Media

HKU weekly notice

11 May 2018

 

First public display of historical photos on Hong Kong's major infrastructure projects between 1972 to 1988
Historical photos taken between 1972 and 1988 by Heather Coulson, a leading construction and architectural photographer, about Hong Kong’s major infrastructure projects including the Cross Harbour Tunnel, Mass Transit Railway, Castle Peak Power Station, Plover Cove Water Reservoir, will be on display for the first time at the City Gallery from March 24 to May 16, 2018.

Exhibition: Infrastructure Imagination: Hong Kong City Futures, 1972-1988 is organised by the Division of Landscape Architecture of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) based on photographs drawn from the Heather Coulson Photograph Collection, generously donated to the HKU Libraries by Heather Coulson.

The exhibition is divided into four sections: 1) Mass Transit Railway, 2) Highways and Tunnels, 3) Electricity Networks, and 4) Water Works. Each section consists of displays of large-format photographs as well as scaled drawings that illustrate the physical configurations of selected projects. These are supplemented with video footage and archival records that document the construction boom in Hong Kong in the 1970s and 1980s.

Exhibition: Infrastructure Imagination: Hong Kong City Futures, 1972-1988
Period: March 24 to May 16, 2018
Venue: City Gallery
10am - 6pm Daily (closed on Tuesdays, except May 1)

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Melanie Wan (Senior Manager (Media), Communications and Public Affairs Office) Tel: 2859 2600 email: melwkwan@hku.hk.

UMAG exhibitions
Bosshard in China: Documenting Social Change in the 1930s captures the tumult of the 1930s through historical photographs and films

Period: Now till August 5, 2018 (Sunday)

The exhibition is organised into thematic sections that give insight into the photographer’s mind as he traversed myriad landscapes and social conditions, from Beijing to Lake Qinghai in western China; from the bombing of Hankou to Mongolian shepherds on the steppe. Apart from filming daily life, Bosshard also photographed and interviewed key political figures, including Mao Zedong in Yan’an, Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling, Madame Chiang Kai-shek.

Following earlier exhibitions at UMAG of Magnum photographers and their oeuvres in the West, Bosshard in China documents China’s landscape and its people during a time when China was undergoing significant sociopolitical upheaval. During this same era, photojournalism was developing into a serious mass medium of information, and Bosshard’s work in the 1930s was one of the primary means by which the Far East came to life across living rooms in Europe and America.

As Bosshard’s journeys through China are well documented, his imagery offers valuable contextual information. He provides views into a society—and now past—that benefits from the objective view of the camera lens. Bosshard’s work is of historical significance, as most Western photographers only went to China for individual assignments, but did not live there for extended periods. Many of the Chinese photographers were politically engaged or had been commissioned, which resulted in a more selective subject matter and consistent narrative.

Bosshard’s documentary photography and film are neither colonialist nor otherwise politically motivated. Though he lived alongside the Chinese people during the Japanese invasion, he did not take sides but rather let his images—both still and moving—capture the scenes unfolding around him. This phenomenon is remarkable, as traditional reports of political and military campaigns, and especially images of warfare, often aimed to communicate either nationalist or anti-nationalist sentiments. Bosshard documented urban centres and rural regions, peaceful everyday as well as wartime activities, and throughout all of these moments he strived to remain a neutral observer. His oeuvre presents a more holistic view of a country that was perceived internationally as highly important but altogether remained little known.

Venue: 1/F T.T. Tsui Building, UMAG, HKU, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam

Opening Hours:
09:30 – 18:00 (Monday to Saturday)
13:00 – 18:00 (Sunday)
Closed on University and Public Holidays
Tel/Email: (852) 2241 5500 (General Enquiry) / museum@hku.hk
Admission: Free
Website: www.umag.hku.hk/en/

Media enquiries:
UMAG Senior Communications Officer Ms Elena Cheung, Tel: (852) 2241 5512, Email: elenac@hku.hk
UMAG Programme Assistant Miss Chelsea Choi, Tel: (852) 2241 5509, Email: cchelsea@hku.hk