The cultural affairs section promotes cultural exchange between Switzerland and Hong Kong/Macau. It helps connect Swiss artists in a variety of fields such as music, dance, drama or photography with useful contacts in this part of the world.
Regularly the cultural affairs section organizes or co-hosts various events and exhibitions with a Swiss interest and works closely with organisations such as the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.
Studio Residencies
A studio residency (3 months) in China or, conversely, in Switzerland gives artists the chance to gain a broad insight into a different cultural environment. The aim of the residency is to find inspiration, establish networks and contemplate new projects and cooperations. In addition to a place to work and accommodation, Pro Helvetia will provide specific coaching. The Swiss Arts Council covers the cost of travel, insurances and per diem expenses. Applicants may benefit three times in total from a Pro Helvetia studio residency.
Selection criteria
convincing track record: personal artistic activity above and beyond regional level
Hong Kong Arts Centre in collaboration with the Consulate General of Switzerland and Swiss Films organizes a film festival about Swiss documentaries on adolescence.
Location: Louis Koo Cinema, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Wednesday, 31.10.2018
Friday, 02.11.2018,
Hong Kong International Black Box Festival
Theater
Five Easy Pieces, concept, text and direction by Milo Rau, a Swiss theatre and film director, journalist, essayist and lecturer, is a profound, funny and confrontational experience that blends realism and brutality, probing the limits of what children know, feel, and do and initiating them in the emotional and political absurdities of the adult world. Using performers aged under 13, and the biography of the country’s most notorious criminal, child killer Marc Dutroux, the performance sketches a brief history of Belgium and reflects on the (re)presentation of human feelings on stage.
Location: Hong Kong Arts Centre Shouson Theatre, 2 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Tuesday, 30.10.2018
Tuesday, 30.10.2018,
Hong Kong International Black Box Festival
Movie
Filmed on-location in eastern Congo and in Berlin, the harrowing theatre and film project The Congo Tribunal offers a profound analytic tableau of the causes and background of one of the biggest and bloodiest economic wars in the history of mankind – the war affecting the Great Lakes region of Central Africa for the past 20 years.
Location: Hong Kong Arts Centre Louis Koo Cinema, 2 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Just before the summer vacation 15-year-old Mia and her parents move to the suburbs of Zürich. She has long felt estranged from her parents, and when she asks whether she might be adopted her mother becomes offended – but doesn’t reply. While Mia plunges into a wild teenager existence in an attempt to cope with it all, her body begins to change oddly. First hardly noticeably, but then with a force that threatens to drive her out of her mind. In her despair she attempts to numb herself with sex and drugs, hoping to halt the tidal wave that is overwhelming her. But nature is more powerful. Mia’s transformation progresses inexorably, and she turns into the being which has slumbered within her for years… and is now gaining the upper hand.
Location: Louis Koo Cinema, Hong Kong Arts Center and Cinematheque Passion, Macau
Late at night, psychologist Eliane Hess is called to the hospital bed of 8-year-old Yves. The boy is the only family member to have survived a car crash. Eliane is both horrified and fascinated by the boy’s fate. An invisible bond develops between them, blurring the boundaries between private and working life.
Location: The Grand Cinema, Hong Kong and Cinematheque・Passion, Macau
Friday, 12.10.2018
Saturday, 13.10.2018,
The 32nd Macao International Music Festival
Theater
A pair of lovers, whose fathers are old enemies, do not want to suffer the same fate as Romeo and Juliet. How do they overcome all the difficulties? The composer of the farce, with a witty and brisk score, is Gioachino Rossini, the most humorous and bestselling opera composer in the history of Western opera.
Location: Dom Pedro V Theatre, Largo de Santo Agostinho, Macau SAR
Germany (D), Austria (A) and Switzerland (CH) have long been under the same roof: they are bond by a common language, German. For the first time in Hong Kong, there will be a D-A-CH Tage for teachers of German. The event is organized by Goethe-Institut Hongkong and the Austrian Ministry of Education with the support of Consulate Generals of Austria, Germany and Switzerland and in cooperation with three publishers of German teaching material: Cornelsen, Ernst Klett Sprachen and Hueber. With the motto “Under one D-A-CH: Language and Culture in Germany, Austria and Switzerland”, there will be different workshops on 12th and 13th October.
