Today, an exhibition of Qin Fengling draws us into the Opera Gallery (Hong Kong). The gallery boasts an impressive unrelated collection in a carpeted room adjoining the main gallery - contains a Warhol, Klee and Lichtenstein among a few other works I didn’t recognize.
The Fengling exhibition of painting and sculpture is amazing. Peculiar acrylic canvases built-up with thousands of little people dominate her body of work (I ask the price for “Abundance” and “Pile-up.” In a French accent, a gallery employee says, “$480,000HK, but even if you had the money, I can’t sell, They’re sold.”
“Plastic Bags” had caught my eye (thanks to the recommendation of a graphic designer working in the area) while passing the glass storefront in Central. We’re not alone. More passersby continue to stop on the street to look.
Joyce and I visit the Cattle Depot Artists Village, an art commune converted from an old cattle pen and slaughterhouse in Kowloon City. Two exhibits are open – some mediocre multimedia exploration of ink titled “Movement,” and an interesting video installation titled “Mobility-Chinese is a Plus.” The video installation included two full wall video projections on opposite ends of the room. On one end, video of ethnic Chinese students born and raised in Germany talk about why they want to stay and work in Germany, where their language skills will give them an edge in the 21st century. They speak perfect Mandarin (according to Joyce) from alanguage school in Germany, and the English subtitles translate a picture of China as foreign and intimidating, where rude people supposedly work/study endlessly. In contrast, the other video screen shows adult Germans speaking Mandarin very poorly, and the subtitles express a very romanticized and simplistic view of China where the Germans dream of working, and where eveything is promising.
We wander massive computer markets southwest of Shek Kip Mei, buy inexpensive 8 gigabyte SD cards. Go to Hostelling International office near the Shek Kip Mei metro stop, order a city guide for Beijing at a 20% discount (I had already bought a year’s membership).
Booking hostels here can save money off online booking fees with a flat 10% upfront cost, in contrast to an online 5% + $2-3US service fee. Since any traveler to China must have booked each night and a planned itinerary to attain a visa, booking here at 10% can save a lot of money on a month’s travel (compared to the online option) when each night costs less than $6US. This was my method for providing documentation for my visa application – with copies of my purchase receipts. The same strategy could be applied to any international HI office.
I attribute my visa application’s success to thorough documentation. I had every day itemized with sightseeing plans and everything (although I know these plans will change). The guidebooks say this itinerary is nonbinding.
On the metro to Causeway Bay to do shopping, Joyce poses for photos before we head home.
No comments:
Post a Comment