The Works：Yearender: Art in 2015

Hello and welcome to the final edition of The Works for 2015/first edition of Chinese Works for 2016. This week, we’re asking eight people involved in the local arts scene to tell us their choice of five of the most significant cultural events in 2015. In part two dancer and choreographer Mui Cheuk-yin and music critic Elvin Wong will take a look at the performing arts. And art critic John Batten, Danny Yung, founder of Zuni Icosahedron, will examine some of the art scene’s not so successful moments.
First though, the visual arts. And 2015 began with thoughts of 2014’s Occupy Central and the Umbrella Movement still very much on many people’s minds. The event inspired many. Its political aftermath is still having an influence. During the protests, Clarrise Yeung was one of those who set up the Umbrella Movement Visual Archives to document the artwork created in the streets. In November, she ran for, and won, a seat in the District Council election, and is now serving the Wan Chai district. Also reviewing the year for us are art educator May Fung; Alexandre Errera, founder of the online contemporary art platform Artshare.com; and artist Kacey Wong.
In part one we looked back at some of the news in the visual arts scene. In many ways, there and in the broader cultural environment, 2015 has been a bittersweet twelve months. We asked art critic John Batten to tell us about what he saw as some of the failures of the year, while Zuni Icosahedron founding member Danny Yung talks to us about what kind of shots in the arm he thinks the cultural scene needs.
2015 was a packed year for performing arts in Hong Kong, with local and international presentations in the open air as well as in the auditoriums. We’ve had Singin’ In the Rain, motor cycles flying through the air, and horses galloping in tents, as well as other more traditional entertainment. Dancer and choreographer Mui Cheuk-yin, and music critic Elvin Wong each tells us some of the highlights for them.
And that’s our show to mark the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, which we know will be just as full of creativity and the arts as were the past twelve months.
And for the NEXT twelve months of course, The Works will be here to keep you up to date on all the latest art news locally and internationally. And we’re ending this week with artist Hoi Chiu’s vision of what 2015 has meant to him, in sand.
Meanwhile, from all of us on The Works, best wishes for a healthy, happy, and creative 2016.