Genevieve Pang

Whether it’s street photography spots or world-class art galleries, Hong Kong is a city that’s bursting with creativity. To narrow things down and help you be well on your way to true culture vulture status (and level up your Insta-feed along the way), here are some of the best ongoing and upcoming art shows to visit around town. RECOMMENDED: Discover Hong Kong’s coolest hidden art spaces or pay a visit to the city’s top museums.

Art lovers are in for a treat this month as Christie’s Asia Pacific gears up for its Hong Kong 20th/21st Century Autumn Auctions, where an exceptional collection featuring the biggest names in modern and contemporary art has been lined up. Answering to the growing demand for artworks by masters and visionaries, the sales are headlined by Pablo Picasso’s Buste de femme, Zao Wou-ki’s 17.3.63, Yoshitomo Nara’s Mumps, David Hockey’s Table with Conversation, Yayoi Kusama’s PUMPKIN [TWAQN], Claude Monet’s Printemps à Giverny, effet d’aprés-midi, J.M.W. Turner’s The Grand Bridge at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, and many more, showcasing diverse artistic movements.

Christie’s Asia Pacific is commemorating the first anniversary of its new Henderson headquarters with a slew of autumn auctions, among them a sale highlighting Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art as part of the launch of this new department. Leading the event is a rare, newly reattributed figure of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion – an exquisite gilded copper alloy sculpture that is emblematic of a new art style that rose to prominence during the 13th-century Yuan court under the purview of Aniko, the renowned Nepalese artist. Other notable pieces include the figure of Manjushri and a rare thangka attributed to the 10th Karmapa, Choying Dorje, depicting parinirvana. Now’s your chance to see these masterpieces before they head into private collections.

Head to Sotheby’s Maison in Landmark Chater for a limited-time exhibition examining the complex and enduring interplay between desire and death – fundamental forces shaping the human experience. Inspired by the works of French philosopher Georges Bataille, Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, and Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, ‘Eros/Thanatos’ combines mythology, art history, and psychoanalysis to uncover how artists have navigated the tension between ecstasy and dissolution across centuries. Curated with a memento mori message in mind, ‘Eros/Thanatos’ encourages viewers to reflect on the feelings of desire and death, and the contradictions that define existence.

As part of the celebration surrounding its new gallery space in the Southside, De Sarthe is launching two exhibitions concurrently. ‘20th Century Narratives – In Conversation’, the gallery’s second show, presents a curated collection of post-war and modern paintings and sculptures, featuring the likes of Yayoi Kusuma, Marc Chagall, Giorgio de Chirico, Chu Teh-chun, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Jack Tworkov, Bernar Venet, and Zao Wou-ki as they are brought together to represent a transcontinental artistic exchange.

De Sarthe is inaugurating its new gallery space in the Southside with a new solo exhibition featuring contemporary Hong Kong artist Lazarus Chan. ‘Poetics Policy’ is an immersive journey that investigates the influence of policy-making on art, reality, and machine intelligence through multimedia and interactive artworks. Adding a dystopian touch, the exhibition features an AI-built living system as an imagined simulation of the future, which is governed by the artist, but used to emphasise that the essence of art is found in the policies guiding its creation, rather than in the generated texts or imagery.

A new exhibition at M+ showcases 12 immersive installations by pioneering women artists from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, including three new works by Asian artists. Dream Rooms: Environments by Women Artists 1950s–Now emphasises the multisensory experience of art and highlights women’s contributions to installation art, a field often overshadowed by male artists. Visitors can actively engage with the environments, which include nine historic pieces that have been painstakingly reconstructed, such as Aleksandra Kasuba’s Spectral Passage (1975), which invites individuals to journey through interconnected nylon structures as a metaphor of the life cycle; Judy Chicago’s Feather Room (1966), an all-white space filled with 300 pounds of feathers; and more. M+ will also host talks with co-curators Andrea Lissoni and Marina Pugliese to discuss the concept behind the exhibition, and a panel discussion with the three Asian artists whose new, commissioned work is part of Dream Rooms. Additionally, M+ Cinema will screen three documentaries about some of the exhibited artists to supplement the show.

Tai Kwun Contemporary is presenting a two-part exhibition under the theme ‘Stay Connected: Art and China Since 2008’. Centred around an expansive exploration of the transformations and social shifts within 21st-century China brought about by the prolific spread of the internet and digital technologies, the first chapter will take over all three floors of the JC Contemporary art spaces, running for a little over three months. ‘Stay Connected: Navigating the Cloud’ will present more than 50 pieces mapping the creative pursuits of over 35 artists and groups whose practices are influenced by social media, the internet, and digital technologies. Divided into themed segments such as artificial intelligence, information bubbles, online communities, and more, the showcase explores how to ‘stay connected’ in today’s world. Li Shuang, Li Yi-fan, Miao Ying, Wong Ping, Lu Yang, Shao Chun, Zhang Yibei, and the Xijing Men collective are among the many artists exhibiting. Collaborative duo Sun Yuan & Peng Yu – whose claim to fame is the Can’t Help Myself kinetic sculpture with a robotic arm – is also participating.

