Best things to see and do during Hong Kong Arts Month

Art Central returns from March 22 to 25 with an extensive roster of participating galleries showcasing everything from paintings and sculptures to mixed media work, large-scale installations, as well as art talks, video presentations, art performances and more. Taking place alongside Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Central allows visitors to discover various creative talents from Hong Kong and around the world.

The crown jewel of Hong Kong Art Month and the city’s art calendar, Art Basel is taking place from March 23 to 25 at the Hong Kong Convention Centre. Featuring masterpieces and contemporary artworks from numerous galleries around the world, as well as a series of programmes and talks for visitors to take part in, there’s never a dull moment at Art Basel.

The city's biggest street art festival is back! From March 18 to 26, the annual street art and mural festival will be giving the Central and Western Districts a colourful makeover with an exciting lineup of artists painting different murals in the area. For an engaging experience, street art fans are welcome to visit the mural sites to meet the artists in person and get to know the creative process behind their work.

In addition to the wall paintings in streets and alleys, this year's festival will also introduce a large-scale digital animation art piece – created by the acclaimed Spanish artist J. Demsky – on the LED façades of Tsim Sha Tsui Centre and Empire Centre; a whisky and street art experience with music, drinks, and a graffiti art battle at Soho House (March 26); as well as panel discussions, interactive workshops, an open exhibition, and guided tours around town. Visit hkwalls.org for more info on the festival's public events.

Boston photography artist Pelle Cass is holding his first solo art exhibition in Asia at Gallery by the Harbour from now to March 26. Known for his unique 'still time-lapse' images, where hundreds – or perhaps even thousands – of photographs with selected figures are combined into one still image to create beautiful chaos, Cass brings to Hong Kong a selection of works from his signature Crowded Fields series, works that are displayed for the first time, and a brand-new piece featuring Choi Hung Estate he and the curatorial team Way by Way of Difference specially created for Hong Kong.

On view from now until March 28, Phyllida Barlow's 'untitled: folly; baubles' features around 30 brightly coloured giant baubles at the K11 Musea Opera Theatre. Using ordinary materials such as cardboard, fabric, plywood, and cement, Barlow's larger-than-life masterpieces shine a light on the obstacles and challenges that shape our daily lives, inviting audiences to engage with them and interpret the meaning of sculptures in their own way. To accompany the exhibition, docent-led tours are available for those who wish to learn more about the artworks.

From now to April 2, 2023, HKDI presents Hylozoism: An Arts & Technology Exhibition, featuring five international artists, including Ellen Pau and Keith Lam from Hong Kong, Japanese music legend Ryuichi Sakamoto, media artist Daito Manabe, and more. Through exploring the symbiotic co-existence between arts and technology, and how humans and nature interact, the exhibition hopes to present a new ecology created jointly by humans and machines.

Curated by Inti Guerrero and Chantal Wong, and co-presented with Sunpride Foundation, Myth Makers—Spectrosynthesis III is the first major exhibition that shines a light on LGBTQ+ perspectives in Hong Kong. On view from now until April 10 at Tai Kwun Contemporary galleries, the exhibition features over 100 artworks from over 60 artists from Hong Kong and overseas. Together, they address the core notion of 'queer mythologies', inviting audiences to explore contemporary mythologies and practices of the body through new productions, historical works from the 1940s to the 1990s, artworks on loan from the collection of the Sunpride Foundation, along with a publication collaboration with Queer Reads Library.

Aside from the striking artworks that will no doubt stimulate both the eyes and the mind, visitors can also take part in a wide range of programmes and educational events such as talks, workshops, Family Day, and guided public tours.

Human One is a dynamic kinetic video sculpture by digital art pioneer Beeple. On view at M+ from now until April 30, the artwork depicts a ‘traveller’ who dons an astronaut suit within a seven-foot-tall structure made of four LED screens. As the traveller treks forward in an endlessly evolving virtual landscape, the digital display will periodically evolve over time in response to current events and the artist’s changing interests over the course of his life. The traveller’s continuous journey evokes its viewers to think about their own digital and physical existence – a metaphor for human progress.

From March 20 to May 14, K11 Musea presents its first major exhibition on graffiti and street art, City As Studio, to coincide with Art Basel Hong Kong. Curated by Jeffrey Deitch, the exhibition features over 100 works by more than 30 artists – including the likes of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Futura, Barry McGee, Kaws, Aiko, and more – showcasing the history of the art forms from its emergence in the subway yards and parking lots of 1970s New York to its rise as a worldwide phenomenon. City As Studio will also present a series of photographs documenting the artistry of street artists in the 1970s and 80s, along with a diverse range of activities, including talks, screenings, tours, an interactive graffiti tagging activity, and more. 

To celebrate M+'s first anniversary, the museum is hosting a special exhibition featuring over 200 creations by Yayoi Kusama, one of the most influential and inspiring artists of our time. Held from now to May 14, the exhibition – titled Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now – is the largest retrospective of Kusama in Asia outside of Japan. 

Through six different themes – Infinity, Accumulation, Radical Connectivity, Biocosmic, Death, and Force of Life – visitors will be able to view the artist's work spanning over seven decades, from her earliest work to the most recent output, inclusive of paintings, installations, sculptures, drawings, collages, moving images, and archival materials. The exhibition will also present three brand-new works to audiences for the first time: Death of Nerves (2022)​, a large-scale installation connecting the museum’s ground floor and basement levels; Dots Obsession—Aspiring to Heaven's Love (2022), an immersive environment that includes one of the artist’s signature mirrored spaces; and Pumpkin (2022) two large sculptures available for public viewing in the Main Hall.

Korean digital design company d’strict heads to Hong Kong with Arte M, a special digital art show showcasing selected highlights from its renowned immersive media art exhibition Arte Museum.

Open from now to January 7, 2024, at K11 HACC, Arte M takes on the theme of 'Eternal Nature' and consists of four individual spaces displaying unique media artworks that reinterpret elements and nature. From the life cycle of flowers and crashing swells to boundlessly stretching seashore and the tropical rainforest, the works will take audiences on a surreal immersive experience through a combination of visual effects, sensuous sound, and elegant aromas.

Following its 15-month showcase at K11 HACC, the exhibition is expected to relocate to 11 Skies as a permanent exhibition with more works added to the collection in a much larger space. If you can't wait that long, get your tickets to the current show now.