The top art exhibitions and shows in Hong Kong this month

For Hong Kong artist Ailsa Wong’s first solo exhibition, she’s created a body of work that melds a 3D video game, moving sculptures, sound installations, a visual novel game, and more – all in a cave-like setting. Made to recall the interior of an ant nest, Wong uses how ant colonies operate as a super-organism to propose a paradigm where all sentient beings – living, mechanical, or otherwise – are part of a single, all-encompassing entity. Learn about the myths and stories they would tell if ants had religions; explore the illusion of choice by wandering down virtual pathways that lead to seemingly different places; examine artwork of embryo images set in clay, and more, all while brass bells strung together by braided hair chime as they swing from the ceiling.

When is Chinese calligraphy not actually calligraphy? Well, when it comes from Xu Bing’s brush, apparently. This Chinese artist is well known for what he calls ‘square word calligraphy’, which he developed in 1993 – it looks remarkably similar to Chinese characters but a closer look will reveal English words that have been deliberately designed and drawn to confuse the mind. This exhibition includes linguistic features and greetings unique to Hong Kong, as well as the Square Word Calligraphy Classroom, which provides writing tools and copybooks for visitors to attempt Xu’s special writing system.

One of Hong Kong’s most unforgettable and unique creatives, local first-generation performance artist Frog King has an intriguing exhibition in Mercury Recalls. This Causeway Bay bar is showcasing a range of two-dimensional ink art as well as some dizzying multi-dimensional new media art, inspired by the Akashic records – believed by the Theosophical religious group to contain all universal events and thoughts that have and will occur. Swirls, lights, and shapes reflect the intangible concept of collective subconsciousness, and since it’s being hosted in a bar, there will also be a special range of cocktails to accompany the art. To gain access, guests at Mercury Recalls must show a token to unlock the speakeasy-style space Corsican Stars hidden inside, where Frog King’s works lie in wait.

Open the Box returns for its second edition in Tai Kwun, literally opening up galleries and white cube spaces, inviting spectators to step into venues usually reserved for curators and art professionals and become artists themselves. Led by Japanese artist Shinji Ohmaki, ‘Bloom of Light’ encourages participants to create floral motifs and patterns in an ever-growing gallery, weaving their memories into a shared space that is constantly evolving. The period of co-creation runs until July 27, then the space will be open for public viewing from July 29 to August 3. Participation will require an admission fee of $180 for a maximum of two people and $240 for up to three (inclusive of art materials), but viewing the space when it’s completed will be free entry.

To celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of Hong Kong artist Ha Bik Chuen, Para Site is hosting an exhibition on his printmaking practices. ‘Motherboard’ is what Ha calls his collagraph plates – a textured surface with materials attached that is inked and used to transfer designs onto paper or other mediums. Throughout his life, Ha created over 100 motherboards to produce more than 3,000 collagraph prints mostly during the 70s and 80s. His motherboards were kept from public view, until now. See Ha’s creatures combined with ancient Chinese oracle bone script, modern Chinese characters, and the Roman alphabet on motherboards, displayed alongside their ‘offspring’ collagraphs and drawings.

Among the three recent Oi! Spotlight exhibitions is renowned Japanese contemporary artist Toyofuku Ryo’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong. His Golden Tearoom is an elegant space filled with over 200 drawings of elements in Hong Kong life. Take your time identifying everything from local dishes to the clown motif for Ocean Park’s Hair Raiser rollercoaster. There is also the Golden Playroom, where visitors are invited to interact and engage with each other through board games and electronic elements. This area is also full to the brim with distinctly local items such as Red A plastic lampshades, golden dragon sculptures often seen in banquet restaurants, metal containers for ‘aeroplane olive’ snacks, and more.

This summer, cool down at this flowery pool installation in the ifc mall. New York-based artist Cj Hendry is known for her hyper-photorealistic drawings and her large-scale installation Public Pool in Las Vegas, and she’s bringing her swimming pool to Asia for the first time. Slip down the pastel-coloured slide into a vibrant pool filled with flowers, check out the photo booth dressed up like a shower room, and grab a refreshing soda at the accompanying bar. This art piece is basically the height of summer, but away from the stifling heat outdoors.

Villepin gathers four visionary artists – Zao Wou-Ki, Fernando Zóbel, Lê Phổ, and Kang Myonghi – for a group exhibition of works that celebrate endurance in the face of uncertainty, exile, migration, and reinvention. This marks the first time Zóbel’s works will be exhibited in Hong Kong, as well as the first significant exhibition of Lê Phổ in the city, and their pieces will be juxtaposed with Kang’s delicate, pensive works and Zao’s abstract musings. We’re particularly excited to see Lê Phổ’s art – the France-based Vietnamese artist’s quiet women and gardens capture the gentle Vietnam that lives in his mind and memories, infused with a longing for home.

Local artist Chang (formerly referred to as Ernest Chang) is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his gallery, The Stallery, with an exhibition exploring the conflicts between time, technology, and life. Chinese scholar’s rocks are typically prized for their natural resemblance to things – ‘Artifice’ overlays the heresy of modern-day symbols onto the purity of natural rock forms, and asks if this strips away its artistic value. To match these rocks, the gallery has been transformed into a Zen garden with pebbles on the floor, artificial grass, and even a traditional Chinese bridge. This exhibition is running until August 31.

The expansive, LED canvas of M+ façade is now showing a brand-new series of work that highlights Hong Kong in all its magical, intimate, neon-drenched, lively moments. Named HK:PM, this commissioned art piece is by internationally acclaimed photographer Greg Girard, whose personal analogue photos, shot in Hong Kong between the 70s and 90s, have been animated to show the beauty and complexity of our city’s dense urban fabric in cinematic fashion. 