Urban sketch artist Rob Sketcherman is bringing his unique perspective of Hong Kong’s everyday scenes to the W Hong Kong! From nostalgic pictures of stilt houses in Tai O to depicting the energetic Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance and evening views of the Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui, Sketcherman’s lively art captures the dynamic spirit of the city through detail-oriented, colourful illustrations. What’s special about this exhibition is that there will be five screens in the hotel lobby showcasing Sketcherman’s artistic process through time-lapse recordings of his drawings, so visitors will not only see his finished pieces, but also all the thinking behind the sketches and the work that went into them.

White Cube Hong Kong is staging an exhibition showcasing the works of the seminal Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi. ‘A Feeling’ revolves around the pieces Noguchi created after meeting and studying under Chinese master ink painter Qi Baishi, exploring how the teachings influenced his later sculptural approach.  A selection of Noguchi’s abstract ‘Peking Brush Drawings’ and complex bronze sculptures are displayed alongside Qi’s scrolls in this exhibition, creating a narrative between the two artists. Noguchi’s work pushes the boundaries of sculptural positive and negative space, testing the boundaries of three dimensions, but his use of bronze as a medium reflects his desire to blend ancient and modern.

Witness Hong Kong through a quirky lens at Cordis, Hong Kong’s new ‘Art in Residence’ exhibition, featuring a series of surreal digital art pieces created by Tommy Fung where our city’s iconic landmarks and cultural touchpoints are juxtaposed against humorously impossible scenarios. Fung is known for his whimsical, Photoshop-manipulated images – from transforming the Hong Kong Space Museum into a giant Chiikawa head and inserting a snacking panda into a wet market stall narrative, to creating a Tesla Cybertruck version of the iconic Hong Kong red taxi, nothing’s off limits for the Hong Kong artist. ‘SurrealHK: The City Reimagined’ is part of Cordis, Hong Kong’s 10th anniversary celebrations, so mark the occasion with the hotel while taking in some fun art.

Sadly, this is not a full-fledged exhibition featuring the legendary Zao Wou-ki, but it is a special occasion nonetheless. One of the artist’s ‘Hurricane Period’ masterpieces, created   during the early 1960s as he rose to global fame, is heading to auction at Christie’s, and visitors can see it during the public previews for a limited time only.  17.3.63 is notable for its vibrant, incandescent colour, and is one of only 19 bright red large-scale paintings to be completed by the artist in the 1960s. Expressive, powerful brushstrokes are the leading feature of this vertical composition, masterfully balancing light and shadow to exude passion and confidence. It’s the first time the piece has appeared at auction, so once it sells and goes into a private collection, it may not be seen again in public for a long time. Here’s your chance to lay eyes on it.

We’re still a while away from temperatures dropping into the 10s but there’s already one restaurant we’re keeping in mind for when it’s time to chow down on wholesome comfort food: Bonjuk, the popular Korean porridge chain, is expanding to Hong Kong! As one of the largest restaurant chains in South Korea, Bonjuk operates more than 2,000 shops domestically, and has overseas presence in markets such as the US, Japan, and Taiwan. Not bad for a brand that was founded in 2002. Bonjuk’s claim to fame – other than having the peerless Gong Yoo endorsing their porridge on every shopfront – is the mainstream popularisation of Korean juk, transforming this traditional homestyle dish into a fast-casual meal suitable for all-day dining while being nutritious and healthy. Bonjuk’s culinary empire even includes prepackaged juk pouches and ready-to-eat porridge bowls, so their nourishing congee can easily be enjoyed at home as well. On Bonjuk’s menu, you’ll find signatures such as abalone porridge, ginseng chicken porridge, octopus and kimchi porridge, beef and mushroom porridge, and so much more. Flavours aren’t limited to savouries, either – Bonjuk also offers ‘dessert’ options such as sweet pumpkin, red bean, mung bean, and black sesame. Most Hongkongers are already familiar with the concept of rice porridge as a comfort food, but there are small differences between Cantonese-style juk and Korean-style juk. Cantonese juk uses slow-boiled rice to create a soupy, starchy base that can be en

