Born in Leshan (Sichuan Province, China) in 1942, Guo graduated from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and has exhibited widely in China. This is his first solo show in Hong Kong. Guo is a member of the Henan Artists Association, the Chinese Academy of Poetry, Painting and Calligraphy, and he is affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, as well as the East & West Artists Association. He worked as the Dean of the Fine Arts Department of Luoyang University in 1986, where he specialised in landscape paintings, as well as bird-and-flower work and art criticism.

Guo is regularly the subject matter of art critics. For example, in 1993 Muxun LU, a renowned Chinese contemporary theorist, wrote an article titled ‘Boundless World Shaped by the Soul of Mountains and Rivers’, engaging with the artist’s exemplary landscape paintings. Subsequently, Guo exhibited at the National Art Museum of China and Tsinghua University, among other more academic institutions, and his work has been reviewed and praised by many established critics.

Venue: 2/F Fung Ping Shan 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
Tel/Email: (852) 2241 5500 (General Enquiry) / museum@hku.hk
Admission: Free
Website: www.umag.hku.hk/en/

Media enquiries:
UMAG Communications Officer Miss Elena Cheung, Tel: (852) 2241 5512, Email: elenac@hku.hk
UMAG Programme Assistant Miss Chelsea Choi, Tel: (852) 2241 5509, Email: cchelsea@hku.hk