The Works：Performing Arts Funding; "Decade" a web-video project; Wucius Wong; Slowdive

Hong Kong can be a tough environment for any artist, but performing artists in particular tend to need money to get their vision on stage. The government does provide some funds, but it doesn’t always come without strings attached. And many groups feel the government's funding policy is not clearly thought through.

Ever feel nostalgic for Hong Kong’s past? Well you can revisit and even remix that past with, “Decade”, an online cinematic and musical journey through ten decades of Hong Kong. It consists of ten films, each representing a decade in the life of the territory over the past 100 years. The project is organised by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) and co-curated by Fieldwork Productions and the Hong Kong Film Archive. Music curator Steve Hui and ten local musicians provide the music

Wucius Wong was born in 1936 in Guangdong, but came to Hong Kong at a very young age. He once considered becoming a writer, but gradually his interest turned to painting. Initially he was self-taught, but later studied under Lui Shou-Kun whose works fused traditional concepts and a modernist and more Westernised approach. That’s an approach that continues in Wucius Wong’s own work today. We’ve been talking to this Hong Kong master.

The English rock band Slowdive was formed in 1989, released three full length albums, and then broke up in 1995. Their music was categorised in the genre of “Shoegaze”, a name that wasn’t originally considered to be all that flattering and basically referred to the introverted way the singers stared at their shoes as they sang. Almost two decades later, Slowdive got back together. On the 28th July they performed here in Hong Kong.