Odd-shaped shocks
THE local art establishment has taken its time accepting installations as art; there was a rumpus two years ago when the Hong Kong Biennial Exhibition failed to contain any installations at all.
So this year's Installation Art Festival is a welcome innovation, even if much of what is going on show is utterly bewildering.
But that, of course, is the great thing about installation art - apart from the sheer shock value, humble household objects and even bits of old rubbish can make their way into galleries and nobody questions it.
May Fung's piece, Eco-Psycho 5 (The Nuclear Masturbation) showing at the Agfa Gallery next month, is a scathing attack on France's resumption of nuclear tests in the Pacific, and features red light bulbs and piles of broken glass.
In January, Keith Tsang Tak-ping will be taking over an abandoned primary school in Rennie's Mill for his piece.
Meanwhile, and best of all, the six artists due to open at the Fringe Gallery today have not, at the time of writing, told Fringe Visual Arts Coordinator Lisa Cheung anything about their exhibits.
She doesn't know whether to expect two tonnes of steel or a pile of TV monitors. With installations of course, anything is possible.
The Youth Arts Festival kicked off yesterday, with exhibitions and events taking place everywhere. Most of the performances are locally grown, but there are a few international contributors too, including Larry Gordon and Mary Cay.
The pair are jointly Village Harmony, a travelling singing workshop that teaches the kind of traditional music sung in villages all over the world.
Their specialities include American shape-note music, songs from the Balkans, and African chants and anthems. For children who like to sing the workshops are a chance to try out new harmonies, rhythms and languages. Workshops run from November 11, and there is a session for adults on November 25. Call 2813-8496 for booking details.
If you have already invested in a 1996 diary, pencil in January 13-15 when the Stuttgart Ballet are bringing their version of Sleeping Beauty to Sha Tin Town Hall. It is not often we get such a major European company performing such a classic so this is worth noting.
This was choreographer and artistic directors Marcia Haydee's first attempt at choreography, and when it was first staged in 1987, the critics agreed she'd got the knack for it. Her version nods firmly in the direction of the original 1880 version choreographed by Marius Petipa with what the critics call 'astounding original detail'.
