I decided to go and have a look at Simon Birch’s (one of Hong Kong’s leading contemporary artists) new multimedia installation project.

This from the programme notes referring to that old chestnut Joseph Campbell’s ‘Hero’s Journey’: “In Simon Birch’s intricate, labyrinthine installation project, Hope & Glory, [the] first step of the hero’s journey …. is enacted on myriad levels, across time and space. It is enacted when we step into the immersive environment of the installation; in the memories of wonder and fear that flash through us; in the spectacular collisions of history and imagination that implode around us; and in the multi-sensory pathways that lead us precariously towards the artist’s vision.”

I am so glad I didn’t read the programme before going around the space otherwise I would have had the raging hump (a technical term). As it was, my initial reaction was: “This is what would happen if a 13 year-old could graduate from art school.” Then something happened.

I started to have a reaction to everything I came across. In no particular order: uh?, ooh, bollocks (I inexplicably become foul-mouthed and indignant in contemporary art exhibitions), nonsense, great, shite (told you), cheeky, teenage bedroom, she’s nice, so’s that horse, awwww. Not deep insights, I’ll grant you. But reactions none the less.

More from the programme: “The paradox is that (like any circus) the physical materials from which this experience is created are mundane, of the present world: wood and paint, plastic and metal, computers and holograms. What this means, of course, is that the tools to transport ourselves are already here with us. We only need to understand and assemble them in a new way.” So …. there you have it: apparently you can make interesting things from stuff.

Back in the darkness, a fleet of Star Wars spacecraft was flying from a screen where a couple of blokes were amusing themselves in Halo over a skateboard half-pipe towards a white pile of rubbish surrounded by videos of people covered in balloons and foam blocks.

Many of the works (or “cells” as the programme would have it) were disarmingly personal about their influences – Star Wars, Superman, Halo. So I was surprised when I heard Birch talk about some of the thinking behind the work being a reflection on the hopes and eventual negativity of imperial dreams: Simon Birch talks about Hope and Glory.

In fact, there are supposedly three layers of inspiration – the Hero’s Journey, the hopes and negative impact of Empire, and Circuses (‘cos they were Victorian too). Sorry, I got the circus bit but the rest passed me by. Maybe I’m thick. Or maybe that’s the sort of thing you need to write in proposals to get a government grant for contemporary art these days.

Apart from the exhibits, what’s really interesting about the whole thing was the collaborative process involving around 100 people that it took to put it together. Birch gives you a blow-by-blow account of this at monkeymodified.blogspot.com

This is certainly a major art event for Hong Kong and deserves your support. And it’s not-for-profit. Go and have your own reactions.

It runs at Artistree, 1/F Cornwall House, Taikoo Place, Island East until 30th May. Open 10am to 8pm. Entry is free.

These four galleries on the subjects of Fashion, Film, Food and Photography are a delight. Each take a very different interpretive direction but share a commonly refreshing and visually stimulating approach.

‘Fashion – Shopping for Identity’ is characterised by colourful swathes of cloth as a backdrop to exploring the shifting identities of Singaporean women from the 1950s to 1970s. You can touch the fabrics and admire the intricacies of embroidery on a Kebaya.

Walking into the ‘Film & Wayang – Scripting a New Life’ you feel like you have wandered into your new favourite cinema. Comfortable sofas allow you to enjoy some iconic early films choreographed across three screens.

Beyond this area you can explore the connections with the development of Chinese opera and cinema as popular entertainment in Singapore.

Without resorting to pastiche or unrealistic recreations of street food stalls, ‘Food – Eating on the Street’ makes exploring Singaporean food fun. Working with the colonial interior, a series of large plinths carry mixed media about some of the favourite dishes of the city state and how to make them.

In the next room, you can explore the individual ingredients and spices that make Singapore cooking so special.

You can even sniff them.

The last of the four galleries – ‘Photography – Framing the Family’ – is by far the most emotive and once again proves the power of ordinary people’s stories.

A series of portraits greet you as you enter a stately room whose windows are draped with muslin – as if the owners of a country house have left for the winter. But you need to look behind the portraits (literally) to find out more.

Here, one screen per portrait focusses on a social aspect of Singapore’s social history. For instance, there is a lovely account of the challenges of an early interracial relationship between an Australian woman and a Singaporean man.

Another screen focusses on the ‘Black and White Amahs’ and one British man’s touching recollections of the woman who looked after him when he was a boy.

