Sign up at: www.eventhorizon.hk
15 October 2015 (HONG KONG) – On 19 November, British Council Hong Kong presents Event Horizon by British artist Antony Gormley, the largest public art installation ever seen in Hong Kong, with lead partner the K11 Art Foundation (KAF). Thirty one sculptures will be mounted at both street level and building tops across around a kilometer wide zone in Central and Western district. “I am very excited about Event Horizon in Hong Kong; a complex city situated in a unique geographic and political environment. I hope the installation will make people more mindful: more alert, alive and aware of themselves and their city”, says Antony Gormley. The extensive public programme which accompanies Event Horizon will include dedicated activities and support tools for students, teachers and the general public. The aim is to encourage discussion of art in the city and development of skills such as creative thinking, critical thinking and visual literacy.
“Public art is about encouraging a dialogue between people and their environment, enabling an interaction that will ultimately make the city a better place to live in. Event Horizon is a project that stimulates and invites reflection. It will be accompanied by a new learning platform which will reach out to teachers, students and the public. The British Council has developed an education programme to enable participants to engage with the sculptures and to inspire viewers to reassess their interaction with their surroundings. It seeks to support individuals as they to respond to sculptures and further develop artistic as well as reflective tools,” says Robert Ness, Director of British Council Hong Kong.
Adrian Cheng, Founder and Honorary Chairman of the K11 Art Foundation and Lead partner added: “In our time, we have programmed over 70 educational workshops engaging 1500 participants. For Event Horizon, we will work with children from the ages of 9 to 16 with hands on sessions, guided by our trained K11 educational partners, this enables KAF and the project to reach all over Hong Kong. Seeing is one thing, but touching, handling and making is another. We hope for this to break down the barriers that some might feel with contemporary art and enable new, younger audiences to get hands on and get involved.”
For Public and Youth
A series of public lectures, seminars and hands-on workshops will be held relating to the topic of “public art in the city” including a talk by Antony Gormley on 16 November 2015 at the University of Hong Kong, presented by Robert Ness Director of British Council Hong Kong, and Adrian Cheng, Founder and Honorary Chairman of K11 Art Foundation.
Guided tours by Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation (YAF) will help train young guides and allow young people in the city to be party of this project. They will explore the relationship between the thirty one sculptures which are positioned to look out into space, installed at both street level and rooftops across Hong Kong’s Central and Western districts, questioning how the built world relates to an inherited earth.
For Teachers
The British Council Teacher Workshops: Exploring Sculpture start on 20 November. This series of workshops aims to inspire secondary and tertiary students to become passionate about public art, to explore the process of making a sculpture, and to promote awareness of the diversity of public sculptures here in Hong Kong.
Each two-hour workshop consists of a range of activities using sculptures by Antony Gormley and sculptors from Hong Kong. Skills such as critical and creative thinking will be explored and students will be encouraged to develop a richer use of language. Activities are designed to generate high levels of personal response from students, all of whom will receive a certificate of attendance and an Education Pack.
The Education Pack has been designed and developed by the British Council and includes activities appropriate for an age range of 13 years and upwards. The pack is designed to stimulate a range of skills including viewing skills, visual literacy, speaking, writing, reading and role-playing. It is primarily linked to the secondary school curriculum, and is designed for the use of both English and Art teachers to use in class. All activities are flexible and may be adapted for different age groups and educational contexts.
The Education Pack is free and will be made available to over 1,000 public and special needs schools, as well as private and government community youth groups and other organisations.
For Students
Over the course of the installation from November 2015 to May 2016, there will be a series of workshops, including the children's hands on workshop with Antony Gormley in the K11 Art Mall on 21 November 2015.
Presenters
Event Horizon in Hong Kong is presented by British Council Hong Kong with support from lead partner K11 Art Foundation and sponsors GAW Capital Partners, Grosvenor, Christie's, Hogan Lovells, Howard Bilton of The Sovereign Art Foundation, Central Saint Martin /Kai-Yin Lo Cross Culture Lecture, Dynamic Network Alliances, Mazarine Asia Pacific, Icicle Group and Sinclair Communications.
Event Horizon education and outreach programme is supported by M+, West Kowloon Cultural District, Asia Arts Archive, the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Hong Kong, PMQ, Asia Society Hong Kong and Youth Arts Foundation.