Canadian rapper and singer bbno$ is coming back to Hong Kong for his first solo show in the city! Alexander Gumuchian, who performs under the stage name bbno$, made his Hong Kong debut at Clockenflap back in 2023, but his music has been making the rounds for years, growing to stratospheric heights with the rise of trending music on TikTok. With viral hits like Lalala released with American producer Y2K and edamame featuring Indonesian rapper Rich Brian, and through his collaborations with American rapper Yung Gravy, bbno$ has racked up 14.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify. His over-the-top music videos have also garnered him a 3.78 million-strong following on YouTube. His newest album, the eponymous bbno$, is slated for launch this October. Bbno$’s first solo gig in Hong Kong – part of the artist’s ‘it’s pronounced baby no money’ world tour – will take place at Tides in Whampoa, a newly opened music venue, on November 13, so fans will likely get to hear a couple of tracks off the new album live. Live Nation members can snag tickets ($599) on Live Nation on September 25 from 12 pm onwards. General sale tickets will then be released on September 26 from 12 pm onwards. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Hong Kong newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox Recommended stories: Everything we know about Hong Kong Disneyland’s new Marvel and Pixar attractions Japanese anime retail megastore Animate is reopening in Hong Kong 3 Hong Kong bars made i

Be still, our hearts (and be even stiller, our wallets, because we may be about to drop a lot of money) – Animate, Japan’s largest retailer of anime, manga, and video games, will be making its return to Hong Kong! Animate reopening in town will come as welcome news to local anime and manga fans whose travels to Japan will typically include pitstops to Animate branches across the country to load up on new merch releases. A recent post shared on September 12 on the Animate Hong Kong Facebook page appears to confirm the upcoming store opening – the message announced active staff recruitment and called upon interested candidates to apply. Other than that, the Facebook page remains cryptic, with only a ‘coming soon’ post teasing further news. Animate used to operate a Hong Kong retail branch in Mong Kok, in addition to an Animate Cafe – known as Youme Cafe – but both were shuttered in 2020. Five years later, anime fans can look forward to the return of Japan’s leading anime, manga, and games merch and goods retailer, also in Mong Kok, though the details surrounding the opening date and exact location are still murky. In Japan, Animate operates more than 100 retail stores, and internationally, the brand has a number of outlets in mainland China, Thailand, Taiwan, and the US. Its nine-floor flagship store in the Ikebukuro district in Tokyo was recognised by the Guinness World Records as the ‘largest anime store’ in the world. Considering the huge popularity of Japanese anime and man

If the popularity and hype surrounding Huntr/x and Saja Boys from KPop Demon Hunters are any indication, fictional bands and music groups are all the rage. As more and more music from make-believe bands enter conventional music charts and find positioning on most-streamed lists, it’s safe to say that this trend of real life and fiction blurring together is here to stay. Fans of the highly acclaimed Japanese drama series Glass Heart will be over the moon to hear this, as the show’s fictional band Tenblank is due to make its real-world debut with an exciting fan meet scheduled for November this year! On November 19, Takeru Satoh – who plays Naoki Fujitani in Glass Heart, the frontman of the music group – will come to Hong Kong as part of the ‘Tenblank from Glass Heart Fan Meeting - Asia Tour feat. Takeru Satoh’. Unfortunately, the full band members of Tenblank will not be present at the Hong Kong fan meet, but this one-day event at the AsiaWorld-Expo will be your chance to see the Japanese actor Satoh in the flesh, and he’ll most likely be in character in all of Fujitani’s slouchy, chin-tilting, smirking, rock god glory.  If you watched the series and enjoyed the songs immensely, then this is a great chance to hear tracks such as Crystalline Echo, Unbroken, Lucky Me, and Chasing Blurry Lines performed live. We’re keeping our fingers crossed Satoh also covers Utada Hikaru’s First Love like he did in Glass Hearts as an Easter egg (because he starred in the First Love series back

We’ve only just emerged from several days of sheltering in place while Super Typhoon Ragasa wreaked havoc across Hong Kong and there’s already another tropical storm heading our way before we can recover from this most recent bout of cabin fever. Super Typhoon Ragasa is now well and truly past us, but Hong Kong’s not off the hook just yet. Tropical Cyclone Bualoi has been quietly brewing in the Pacific Ocean and is steadily inching its way closer to Hong Kong with a maximum sustained wind speed of 110km per hour near its centre, according to the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO).  Currently, Severe Tropical Storm Bualoi is gathering momentum across the Pacific Ocean on a northwesterly path that looks to cross central Philippines in the coming days, where it will make landfall before continuing toward the South China Sea. Its track prediction sees the severe tropical storm entering within 800 kilometres of Hong Kong on September 27 and 28, when Bualoi is forecasted to intensify into a typhoon. It’s still a bit too early to tell how strongly the storm will affect the city – that all depends on its eventual path development and growing intensity as it sweeps across the South China Sea. At the moment, it’s looking like Hainan and the coast of Vietnam will bear the brunt of the typhoon’s might. However, a ridge of high pressure over the southeastern China coast combined with Bualoi means it will be windy over the weekend, and the sea will be rough with swells. HKO has forecasted sunny p