In the next room, you can explore the development of photography in Singapore and how it helped record family life.

All in all, the Singapore Living Galleries in themselves make visiting the National Museum of Singapore worthwhile and rewarding … and that’s even before you get to the cafe in the bright, expansive atrium, the museum shop and the Singapore History Gallery.

The National Museum of Singapore is at 93 Stanford Rd and is open 10am – 8pm daily. Admission is S$10 for adults and S$5 for seniors, children and students.

MuseumDesign.Asia was invited along to the opening of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s (V&A) Vivienne Westwood exhibition, A Life In Fashion (thanks to Fred of Sugar Design). Sponsored by Swire Properties the V&A (one of the world’s foremost art and design museums), the exhibition brings more than 140 dress and clothing designs of the high priestess of Punk, and 70 objects from the V&A collection, as well as Westwood’s personal archive.

According to Mr Stephan Spurr, Director and General Manager of Swire Properties, “This is the first time in Hong Kong that an exhibition has been dedicated to a globally influential fashion designer and in the hope that the general public will embrace this showcase of the lively, thought-provoking, unconventional and outrageously elegant, we are offering admission to the exhibition free of charge.”

Re-engineered into the exhibition space by Marc & Chantal Design, the exhibition is broadly divided into 2 zones – ‘The Early Years’ and ‘Maturity’ – organised under 26 themes, encompassing the designer’s works from the 1970’s to the 21st century. Artifacts include the iconic ‘Destroy’ T-shirt and the famous blue mock-croc platform shoes which Naomi Campbell wore when she fell on the catwalk in 1993.

It was great to see such a world-class showcase of design come to Hong Kong. Any fashion student could get a lifetime’s inspiration from this collection.

Almost as exciting was to see the ArtisTree space in Cornwall House, Taikoo Place, for the first time. It’s a space that deserves this calibre of event.

The V&A website has an excellent overview of the exhibition including 360 degree views. The exhibition continues until 31st January 2009 at ArtisTree, 3/F Cornwall House, Taikoo Place, Island East.

Subtitled ‘160 years of Hong Kong-French common heritage & perspectives’, this temporary exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre looks primarily at the influence of French architectural style on the city’s built heritage.

Designed by Marc & Chantal Design, the exhibition is divided chronologically into three sections – 1840-90s (Arrival), 1900-45 (Expansion) and 1945-2008 (Renewal) – and is physically arranged using rectangular plinths. These carry graphics panels, architectural models and object showcases.

At high level, a rectangular tensile structure delineates the three periods below and acts as a projection surface for historic images.

The rear wall of the exhibition acts as a backdrop, with a series of graphic images and a map showing the urban spread of Hong Kong through the eras, and the concurrent expansion of French architectural influence.

At this point I must confess an interest as I edited the exhibition text based on the research done by Professor Ho of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

If I were to have one criticism of the exhibition it is that, whilst it does a good job in tracing the existence of French-influenced buildings in Hong Kong, it feels like a missed opportunity to give a sense of how the two communities interacted. In other words, it gives a good survey of French bricks and mortar in Hong Kong, but not of what is surely the real cement of that relationship – the way French and Hong Kong people worked and socialised together.

The exhibition continues until the 1st January 2009 at the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre, Kowloon Park. Admission is free.

China’s achievement in conducting its first walk in space is a milestone in the nation’s manned space programme. So it was with high expectations that I lined up with other members of the public to visit the special exhibition on the event at the Hong Kong Science Museum.

First impressions were disappointing. Walls upon walls of photographs promised a didactic, flag-waving experience. If these photographs had been treated as a proper photographic exhibition with images selected for their aesthetic quality that would have been one thing. But wall to ceiling images of average artistic merit told a blow-by-blow account of the mission. An introductory film telling this story would have been so much more engaging.

Then came the objects, poorly displayed in drab showcases.

But then things started to pick up. I defy anyone (or any male, anyway) not to be excited by a real space suit – however it is displayed.

The re-entry capsule acted as a centrepiece for the final area which included the parachute.

Seeing a real object that has been key to a major event always produces the thrill of authenticity which is hard to replicate.

In the end, the low-key nature of the displays was actually rather endearing. I came away feeling like I had been transported back to an exhibition on the 1970s Apollo mission. And it was none the worse for all that. The exhibition continues until the 15th December.