The buzz

The South China Morning Post's opinion pages recently published a thought-provoking piece by Going Out contributor Hamish McKenzie in which he argued our city is pretty much a cultural desert.

He blamed Confucianism (which stresses obedience), our education system (which focuses on rote learning) and the free market (which emphasises generating wealth) for leaving arts and culture little room to thrive.

Despite this, McKenzie reached an interesting conclusion - and one Going Out agrees with: ultimately, this doesn't matter, as Hong Kong still has so much to recommend it. More importantly, he acknowledged the small communities who work hard to bring us some good live music, some great art, some excellent films and some beautiful stage shows.

With this in mind, The Buzz would this week like to celebrate some of these small communities that bring entertainment and culture to our city, often in the face of public indifference and often without much concern for making a quick buck.

For starters, Hong Kong has produced some first-class urban artists - just check out the work around Causeway Bay and Central. If you missed the 'Brick The Wall' exhibition by local duo Start From Zero which wound up at Central's Ufo Gallery last week, there's still time to catch the 'Primary' exhibition by the Graphic Airlines collective which finishes on November 17 at Above Second Gallery in Sai Ying Pun.

Designer Michael Lau is widely credited as the founder of the urban vinyl style in the designer toy movement, and his limited-edition figurines often fetch ridiculous prices on international auction websites. Starting on November 16 at Times Square, Lau will display his latest collection until December 26, plus a selection of his earlier works until December 31 (see event preview on back page).