Event Horizon supporting organisations include JIA Group, Perrier Jouët, The Financial Times and Time Out Hong Kong.
Event Horizon Hong Kong sculpture locations are being finalised at this moment. More information will be released shortly.
*All education activities are free of charge
British Council Teacher Workshops Exploring Sculpture details:
Workshop 1: Friday, 20 November 2015, 5.00pm-7.00pm
Workshop 2: Wednesday, 25 November 2015, 5.00pm-7.00pm
Workshop 3: Tuesday, 12 January 2016, 5.00pm-7.00pm
Workshop 4: Wednesday, 27 January 2016, 5.00pm-7.00pm
Workshop 5: Wednesday, 9 March 2016, 5.00pm-7.00pm
Workshop 6: Thursday, 17 March 2016, 5.00pm-7.00pm
Venue: Rooms 417-418, 4/f, British Council, 3 Supreme Court Road, Admiralty
Sign up for a workshop here.
Contact: teacher.training@britishcouncil.org.hk
Media Contact:
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About Antony Gormley
Antony Gormley’s work has been widely exhibited throughout the UK and internationally with exhibitions at Forte di Belvedere, Florence (2015); Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern (2014); Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia (2012); Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2012); The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (2011); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2010); Hayward Gallery, London (2007); Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (1993) and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark (1989). Permanent public works include the Angel of the North (Gateshead, England), Another Place (Crosby Beach, England), Inside Australia (Lake Ballard, Western Australia) and Exposure (Lelystad, The Netherlands).
Gormley was awarded the Turner Prize in 1994, the South Bank Prize for Visual Art in 1999, the Bernhard Heiliger Award for Sculpture in 2007, the Obayashi Prize in 2012 and the Praemium Imperiale in 2013. In 1997 he was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) and was made a knight in the New Year’s Honours list in 2014. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, an Honorary Doctor of the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Trinity and Jesus Colleges, Cambridge. Gormley has been a Royal Academician since 2003.
Antony Gormley was born in London in 1950.
About the K11 Art Foundation
Adrian Cheng established the K11 Art Foundation (KAF) in 2010. The K11 Art Foundation is a registered non-profit organisation that advances the development of Chinese contemporary art by providing a creative incubation platform to nurture artistic talent in Greater China and showcase the work of young emerging artists to a broader audience around the world. The K11 Art Foundation has embarked on cross-region, creative collaborations to introduce Chinese talents in Asia and globally and to showcase their full potential. Through researches, initiatives and partnerships, as well as harnessing the passion and energy of participants, KAF makes available to the public a diverse array of programs and exhibitions to educate and raise collective appreciation of art and culture. The K11 art village (artist-in-residence program) in Wuhan offers a space and platform for young artists to create and present their works.
Following on from previous UK partnerships with the British Council, Central Saint Martins, Cornerhouse HOME and Performing Arts Group, Brighter Sound the Foundation has collaborated with the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London to present Chinese artist Zhang Ding, with the exhibition of Enter the Dragon, opening October 2015. The K11 Art Foundation is also delighted to continue its partnership with Palais de Tokyo in Paris by co-producing a second exhibition, the solo exhibition of Tianzhuo Chen. Also, in July 2015 the foundation announced a major research partnership with Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Finally, KAF in partnership with Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation will co-curate the Surrealist exhibition Media— Dalí held at Shanghai's chi K11 art museum, in dialogue with established and emerging contemporary Chinese artists to open in from 5 November 2015 to 15 February 2016.
Please join the conversation with K11 Art Foundation on Instagram (@K11ArtFoundation), Facebook, Weibo via the hashtag #k11ArtFoundation and follow Adrian Cheng on Instagram (@ac_kaf) #kafchinaartist
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide. We work in more than 100 countries and our 8,000 staff – including 2,000 teachers – work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year by teaching English, sharing the arts and delivering education and society programmes. In Hong Kong, we have been doing this since 1948, giving people opportunities to learn, share and connect worldwide.
We are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter. A core publicly-funded grant provides 20 per cent of our turnover which last year was £864 million. The rest of our revenues are earned from services which customers around the world pay for, such as English classes and taking UK examinations, and also through education and development contracts and from partnerships with public and private organisations. All our work is in pursuit of our charitable purpose and supports prosperity and security for the UK and globally.
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