Top art exhibitions and displays to check out in Hong Kong

Jewellery artist Cindy Chao is exhibiting her 10th Annual Butterfly piece, the ‘2023 Black Label Masterpiece I Amour Butterfly Brooch’, at Opera Gallery. Featuring overlapping wings that look like two butterflies merging into one, this stunning piece almost 3,000 diamonds and gems.

Is it possible for humans to embody, or fully understand, the mind of an animal? If the answer is yes, then how is consciousness defined? Hong Kong-based artist duo Zheng Mahler has taken philosopher Thomas Nagel’s 1974 essay ‘What is it like to be a bat?’ as the foundation for this exhibition, and created a large-scale video installation. In a first-person perspective, the viewer transforms from a human into a bat and journeys around a Mui Wo that has been rendered in psychedelic colours.

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Focused on nurturing a new generation of talents and enhancing public awareness of local Hong Kong artists, The Collectible Art Fair will feature over 200 artists and Hong Kong Art School (HKAS) alumni, showcasing more than 300 works across various media, including paintings, ceramics, installations, photography, and video.

Using bright, bold colours, Francesco Lietti captures the frenetic energy of entering a metropolis like Hong Kong. The two-dimensional paintings are elevated by his use of magazine and newspaper clippings, which make for a nice visual surprise when spotted. In fact, the majority of this body of work should be viewed up close to reveal little details amongst the skyscrapers and hills. Lietti’s Hong Kong is vibrant, compact, and energetic – and we think this makes for a great reflection of the city.

See a full collection of all 12 zodiac head sculptures which were part of the grand fountain within the Yuanmingyuan, a large imperial garden built in 1707 that was used by Chinese royalty as a summer resort for more than 150 years.

The exhibition also shows the best of East-meets-West in art and architecture, such as a hydro-mechanical astronomical clock tower; beautifully painted enamel pieces; and animal paintings by the Italian Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione, who had also designed the 12 zodiac bronze heads.

Chinese artist Xie Qi plays with the motifs of shame and intimacy, which she sees as being on the opposite ends of a spectrum. There is something about human shapes lurking in Xie Qi’s dark, murky colours that makes the viewer want to dive in more.

Pink Diamond Too marks Jonathan Casella’s first solo exhibition in Asia, reflecting the artist’s personal experiences through his ongoing Doublestar series. All 11 pieces on show are brand new and created this year, including paintings that incorporate found images and photography of flowers from California. 

Korean digital design company d’strict heads to Hong Kong with Arte M, a special digital art show showcasing selected highlights from its renowned immersive media art exhibition Arte Museum.

Open from now to January 7, 2024, at K11 HACC, Arte M takes on the theme of 'Eternal Nature' and consists of four individual spaces displaying unique media artworks that reinterpret elements and nature. From the life cycle of flowers and crashing swells to boundlessly stretching seashore and the tropical rainforest, the works will take audiences on a surreal immersive experience through a combination of visual effects, sensuous sound, and elegant aromas.

Following its 15-month showcase at K11 HACC, the exhibition is expected to relocate to 11 Skies as a permanent exhibition with more works added to the collection in a much larger space. If you can't wait that long, get your tickets to the current show now.

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The ‘Gazing at Sanxingdui’ exhibition will showcase new archaeological finds from the Sanxingdui site in Sichuan, many of which have been unearthed recently between 2020 and 2022. See 120 bronze, jade, gold, and pottery pieces dating 2,600 to 4,500 years during the showcase – most of these are being exhibited outside Sichuan for the first time.

Sai Kung Hoi Arts Festival returns for its second edition from November 15 to January 14, merging art, culture, nature, and exploration. Last year, the event was held across Yim Tin Tsai and Sharp Island, but this time, Kau Sai Chau and High Island have been added to the list, making it a total of four islands that will host 18 artworks.

British artist Mr Doodle is back once again – this time bringing his art all the way to space. This new batch of artworks tell the narrative of how Mr and Mrs Doodle travel through various whimsical worlds in space. In addition to the 50 new paintings created for Mr Doodle in Space, Cox also plans to doodle the gallery space itself, so keep your eyes peeled.

If you've been around the harbourfront area at Tsim Sha Tsui lately, you might have noticed the huge swimming pool installation located outside the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMOA). Created by Hong Kong artist Chan Wai-lap, the installation – titled, Some of Us are Looking at the Stars – is part of HKMOA's Harbour Wonder exhibition, which also features a set of six art installations by local artist Tsoi Wai-kuen. Standing four-metre-tall and 11-metre-long, Chan's installation invites audiences to step into a fantasy world that draws on his personal memories and experiences of swimming pools, while exploring themes of public and private spaces. The installation plays with light, sound, and even the weather to create an ever-changing scene for those who step inside. 

Meanwhile, Tsoi's set of six art installations – titled, A symphony of delights – takes inspiration from iconic buildings and their exterior designs on both sides of Victoria Harbour, including the Cultural Centre, HKCEC, and IFC. Sitting at Art Square in the forecourt of HKMoA, the installations come in both dynamic and static form, acting as playful 'landmarks' for people to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery amidst the hustle and bustle of the city. 

Showcasing approximately 50 artefacts, this exhibition will display a range of European and Chinese masterpieces that reflect the eye of an eminent private collector and connoisseur from Hong Kong. The exhibit will be split into three sections – the first showing Ming Dynasty furniture and the third dedicated to jewels from the Qing court. The main section will highlight 18th- and 19th-century Western jewellery, showing an evolution of styles from the Baroque, Victorian, Belle Époque, and Edwardian eras.

The exhibition features 42 traditional Chinese paintings jointly created by Professor Jao Tsung-i and four masters of the Lingnan school of painting: Zhao Shao-ang, Li Xiong-cai, Guan Shan-yue, and Yang Shan-sum. Collaborations within such paintings are rather rare, and all five of these artists are now deceased, so their works are valued for their historical significance and as a record of the intellectual exchanges between literati of the past.

The Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) will soon showcase 52 pieces from the National Gallery, London – the first time these prestigious paintings will be exhibited in our city. There’ll be artworks by some of the most beloved artists and masters, including Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Goya, Turner, Constable, Monet, and Van Gogh. 

Created by American architectural group Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Joyful Trees (Arbores Laetae), is an art project at Oil! featuring 16 Chinese Junipers, three of which are placed on turning planters at a 10-degree tilt. As the trees rotate, the movement channels a rhythmic rustle and evokes discourse about human’s role in nature from Anthropocene’s perspective. Planting a movable landscape, the installation also reinterprets nature as ever-changing and never static, creating an unusual artistic perspective.

The three-dimensional installation can be viewed from eye level on the ground; by the adjacent pedestrian ramp; on the footbridge across the site; from the gallery window in the Oi! Glassie building; or even from the skyscrapers above.