Swire Properties Kicks Off Its Arts Month with Notating Beauty That Moves – Music at an Exhibition

This exhibition is co-curated by Hong Kong artists Samson Young and Yang Yeung,

Running from 3 to 29 March, Notating Beauty That Moves – Music at an Exhibition is co-curated by artist and composer Samson Young – who represented Hong Kong at the 2017 Venice Biennale, and Yang Yeung – Founding Member and Artistic Director of soundpocket, a renowned artistic group in Hong Kong that promotes music and sound as art forms. This month-long exhibition will showcase 36 pieces of artwork ranging from musical scores, works-on-paper and drawings, to moving images, texts, photography and paintings. The collection has been sourced from around the world, and highlights include works by avant-garde composers Cathy Berberian, John Cage, Mark Applebaum, Morgan O’Hara and Samson Young.

Complementing the exhibition are eight music programmes featuring 13 concerts, which include four new works commissioned by Hong Kong Sinfonietta. Feature groups include Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the acclaimed Australian group Ensemble Offspring; as well as artists such as renowned British mezzo-soprano Lore Lixenberg and pianist Colleen Lee.

HIGHLIGHTS: 

• Aphasia (2011):
  • A nine-minute video documenting one of Mark Applebaum’s performances;
  • In Gesturing Motion (10 and 11 March), special guests Chou Shu-yi – the Taiwanese dance artist and Karen Yu – on percussion, will reinterpret this work;

• Aria (1958)
  • A printed score by John Cage that denotes different singing styles through colourful wavy lines; 

• Stripsody (1966)
  • One of the most famous graphical scores by avant-garde composer Cathy Berberian that visualises music in a non-traditional way;
  • In Vocalizing Motion (17 and 18 March), the renowned British mezzo-soprano Lore Lixenberg will  perform both John Cage’s Aria (Hong Kong composer Alain Chiu’s version) and Cathy Berberian’s Stripsody; 

• The Sonatas and Interludes
  • A printed score and one of John Cage's piano masterpieces;
  • In Song and Dance II (29 March), Colleen Lee – the renowned pianist and Hong Kong Sinfonietta Artist Associate (2010/2011) will be performing this work on a prepared piano; 

• Live Transmission
  • French composer Pierre Boulez’s hand movements while conducting Stravinsky’s Petrushka (1911 version) together with the London Symphony Orchestra;
  • Boulez’s 75th birthday – a graphite on Bristol paper by American artist Morgan O’Hara; 

• Landschaft
  • Three dynamic drawings that are transcriptions of environmental soundscapes, by co-curator Samson Young; 

• Moon Spell in Summer
  • A series of drawings by Thai artist Thitiphorn Kotham on 100 sheets of music hand written by her father, a cruise ship band leader who died when the artist was three years old;

• Drift
  • A five-minute video with sounds created by Japanese dance and visual artist Hiromi Miyakita, articulating the concept of “dance through stillness”.

MUSIC PROGRAMMES 

Remarks:

*With an introduction by co-curator Samson Young  
- All programmes are approximately one-hour long
- Admission age: 6 or above 
- Limited seats; first-come, first served

EXHIBITION INFORMATION

Date: 3 – 29 March 2018
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm (3 March)
12 pm – 8 pm (4-22 March)
12 pm – 9 pm (23-29 March)

Venue: New ArtisTree, 1/F, Cambridge House, Taikoo Place, 979 King's Road, Quarry Bay

Price: Free