deTour 2015, Hong Kong’s annual creative festival will take place at the iconic Former Hollywood Road Police Married Quarters (PMQ) from November 27th to December 6th. deTour will host an abundance of interactive activities including workshops, pop-up exhibitions, design dialogues and art installations to showcase the creative works by young, emerging talents as well as to raise awareness of social issues and engagement with the local community.
This year’s event brings together Hong Kong’s most sought-after new media artists, including Alen Ng, Keith Lam, Gaybird Leung, LAAB and WARE to “connect” their innovative artworks with the public. The installations, suitable for all ages, encourage participants to roll up their sleeves and connect with the creators. From giant interlocking horns, to life-size hamster wheels, all the installations are designed to excite all senses.
The theme “Connection” represents artistic design and innovation displayed through inter-disciplinary forms of creativity and culture. “Connection” aims to build a network of creative clusters and invites talented artists to open new landscapes to the sector. In this way, deTour 2015 “connects” with Barcelona, the partner city of BODW and other local design and technology projects to create opportunities for new social innovations.
Not only can visitors discover new insights from Hong Kong’s emerging artists, deTour 2015 also offers creative educational messages through a series of pop-up exhibitions. For example, the #povertyline photo exhibition, an inspiring photography project about “poverty vs food” by the internationally acclaimed Singaporean photographer Stefen Chow and the respected Economist, Hui-Yi Lin; “A few better thing”, a fashion exhibition curated by renowned stylist Denise Ho and her team Knotti, showcasing unique knitted craftworks made by underprivileged women in Hong Kong; the MUJI Compact Life Hong Kong exhibition; MobArt x deTour and much more.
To further enhance the interactive experience, visitors will have the chance to participate in creative workshops designed for the whole family. With an emphasis on education through design, this year deTour will feature workshops that connect the East and the West, such as “Porcelain Christmas”, hosted by Zhen Porcelain, “Connect with Taste” by Taste Library, Green B Urban Farming by Smiley Planet, Sovereign Art Foundation Art Lab, and many others, which will entertain families and individuals alike. Special pop-up stores such as “EUROPOP!”, is an initiative linking Dutch, French, German and Swedish Chambers of Commerce, to take lead in introducing European designs to Hong Kong audience.
Other highlights of the 10-day festival include Design Dialogues by Lego Certified Professional Builder on “Brick by Brick – Fostering young creativity through playing well”, STAR WARS on “Design Elements and Inspirations”, PechaKucha, and more. As an incentive this year, the deTour creative team has designed a fun photo booth selfie exercise, “SNAP!”, in which ten winners for the most liked photos and the most creative photos voted online will get a set of surprising goody bags. In addition, visitors will have opportunity to screen print their personalized deTour t-shirt or tote bag to take home.
Filled with exciting and interactive events, deTour 2015 is Hong Kong’s must-visit creative festival for all ages to experience, connect, and learn about the forefront of local and international design. For more details, please visit www.detour.hk.
About deTour
Conceived in 2004 as a concurrent event of the Business of Design Week, deTour has become an annual programme showcasing Hong Kong as an international creative hub and featuring inspiring designs from young and emerging creative talents. deTour consists of a series of events and programmes incorporating the most original, bold and stimulating ideas from both Hong Kong and across the globe. It created a knowledge network of young talents, emerging designers/artists, local as well as international, to exchange ideas and experiences. This is designed to engage the larger population and let the entire city come together to celebrate the creative ventures around town.
About PMQ
PMQ is part of the government’s “Conserving Central” initiative and also one of the heritage conservation and revitalization projects under the Development Bureau. Awarded with the operating rights after an open invitation for proposals, the Musketeers Education and Culture Charitable Foundation Ltd (“Musketeers Foundation”) has set up a non-profit-making registered charitable organisation to run this project, in collaboration with Hong Kong Design Centre, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Hong Kong Design Institute of the Vocational Training Council (VTC), namely PMQ Management Co. Ltd. Not only to build this iconic design hub for the Hong Kong creative industries with the design community, PMQ also promotes “enterprising creativity”, creativity manifestation, and sets out to nurture more local designers.
Info and images courtesy of deTour 2015