It is not surprising that Cantopop crowds the record collections of most Hong Kong households, as the genre exposes the nature of this city. Cantopop is sumptuous and hollow: it nourishes one's primal senses but leaves no mark on the psyche. The city embodies a similar paradox: it is rich and poor - affluent in material life but spiritually impoverished. This is not a recent revelation - the economic downturn only galvanised public belief in a truth that has long been shunned as irrelevant cynicism. As Hong Kong prepares to brave a future that has no room for quick bucks through speculation, we have finally discovered we have evolved into a species in want of everything other than greed and luck. We have long taken for granted the notion of being not only prosperous but economically superior to our regional neighbours. Finding ourselves in a panic is a spectacle that warrants being documented. And that is exactly what a series of visual arts exhibitions at the Hong Kong Arts Centre aims to do. As part of the centre's annual Festival NOW project, the exhibitions elaborate on 'lack', the central theme to this year's works. That is not only lack of money, it is lack of higher values: creativity, faith, initiative, hope. The centrepiece exhibition is My Poor Dear Hong Kong, a six-part multi-media show that looks into the concept of poverty in a local context. For the first, Poor But Stylish, the centre commissioned five fashion designers, three of whom ventured far from their professional endeavours. By juxtaposing mirrors with enlarged fashion shots, Toby Lam invites the common people to project themselves into a glamorous existence. Meanwhile, Janson To constructs a mattress stuffed with plain white underwear, a garment that has never featured highly in fashion's cool vocabulary. Kim Lam goes the other way, using a revolving strobe to project hip terms on to white walls - a homage to man's unlimited desire to be fashionable; yet, the non-stop projection also hints at a fashion victim's helplessness in the face of ever-changing trends. Fashion designer Silvio Chan masterminded Poor But Cool, manufacturing headwear using cheap material such as PVC or sheet plastic. Less abstract is Little Stories About Poor Hong Kong, a series of words and pictures from renowned local writers and cartoonists. Leung Ping-kwan's take on the adaptability of the Hong Kong homeowner - how he sees silver linings as his flat falls apart - is hilarious satire. The masterstroke is Lorraine Lo's In Love?, a portrayal of a city stuffed with Mickey Mouses and a Japanese cartoon character - a jab at mindless infatuation with these consumer icons. Poor Tech, an interactive multi-media work by four artists, is an ambitious production. It tries to make a statement with a hi-tech programme about how technology profits the few and alienates the masses. Taking cues from the classic Chinese legend Butterfly Lovers, the work sees the doomed lovers making a pact to reunite in 1999. Taking the theme more literally is Down To Earth Fun, a corner in which Fine Arts students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong teach regular schoolchildren how to create art using basic ingredients such as bin-liners and recycled paper. Amid such mayhem, Peace Of Mind is an anomaly: a collection of beautiful paintings of sparsely populated Chinese rural idylls. These works by the late Wong Ping-kwok are the antithesis to the vibrant cynicism that dominates the other sections. Wong's work shows 'lack' is never an excuse for the creative: disabled and impoverished, he spent most of his life living in spartan conditions, and his disability meant working was a hugely taxing experience. Yet Wong's pictures never betrayed a hint of angst or loathing. Poor he might have been, but the artist was definitely affluent in spirit and soul. Meanwhile, even though not part of the My Poor Dear Hong Kong masterplan, Poor Fashionably Rich could fit easily into the scheme of things. The collection of photographs by veteran photojournalist Vincent Yu Wai-kin are snaps of glamorous events, yet hardly praise for the ballroom culture. Instead of portraying the socialites as models for society, Yu's monochrome shots of tai-tais eating, fumbling and generally being bored bring the glittering facade tumbling down - the vacant stares in their eyes say a thousand things about the destitution of the modern bourgeoisie. In sharp contrast to Yu's record of the nouveau riche's shallow indulgences, Bouncing Around is about being poor but productive. If the exhibits look like children's doodlings, it is because they are. The works are from Umah International Primary School, an institute so hard-up that it cannot afford a specific teacher for arts lessons, so the painting were done in an art camp jointly organised with the Arts Centre and the Garden Stream Christian Artist Fellowship - a perfect example of accomplishment against adversity. The most simple exhibition is 20/F's Cheap Pleasure. Probably a sarcastic attack on Hong Kong's liking for money, $8,000 worth of 10-cent coins are on show. Irony, however, is never a good bedfellow with vibrant creativity. It might work on a shock basis, but it is not new - a British musical outfit, the KLF, once burned millions of pounds as an artistic statement. Festival NOW 99, at the Arts Centre, Wan Chai, until October 31. Programmes and bookings available at Urbtix outlets. For inquiries, call 2582 0202. The Arts page is edited by Amanda Watson. Fax: 2562 2485