Hong Kong’s ‘Chubby Hearts’ art installation organiser says it hopes project will spread message of love in city and enhance space
- ‘Especially for Chinese people, as a society, we seldom really express ourselves and say I love you,’ says event director about motivation behind artwork
- Anya Hindmarch-designed giant heart-shaped balloons will float in Central’s Statue Square Gardens and elsewhere from Valentine’s Day until February 24
Love is in the air, literally, in Hong Kong with giant hearts floating in Central and other parts of the city becoming an insta-hit among visitors.
But organisers of the “Chubby Hearts” art installation in the city, the project’s first exhibition outside Britain, said they hoped the project could go beyond selfies and serve to spread the message of love in the community.
Anya Hindmarch, the British designer behind the giant heart-shaped balloon set to float in Central’s Statue Square Gardens from Valentine’s Day until February 24, said the piece was meant to be placemaking art.
“It’s an art piece within the landscape, and if you look at the heart now, it’s incredible with all that architecture around it, it very much just becomes part of the place that it’s in,” she said.
Hindmarch, known for her tongue-in-cheek handbags, accessories, and stores under her eponymous label across the world, previously displayed the Chubby Hearts project in her home country’s capital in 2018, 2019 and 2022.
The Hong Kong installation, brought to the city on invitation from the Hong Kong Design Centre, is four times larger than the previous editions.
“It’s not an easy project. It looks easy, but it’s hard,” said Sam Lam Mei-wah, the centre’s projects director.