Oval Atrium, IFC Mall Until Jun 15
Like all collectors, Leon Ko Sai-tseung has a major obsession - antique perfume bottles in his case.
'I can't explain it,' says the prolific composer, whose works include the award-winning scores for The Actors' Family musical The Good Person of Szechwan (2003) and Hong Kong Arts Festival commission The Legend of the White Snake (2006). His theme song for the film Perhaps Love (2005), co-written with Peter Kam Pui-tat, won a Golden Horse Award in 2006.
'I want to have them all ... bottles from a particular period or of a particular brand, theme or colour. [My obsession] is almost like a fetish,' he says with a laugh.
Now on show at the IFC Mall are 100 antique perfume bottles, some dating back to the 1920s, from his vast collection of 2,000. 'I want to introduce these bottles to the Hong Kong public because they are very rare and beautiful works of art,' Ko (above) says.
And to give the exhibition a dramatic twist, he has divided it into 13 'scenes', using his collection of perfume bottles to tell the story of a search for true love.
'I don't want this to be just a showcase of what I have. Instead, I'm taking this opportunity to combine my two passions - theatre and perfume bottles - to create a journey,' Ko says. 'The story is very romantic ... but we are dealing with perfume after all.'