As we eagerly await the results of the annual World’s 50 Best Bars rankings – set to be revealed at an awards ceremony in Hong Kong at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal on October 8 – there’s already some good news celebrating Hong Kong coming our way! On September 24, the 51-100 extended rankings of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2025 was released, and three Hong Kong establishments have been recognised for their excellence in the field: Argo, Gokan, and The Savory Project. Photograph: Courtesy The Savory Project Against stiff competition, The Savory Project dropped four places from number 82 to find placement at number 86 this year. Coming from the visionary brains and mixologists behind the award-winning Coa, The Savory Project reimagines cocktails as an extension of culinary creativity, transforming food recipes into innovative tipples. Imagine whetting your appetite on an umami-forward drink inspired by Thai-style beef salad or Indian biryani. Japanese mixologist Shingo Gokan’s bar on Ice House Street has been eagerly spoken about in the past few months and highly recommended by those in the know, so we’re delighted to see Gokan make its first appearance on the World’s 50 Best Bars extended list this year at number 70. Gokan is already recognised on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025 at number 33 for its meticulously crafted cocktails, which draw on the five senses to blend mixology and gastronomy, with international flavours and influences thrown into the mix. Photograph: Joshua Lin Mean

Negroni Week in Hong Kong is back! Although the next few days will be spent quietly hunkered down at home as Super Typhoon Ragasa sweeps through the city, that doesn’t mean we can’t already look forward to how we’ll be spending the weekend. Here are a few places in town that are joining in Negroni Week – why not make a bar crawl out of it? Photograph: @zzura.hk Zzura Middle Eastern-inspired speakeasy Zzura in Central is celebrating its fourth anniversary during Negroni Week, so you can put on your party hats while sipping on some downright delicious tipples. From now until 28, Zzura’s mixologists will be shaking up a special one-off negroni called the Forbidden Fruit, made with longan gin, mezcal, Campari, Aperol, and Mancino Rosso. A portion of the bar’s Negroni Week sales will go towards supporting the Slow Food Foundation’s initiatives. Photograph: Courtesy Kacti Creative Ltd / Singular Concepts Kinsman Hong Kong bar and restaurant group Singular Concepts is staging a group-wide Negroni Week programme through September, with proceeds going towards Feeding Hong Kong, so hit up your favourite Singular Concepts to support a good cause. At Kinsman, guests can sip on the Red Cliff, an East-meets-West mix of Campari, Wuliangye baijiu, Magnolia Lab liqueur, Averna, and sweet vermouth that blends Italian flair with Chinese soul. Photograph: Courtesy Singular Concepts Tell Camellia  Recognised on the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list for its groundbreaking tea cocktails, Tell Camellia

Mark your calendars for November 19 – Grammy-winning R&B, hip-hop, and pop group The Black Eyed Peas is making its return to Hong Kong for a concert at AXA Wonderland in West Kowloon! It’s been almost 20 years since the last time The Black Eyed Peas came to Hong Kong for a performance at the AsiaWorld-Expo, so fans can look forward to a set list that will probably consist of a mix of new material and the group’s most recognisable chart-toppers. If you’re anything like us, you’ll be keeping your fingers crossed for pop hits such as Where Is the Love?, I Gotta Feeling, Pump It, Boom Boom Pow, and Let’s Get It Started – and are no doubt ready to get on your feet if they play. In its current formation, The Black Eyed Peas consists of members will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, with Filipino-American singer J. Rey Soul serving as the group’s singer after Fergie’s departure in 2018. It’s a bit sad that we won’t get to see Fergie, but we expect this event will still shape up to be a nostalgic night of revisiting and belting along to some of your favourite 2000s clubbing tunes, and dancing your socks off like it’s 2005. No word yet on when tickets will be available for sale and what pricing tiers we’re looking at, so stay tuned for more information! Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Hong Kong newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox Recommended stories: Doraemon, Labubu, and more characters will float down Victoria Harbour in a water parade The best Okt

