Looking for the hottest arts and cultural shows and exhibitions to fill your social calendar? Look no further than these 11 event highlights in Hong Kong that are not to be missed this June.
Karen Mok: The Ultimate Grand Slam Show
11 – 13 Jun
Iconic Hong Kong pop singer Karen Mok bids farewell to performing on stage and moves on to the next chapter of her life in the final stint of her three-year tour to 40 cities worldwide. Held over three nights within the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon, her last large-scale concert serves as the star’s last hurrah in her decade-long career in the showbiz industry. Though it remains uncertain whether the artist will be retiring from performing completely, it is definite that this concert would be the last of its kind for the megastar and is surely a historic event that is not to be missed.
Price: From HK$380
Location: Hong Kong Coliseum, Hung Hom Bay
For more information: sunconcert.com
Music After Work @ Xiqu Centre
Until 24 Jun
If you’re seeking a relaxing end to a busy Thursday, perhaps a visit to West Kowloon’s most prominent arts and culture venue, Xiqu Centre, will offer you just the escape you need. Presenting a weekly slew of live musical performances by the likes of local jazz bands, folk singers and songwriters, the live ensemble will take place at the venue’s front entrance, generously offering the public a soundscape of lyrical tunes and sweet harmonics to unwind to.
Price: Free entry
Location: Xiqu Centre entrance, Tsim Sha Tsui
For more information: westkowloon.hk
Hi! Flora, Fauna
Until 30 Jun
One of the oldest zoological and botanical centres in the world, and the city’s oldest park, the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens provides the lush backdrop for an art project that exhorts visitors to explore their relationship with nature. ‘Hi! Flora, Fauna’ exhibits 17 different artists and groups using various media, including painting, photography, sculpting and installation. The experience is further enlivened with a collaborative audio experience by Hong Kong New Music Ensemble.
Price: Free entry
Location: Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens, Central
For more information: lcsd.gov.hk
Calligraphy Rhapsody: Retrospective Exhibition of Georges Mathieu
Until 4 Jul
Co-presented by non-profit organisation K11 Art Foundation (KAF) and the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong & Macau at K11 MUSEA. Calligraphy Rhapsody is the largest Georges Mathieu exhibition in Hong Kong that marks the French artist’s centenary. Curated by Catherine Kwai, featuring 14 oil paintings loaned from important private collectors, three of which span 6-meters wide and were specially created for Mathieu’s Grand Palais retrospective in Paris in 1978.
Price: Free entry
Location: Shop 605, 6/F, K11 Musea, Tsim Sha Tsui
For more information: k11musea.com
Yim Tin Tsai Arts Festival 2021
Until 16 Jul
Organised by the Tourism Commission, the Yim Tin Tsai Arts Festival continues its three-year pilot scheme to instigate a new experience of art through the integration of culture, heritage and nature in everyday life. The festival takes on a virtual space to showcase its varied artworks in digital format, inviting viewers to immerse in a 360-degree virtual reality exhibition that encapsulates the unique natural landscape and history of the Sai Kung village.
Price: Free
Location: Online
For more information: yimtintsaiartsfestival.hk
Between the Lines: The Legends of Hong Kong Printing
Until 26 Jul
This fascinating exhibition presents stories and illustrations of traditional printing techniques and movable type tools, as well as works and designs by emerging young designers who have assumed the mantle of reviving and modernising the craft of letter printing. Curators at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum train a special spotlight this month on the disappearing art form of lithography.
Price: Free entry
Location: Thematic Gallery 5, 1/F, Hong Kong Heritage Museum
For more information: heritagemuseum.gov.hk
Chinese Surrealism
Until 7 Aug
In association with the month-long Le French May arts festival, the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong & Macau partners with Alisan Fine Arts to present Chinese Surrealism. The exhibition of contemporary Chinese ink paintings and sculptures focuses on dreamscapes and explorations of the unconscious mind – imagery more commonly associated with Western names such as Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. Young Hong Kong female artists dominate a six-strong group selected for their impressive interpretation of surrealism through a Chinese lens.
Price: Free entry
Location: Alisan Fine Arts, Aberdeen
For more information: alisan.com.hk
Colour The World
7 Jun
D2 Place, together with the French May Arts Festival, proudly present an extraordinary art exhibition that showcases two talented Hong Kong-based artists, The French Girl (Caroline Tronel) and Rainbo in a joint collaboration to bring French and Hong Kong culture together in an extraordinary art journey — co-creating a giant 10m-long mural painting titled Smell of Stars. Other highlights at the event include a series of artworks courtesy of the new knitting brand hoopla.
Price: Free entry
Location: The Garage, G/F, D2 Place TWO
For more information: frenchmay.com
Romeo + Juliet
18 – 20 Jun
The Hong Kong Ballet brings to life one of the most epic love stories of all time, Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet, with a contemporary Hong Kong-inspired twist. In this local iteration of the timeless tale of star-crossed lovers, the duo is caught in a war between rival triad families in the ’60s Hong Kong. The narrative follows their passion and tragedy in a fusion of dance and drama with original choreography by Septime Webre, Prokofiev’s dramatic score, and sumptuous cheongsam costumes.
Price: From HK$140
Location: Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre, Tsim Sha Tsui
For more information: hkballet.com
Curve of Buoyancy
20 Jun
Michelin-starred cultural and social destination Duddell’s lends its contemporary mixed-use space to an exhibition of 16 thought-provoking works owned by four eminent female collectors, including Mimi Brown, Karen Levy and Li Lin. Curve of Buoyancy spans such diverse subjects as Gothic architecture and functional straps in athleisurewear, and is inspired by the curved lightness of Wendell Dayton’s sculpture ‘For Calder’ (1975).
Price: Free entry
Location: Duddell’s, Shanghai Tang Mansion, 1 Duddell St, Central. Website: duddells.co/art/main/en
Jewellery & Gem Asia Hong Kong
24 – 27 Jun
Asia’s most important jewellery event returns this year, albeit in a hybrid of physical and virtual programmes. Occupying 70,000sq.m of event space within the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the gathering of all that glitters lives up to its year-on-year exciting line-up of exhibitors and special events. The fair’s virtual showing, meanwhile, extends from 17 June to 7 July and grants full access to new products, digital events, specials and more.
Price: Free entry
Location: Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai
For more information: hkcec.com