The art of discovery

Our fingers and thumbs - useful for typing, texting, and holding things - also add up to 10. This number equals the destinations around Hong Kong featured on this month's Aedas Secret Spaces tour.

The Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation, which organised the tour, asked professional artists to transform 10public locations across Hong Kong into art 'happenings'.

Each location featured a different art form, such as a painting, fashion design, or even dance - waiting to be discovered by visitors.

The tour helped integrate art into the community, and showed the relationship between nature, architecture, and art forms.

It also encouraged interaction between visitors, the art project space, and the artists. Free workshops by the artists have helped to make the art experience much more personal ...

Emmanuel Hui

Krystal Sanchez

Mirror, mirror

The first destination of the Aedas tour began at Shek Kip Mei Creative Arts Centre, with a thought-provoking question - we camouflage who we are, but does it mean that we are not who we are?

The exhibit is in a room with the walls full of mirrors. Yet they are not like the magic mirror from the story, Snow White, which answers questions such as, 'Who is the fairest of them all?'. These mirrors are covered with images of how artist Kiwi Liu sees herself and wants to be seen.

Like the different images of Liu on show, people have various sides. Depending on the situation, we become like chameleons - changing to the right colour for survival.

However, being flexible doesn't mean that we can't be ourselves. What Liu hopes to achieve is to let viewers discover their own images through her works.

Liu leads a workshop, during which visitors print pictures on T-shirts and bags. Using winter green oil and laser-printed images, we transformed our T-shirts and bags from looking 'ordinary' into 'artistic'. 'Wow, I can't believe I can be an artist, too!' one participant said. Thanks to Liu's guidance and tips, visitors can now do simple T-shirt art design at home.

Louise Ho

Public v Private

Private Open is displayed in the Green Space on the seventh floor of Shek Kip Mei Creative Arts Centre. Threads, fabrics and optical illusions are used to transform the ordinary space into a 'duality', so viewers can experience art in an innovative way.

Artist Candice Keung Lap-yu wants viewers to have a reflection on Hong Kong's public areas while walking through the fabric corridor.

She says the city's public areas are no longer 'public' - that people can't even sit on the lawn. Those people who dare to try, often get told off and moved on by security guards. This phenomenon, Keung says, is a real loss for Hongkongers.

Emma Tsoi

Let fashion speak

Decision to Conform is an interactive exhibition at Osage Open - two large outdoor spaces in an industrial building - in Kwun Tong. It features inspiring images, films, and sounds.

Finnish artist Aaro Murphy had tried to convey the message (pictured right) that we shouldn't conform to fashion 'norms' set by people around us. Instead, we should take a step backwards and think what we want. This way, our clothes can truly reflect our true self.

Apart from the striking meaning of the exhibition, Murphy also arranges a post-tour workshop on how to make use of simple materials, like tape and construction paper, to create pieces of wearable art.

Hurry up...

Aedas Secret Spaces has only four days left to go, with Saturday the last day. So don't miss it. For details of the remaining Cantonese and English guided tours, go to http://www.hkyaf.com/projects/PerformingArts/2012/SecretSpacesPublicTou…