The best things to do in Hong Kong this August

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.

Step off the burning sand of Repulse Bay Beach and into the air-conditioned comfort of The Pulse shopping mall to find a bar made to look like it’s encased in ice blocks, a ‘frosted tree’ pumping out bubbles filled with cool smoke, and interactive photo spots like an adorable polar bear installation. 

The Ice Bites Market happening every Friday to Sunday will bring alcoholic beverages, desserts, sweet treats, Hong Kong-style snacks, and more to everyone, while DJs will spin beats to keep the party vibes up coming nighttime.

NCT subunit boy group NCT Dream is coming back to town after their Hong Kong concert last summer. After kicking off their ‘The Dream Show 4: Dream The Future’ tour in Seoul, the seven-piece band will move on to Bangkok before coming to us, then performing in Jakarta, Singapore, Taipei, and Kuala Lumpur until the end of this year. This also marks the first time that a K-pop act will hold a show in the Kai Tak Stadium, so mark your calendars for August 30!

The highly anticipated Chiikawa Days exhibition has finally taken over K11 Musea! Expect to see multiple giant inflatable sculptures in the mall’s outdoor areas, including some adorable food-themed ones that we love. There are also over 100 3-D figures and lifelike recreations of scenes from the beloved manga. Observe the cute Chiikawa Days critters at play, in battle, in jail, at mealtime, and more. 

Don’t forget to stop by the merch store afterwards to pick up themed cookies and snacks, as well as the special Hong Kong collection of yum cha-themed plushies designed exclusively for this event by Chiikawa’s creator Nagano!

This summer, the weeping cuties of Crybaby are taking over Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong with eight giant blind box characters from the Crying For Love series. The centrepiece is the giant Love You Cherry Much figures, sitting side by side in their cherry outfits above a red-and-white ball pit. Other cute installations include the angel and devil Kiss Kiss characters pouting towards each other in a smooch, a Stupid Cupid heart-shaped swing set, and a translucent red box housing a Heart Broken Crybaby.

Pop Mart also brings a pop-up store to this event, with plenty of goodies from the Crying For Love series – like the gift box containing the angel and heart plushies, an adorable straw cup, and vinyl plush hanging dolls – but also from Crybaby’s other lines. Keep your eyes peeled for items that are out of stock online!

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.

The pet cat of K-pop star G-Dragon takes over our city with the Zo&Friends pop-up in Times Square. Inspired by his Scottish fold named Princess Zoa, GD has spent two years creating and designing this original IP, and the results can’t be any cuter.

A large Zoa sits in the middle of Times Square’s second-floor atrium, surrounded by flowers and the daisy A&ne. According to the brand, Zoa looks cynical and even somewhat gloomy (it has a literal cloud hanging over its eyes) but hides a soft, gentle nature. Walk through and snap pictures at photo spots, explore Zoa’s room, and see plenty of artworks, decals, BTS captures, and more.

Whether you’re a casual Instagram user or a photography fanatic, you’ve likely come across a post by Accidentally Wes Anderson (or AWA for short), a platform known for showcasing moments in daily life that replicate the American filmmaker’s signature symmetrical style. This internationally acclaimed art project has held exhibitions in cities such as London, Tokyo, Seoul, and Los Angeles, and now, it has landed in Hong Kong for the first time at The Mills and Airside simultaneously. Find more information about these exhibitions here.

Stay cool during Hong Kong’s brutal summer by grabbing an icy treat from Snack Baby, one of Hong Kong’s top gelato shops. From now until September 13, the gelateria is holding a pop-up at BaseHall 02, where they’ll be offering a rotating selection of their crowd-pleasing gelatos. Expect flavours such as BB Cinnamon, olive oil dark chocolate, speculoos, pistachio crunch, as well as Strawberry Moon, a BaseHall exclusive strawberry sorbet swirled with strawberry coulis. Snack Baby’s gelato offerings will be updated every fortnight, and customers can enjoy up to three gelato flavours in each cup ($68), so be sure to swing by and try their new flavours.

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. In the radical port cities of Guangzhou and Hong Kong 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 the Magnavox Odyssey – the first home-use video gaming console – to the latest Nintendo Switch 2 release, gamers have seen the rise and fall of many trends and technologies from the 70s to the present day, and you can now reminisce on them all at this exhibition on gaming, its art and designs, and collective memories.

Airside is hosting the ‘Restart! Beyond Gaming Exhibition!’, which explores how gaming extends beyond simple personal entertainment and has become an integral part of Hong Kong’s cultural tapestry. Check out the wall of gaming consoles to find vintage consoles such as the Atari 2600 from the 70s, the Nintendo Famicom from the 80s, over 300 Nintendo games from the 80s and 90s, and more; and try your hand at ‘The King of Fighters ‘98’ and ‘Bubble Bubble’ on arcade machines.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of ‘Little Fighter 2’, the exhibiton will feature the remastered game with an Airside-exclusive backdrop of the famous Kowloon Walled City for an added touch of Hong Kong heritage.