During his 2025 Policy Address last week, Hong Kong’s chief executive John Lee confirmed that there will be an increase of the quota for non-local student admissions to public universities in the city, raising the cap from 40 to 50 percent. According to Christine Choi Yuk-lin, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Education, the city’s eight public universities are well-equipped to accommodate a greater number of non-local students. Not only can the initiative raise the profile of Hong Kong universities among international student hopefuls, but the expansion of student demographics could enhance the city’s global education rankings. Currently, the non-local student intake at public universities in Hong Kong is capped at 40 percent. Prior to the 2024-2025 academic year, it was limited to 20 percent, so based on this track record, the increases are significant and they are coming in quick succession. Some institutions are reported to have already reached the 40-percent cap for the current academic year. According to a source familiar with the situation, the 15,000 government-subsidised university places allocated annually to local students through the University Grants Committee (UGC) will not be impacted by this quota increase. Lawmaker Lau Chi-pang – who also serves as the Special Advisor to the President of Lingnan University – has expressed his support for this initiative: “After increasing the ratio from 20 percent to 40 percent, the academic standards of admitted students continued t

Hong Kong has been receiving quite a bit of positive recognition in many areas recently on a global level, and the latest comes in the form of a report ranking talent worldwide. In the 2025 edition of the World Talent Ranking published by the Institute for Management Development (IMD), Hong Kong SAR has secured fourth place on the scoreboard, a major jump from its previous position at ninth place, showcasing consistent advancement. We’ve leapfrogged over the Netherlands (number five), Sweden (number six), Singapore (number seven), and Denmark (number eight) to claim our place in fourth, climbing five spots to achieve our best-ever performance in the annual ranking report, and the third time ever we placed in the top 10. Fourth on the charts also means we’ve come in first place in Asia! While Hong Kong excelled in areas such as talent competitiveness, graduates in science, effectiveness of management education, female labour force participation, and availability of finance skills, ultimately leading to its rise through the ranks, the SAR fell short in several segments, including high exposure to particle pollution, negative labour force growth, low public expenditure on education, and cost of living.  Still, Hong Kong has made rapid improvements according to IMD and positioned itself well in a global talent landscape, making it an attractive place to live and work. More than 520,000 talent admission scheme applications were received so far this year, and over 350,000 of them w

Great news for dog parents! On Wednesday, Hong Kong’s chief executive John Lee Ka-chiu delivered his fourth Policy Address, and one of the initiatives announced is the introduction of a new licensing system for food premises to make restaurants more dog-friendly. It’s a huge improvement upon the current system, as legal health and hygiene restrictions mean that only guide dogs are permitted inside restaurants. Under the new measure, licensed restaurants can allow dogs on the premises, and operators must clearly display their pet-inclusive permit to customers. It’s expected that the first group of pet-friendly eateries will welcome dogs to their shops by mid-2026. Government statistics show that 400,000 cats and dogs are kept as pets by more than 240,000 households in the city – it’s a huge consumption market that includes pet food and products, healthcare, insurance, grooming, and more. “Pet-friendly restaurants will create new business opportunities for the industry,” Lee said, expressing alignment with existing examples of pet-friendly arrangements within the business sector.  Just last month, the MTR Corporation announced that its Light Rail routes in the New Territories will continue to allow cats and dogs onboard its trains under a pet-friendly travel programme, which was officially rolled out in September after a trial period earlier this year. Hong Kong bus operator KMB also runs a limited pet-friendly bus service to popular destinations within the city, with new route

Update, September 17, 2025: Well, that didn’t last very long! Just a month ago, we reported that Bing Kee Cha Dong is indefinitely “taking a long holiday” due to staff shortage. What we feared may be the loss of another Hong Kong icon to the mounting challenges of operating in the city’s competitive dining scene turned out, to our great relief, to just be paranoia speaking.  As of early September, Bing Kee Cha Dong has returned from its hiatus with a note that a ‘new team’ is being trained up to keep operations running smoothly. Allegedly, the temporary closure was linked to the retirement of the shop’s veteran milk tea specialist, which posed a significant disruption as the local eatery is well known for its take on the classic Hong Kong beverage. While we’re over the moon that the local business is able to resume operations with new staff members, it seems there’s still some ways to go until Bing Kee’s back on track. Local diners as well as tourists have flocked to the Tai Hang dai pai dong since its reopening, but some have expressed disappointment online that the dishes and beverages now lack the rich flavours and quality standard from before the closure.   Photograph: Cara Hung   August 19, 2025: Say it isn’t so! Bing Kee Cha Dong – an iconic dai pai dong in Tai Hang – announced on its Instagram account last weekend that it is “taking a long holiday” indefinitely due to staff shortage and lack of manpower. Loved by Hongkongers and tourists alike, the old-school, tin-ro