Some of the scenes captured include rare images of the now-demolished Kowloon Walled City; workers and fashionable citizens going about their daily hustle in Central; airplanes flying over the dense city blocks near the old Kai Tak Airport; neon-lit streets; revellers making the city come alive at night; and also some celebrity moments. Catch Hong Kong’s photographic memories and stories shown on the M+ façade every night from now until September 28. 

The latest special exhibition at M+ showcases Cantonese art in the 20th century, highlighting this period’s significance in visual and artistic modernism within China and beyond. The port cities of Guangzhou and Hong Kong were the centres for radical new ways of thinking about art and its purpose during China’s modern revolution. Cantonese artists moved on from the classical ink paintings to create prints, photography, and even cartoons that were more accessible to all. After the founding of the PRC, Guangdong artists in mainland China used art to shape their national image through social realism and propaganda, while Hong Kong artists embraced international movements.

Explore over 200 works from institutional and private collections, many of which are on public display for the first time, and see the connections and disconnections between the two groups of Cantonese artists before and after 1949. From now until July 13, tickets to access all of M+’s special exhibitions run for $240, but starting July 15, all entry to the museum will be under a single-price ticket at $190.

As the first comprehensive exhibition in Hong Kong to showcase the artistic and cultural exchange between Islamic and Chinese peoples, the Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) has chosen to focus the show on the achievements of Safavid Iran, Mughal India, and Ottoman Türkiye. In collaboration with the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, there will be approximately 100 pieces on display, including carpets, ceramics, metalwork, manuscripts, and jades, accompanied by artefacts from the Palace Museum and HKPM. Keep an eye out for the Kevorkian Hyderabad carpet, one of the longest Islamic carpets in a museum collection at almost 16 metres. ‘Wonders of Imperial Carpets’ will run from June 18 to October 6, and tickets cost $150.

M+ is hosting this adaptation of Trevor Yeung’s solo show that represented our city at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Drawing inspiration from his surroundings that include pet shops, seafood restaurants, public fountains, feng shui arrangements, and more, Yeung examines the relationship between humans and aquatic systems. See pet fish shops and filtration systems that are abandoned and devoid of aquatic life, and a defunct fountain in a European courtyard. The exhibition runs from June 14 to October 12, and entry is $120.

This latest exhibition in the M+ Open Gallery examines the process of making things as a creative expression, and how this has a lasting impact on individuals, communities, and our ecosystems. Drawing from the works of the M+ Collections, visitors are invited into the inspirations and techniques behind the processing of conceptualising, research, design, and fabrication that go into the objects and architecture we see around us. Split into four sections, it covers the broad themes of ceramics with its layered history; innovative uses of materials like neon, resin, and bamboo, including a restored Hong Kong neon sign; how computing, machine learning, and AI have impacted the making process; and the effects of consumerism and mass production on contemporary society. Tickets for ‘Making It Matters’ cost $120, and allow same-day entry to the other paid exhibitions in M+.

Set amidst the greenery and historical landmarks of the Asia Society Hong Kong Center are Lee Kuang-Yu’s sculptures that are inspired by Eastern philosophy and natural aesthetics. Using his distinct ‘open void’ sculptures, Lee’s cubist- and surrealist-inspired pieces blend into the environment seamlessly. These nine sculptures make up his first large-scale solo show in Hong Kong, where his works are complemented by modern architecture and our city’s lush nature.

This public art commission by Alicja Kwade is the Polish artist’s first site-specific installation in Hong Kong, and is available for viewing at Tai Kwun until 2026. Historically and socially contextualised objects make references to Tai Kwun history while exploring the passage of time and the present.

Six glass structures stand in conjunction with eight bronze cast Monobloc chairs that are each positioned dynamically with a boulder. Drawing on the history of Tai Kwun’s Prison Yard as a place of waiting and confinement, Kwade’s art reflects on the burdens that we carry, and the idea of waiting as a form of punishment in contemporary times, with glass structures representing invisible barriers in our lives.

This exhibition is interesting in that instead of highlighting art, it is a look at the martial culture of the Qing court through weaponry, military equipment, scientific instruments, and more. Nearly 190 military artefacts are on loan from The Palace Museum in Beijing, including helmets, archery sets, swords and sabres, and equestrian gear, along with paintings, textiles, and books. ‘The Art of Armaments’ highlights the Manchu rulers’ emphasis on martial traditions, continually improving their weapon-making techniques, and their dedication to hunting and drills – these set the foundation for military rituals in China as well as the development of their fleets and coastal defence. 

Look out for treasures such as a Qianlong-era replica of a helmet used by Nurhaci, the Jurchen khan emperor of the Later Jin dynasty, or the sabre gifted to Prince Gong by the Daoguang Emperor. Since there are so many artefacts, the exhibition will be presented in four rotations, each lasting about three months. Visitors can access this exhibition with a general admission ticket (priced from $70 to $90), or any special exhibition ticket (ranging from $150 to $180).

M+ Museum’s new thematic exhibition aims to explore the connection between landscape and humanity in our post-industrial and increasingly virtual world. Literally translating to ‘mountain and water’, shanshui is a Chinese cultural concept that has inspired Asian ink paintings across millennia. Almost 130 works split into nine thematic sections will reimagine landscape through art, moving images, sound, design, architecture, and other large-scale mediums from a range of international artists, architects, and creators.

A good dose of laughter is a great remedy for the stressors of hectic urban life, which is why comedic comics have been so well-received since they appeared in Hong Kong in the early 20th century. By the 1950s, local comics truly began to take off, giving rise to iconic characters like Old Master Q, My Boy, and Sau Sing Chai. Visitors can see beloved comic works spanning from the 50s to modern-day characters used in our everyday group chat stickers.