Location: Goethe-Institut Hongkong, 13-14/F, Hong Kong Arts Centre, 2 Harbour Road, Wan Chai
The Consulate General of Switzerland cordially invites Alumni of Swiss Public Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences currently living in Hong Kong and Macao (incl. current and former exchange students) to the Swiss Alumni event 2018 entitled;
“EPFL: 50 Years of Innovation and a Look into the Future”
EPFL will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2019. The talk will highlight EPFL’s spectacular journey during the last years and shed light on the innovative spirit behind EPFL. But 50 years are also a reason to look ahead and address new exciting challenges and opportunities
Location: Credit Suisse (Hong Kong) Limited, Level 88, International Commerce Centre, 1, Austin Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
A selection of distinctive Bachelor, Master and research projects from the seven subject areas of the Department of Design at Zurich University of the Arts will be on showcase to demonstrate the school’s notion of design, how design is understood and taught today, and how design can contribute to social and technological innovations.
Location: HKDI Gallery, Hong Kong Design Institute, 3 King Ling Road, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories, Hong Kong
A collaboration between HKDI and ZHdK (Zurich University of the Arts), a leading University famous for its long design tradition and innovation potential, on how design as a discipline has the power to tackle complex real life problems in the commercial world and the society problems by using Design Strategies and Design Thinking. This four-day program touches the Design & Economy, Design & Identity, Design & Socitey, Design & Technology, targeting on the managerial level executives, creative industries, public services, and educators from primary through tertiary institutions, to echo the Hong Kong government’s recent initiative. This strategic partnership aims at building Hong Kong as a hub of a future oriented design culture, embedding design methods, design thinking and design strategies in Asia.
Location: Hong Kong Design Institute, 3 King Ling Road, Tseung Kwan O, N.T. H.K
Friday, 28.09.2018
Sunday, 30.09.2018,
The 32nd Macao International Music Festival
Theater
To commemorate the 170th anniversary of the death of Donizetti, the Macao International Music Festival will kick off with the timeless Elixir of Love in a production by Zurich Opera House. The highly-praised German stage director, Grischa Asagaroff will join hands with tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz, pupil of Plácido Domingo, and acclaimed soprano Laura Giordano to enlighten us about the magical power of love amidst the magnificent music by this great Italian composer!
Location: Macao Cultural Centre Grand Auditorium, Avenida Xian Xing Hai s/n, NAPE, Macau
Curiously food and nutrition were for a long period not touched by design. Starting with the question of production and later consumption, packaging and culture of food, design today plays a vital role when it comes to innovation in the food sector. Prof. Michael Krohn of Zurich University of the Arts, will bring us to a closer and deeper look at the power of Design Thinking in resolving “wicked problems” in different facets of our lives, hence promoting its relevance and adoption in all walks of life.
Location: Hong Kong Design Institute & IVE (Lee Wai Lee), 3 King Ling Road, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories, Hong Kong, (Tiu Keng Leng MTR station A2 exit)
Prof. Ilya Gringolts from the Department of Music at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), has been invited to perfom in Hong Kong on 22 September 2018. Youngest winner of the prestigious International Violin Competition Premio Paginini, internationally-acclaimed violinist Ilya Gringolts has been revered for his virtuosic playing and sensitive interpretations towards the classical music repertoire. Having performed with leading orchestras around the world that has included the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony and NHK Symphony, Gringolts will be making his Hong Kong début with Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
Location: Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall, 5 Edinburgh Place, Central, Hong Kong
Young Artist in Residence @ V54
An initiative run by a local charity, Po Leung Kuk, aiming to provide low rental fees and short-term residencies for young artists, to encourage them to express their appreciation of Art and Culture of East & West and life history, and also to make contributions to society by promoting the value of Art and Culture to young people.