Your Guide to Le French May 2015
The 23rd edition of Le French May takes place May 1 through summer. What’s on? Over 120 events ranging from dance to design, cinema to contemporary tunes. Dan Creffield picks the best of the city’s French culture festival.
Exhibitions
French Invasion
When French artist Invader first daubed the city 13 years ago with his trademark pixelated cartoon characters, the city’s efficient cleaning crews almost immediately removed 90 percent of them. When he came back for the third time in January last year, you guessed it—the same thing happened again. This exhibition of his works will hopefully last longer, and is paired with all-new video, LED and sculpture work.
May 2-17. PMQ, 35 Aberdeen St., Central.
If You Build It…
Le Corbusier—Modern Architectural Giant is the first major Hong Kong retrospective on Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known as Le Corbusier—the Swiss-French architect, urban planner, designer, painter and pioneer of modern architecture. The exhibition covers the full range of Le Corbusier’s oeuvre, from his pioneering modernism to his seminal impact on cities and 20th-century life.
May 5-28. Exhibition Hall, City Hall, 5 Edinburgh Place, Central, 2921-2840. Free.
The Porcelain Throne
The Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres is a legendary porcelain workshop, founded more than three centuries ago. Sèvres: Porcelain of the Kings displays more than 120 porcelain pieces from the factory’s collection. You’ll see remarkable craftsmanship in each and every piece, no matter if it was made in 1738 or last month.
Jun 10-Aug 16. Hong Kong University Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam Road,
Shek Tong Tsui. Free.
Sèvres, Porcelain of the Kings
Musée de Macau
Macau didn’t become a money center just in the last two decades. In the 18th century, Macau was an essential stopping-off point of the trade routes between east and west. The city’s history is being commemorated in From Lorient to the Orient at the Museum of Macau. Check out textiles, costumes, oil paintings, prints and porcelain that show how the French East India Company and the port of Lorient in southern Brittany contributed to our sister SAR’s rise.
May 30-Aug 30 (closed Mon). Museum of Macao, 112 Praceta do Museu de Macau, (+853) 2835-7911,
www.macaumuseum.gov.mo. $15.
Music & Dance
Back to the Roots
Hip hop ballet The Roots stars 11 dancers who form Compagnie Accrorap. With a background in street dance, circus performance and theater work, the group merges street culture with fine arts into
a single performance.
May 16-17, 8:15pm. Grand Theatre, Cultural Centre, 10 Salisbury Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui, 2734-2009. $80-380 from www.urbtix.hk.
The Roots speak out (Photo: Joao Garcia)