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Non-Mainstream

An exploration of understudied topics, by makers unfamiliar to audiences, telling untold stories and offering fluid, expanded perspectives on visual culture.

A lady sits at a lavishly set table in a high-end restaurant with waiters visible in the background.
A lady sits at a lavishly set table in a high-end restaurant with waiters visible in the background.

Who is Madame Song?

A look at the remarkable life story of Song Huai-Kuei, the artist, businesswoman, fashion impresario and cultural icon
6 mins: 
Visual Art  / Design and Architecture  / M+ Exhibitions  /  Article
Jacket and inner page of Anita Mui’s vinyl album ‘Bad Girl’. The singer stands off-centre to the left against a black background, wearing a purple satin dress and sparkly jewellery. She is framed by a cut-out silhouette of a figure in an overcoat.
Jacket and inner page of Anita Mui’s vinyl album ‘Bad Girl’. The singer stands off-centre to the left against a black background, wearing a purple satin dress and sparkly jewellery. She is framed by a cut-out silhouette of a figure in an overcoat.

Imaging Cantopop: Design and Performativity A-side

Designers crafted larger-than-life personalities of Cantopop stars using photography, illustration, fashion, and typography. We explore their stories
9 mins: 
Design and Architecture  / Visual Culture  /  Article
Cover of Tat Ming Pair’s vinyl album I Am Waiting for Your Return, which has a pixelated treatment. Anthony Wong, in a white outfit, sits on a white chair on the left side and looks into the camera. Sitting on a black chair, Tats Lau is in a black outfit and looks downward. Both of them are wearing sunglasses.
Cover of Tat Ming Pair’s vinyl album I Am Waiting for Your Return, which has a pixelated treatment. Anthony Wong, in a white outfit, sits on a white chair on the left side and looks into the camera. Sitting on a black chair, Tats Lau is in a black outfit and looks downward. Both of them are wearing sunglasses.

Imaging Cantopop: Design and Performativity B-side

Cantopop grew out of Hong Kong’s cultural production at its most interdisciplinary, experimental, and diverse, expanding what graphic design could be
11 mins: 
Design and Architecture  / Visual Culture  /  Article
Rocking lounge chair made out of Brazilian pau ferro wood and cane. The cane is set in a wooden frame to form the seat and back, appearing as a long flowing line from the side. The centre of the chair’s seat is connected to a base made of curved wood, resembling an upside-down arch. Attached below the seat’s head and foot are two smaller curved pieces of wood, which form an asymmetrical arc shapes from the side.
Rocking lounge chair made out of Brazilian pau ferro wood and cane. The cane is set in a wooden frame to form the seat and back, appearing as a long flowing line from the side. The centre of the chair’s seat is connected to a base made of curved wood, resembling an upside-down arch. Attached below the seat’s head and foot are two smaller curved pieces of wood, which form an asymmetrical arc shapes from the side.

Unravelling the Enigma of Chairs

Curator Ikko Yokoyama untangles the interwoven and lesser-known stories of chairs from Asia and beyond
9 mins: 
Design and Architecture  /  Article
Photograph showing eight Mylar cylinders with various figures painted on them. A bright light shines from near the centre of the frame. Projections are visible on the back wall.
Photograph showing eight Mylar cylinders with various figures painted on them. A bright light shines from near the centre of the frame. Projections are visible on the back wall.

Nalini Malani: Fifty Years of Experimental Animation

Doryun Chong and Olivia Chow trace how the animated works in 'Nalini Malani: Vision in Motion' layer metaphor and history to probe pressing social issues
7 mins: 
Visual Art  /  Article
Film still showing a living room exploding.
Film still showing a living room exploding.

To Chill or Not to Chill?

Ready to stream video art our from our home to yours? Curator Silke Schmickl speaks to Jihoi Lee (MMCA, Korea) about the new video streaming platform Watch & Chill
13 mins: 
Moving Image  /  Article
Monochrome video depicting a medium-sized dog in motion, running across a lawn next to a person’s legs.
Monochrome video depicting a medium-sized dog in motion, running across a lawn next to a person’s legs.

Conversing with Corpses and Dogs

Ulanda Blair takes a timely look at the video works of Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook—their meditations on death and focus on marginalised narratives
6 mins: 
Moving Image  /  Article
Four people play badminton without a net in a circular courtyard surrounded on all sides by residential towers.
Four people play badminton without a net in a circular courtyard surrounded on all sides by residential towers.

How Street Badminton Helps Us Rethink Hong Kong’s Public Spaces

An artwork inspired by street badminton leads to a conversation between artist Shirley Tse and urban researcher Sampson Wong about public space in Hong Kong
10 mins: 
Critique  /  Article
Two people wrapped in blankets lie next to each other on their stomachs on a rock, both facing a body of water. One of them has their arm around the other.
Two people wrapped in blankets lie next to each other on their stomachs on a rock, both facing a body of water. One of them has their arm around the other.

Ten Hong Kong Films You Might Have Missed

Hong Kong Film and Media Curator Li Cheuk-to suggests some lesser-known Hong Kong films to add to your watch-list
8 mins: 
Moving Image  /  Article

The Story of Chi Xiaoning and His Smuggled Camera

The story behind Chi Xiaoning's unfinished 1979 footage documenting the radical activities of the Stars Group artists in China during the Beijing Spring
11 mins: 
Moving Image  /  Article
Four photographs in a row, each showing printed signs on paper displayed in various spots in different shops. The signs are written in languages spoken in Oaxaca. The photograph furthest to the left is of a sign displaying opening hours, hung above a round metal pot of a dark brown food. The next photo shows two elderly and slightly smiling people, one sitting and one standing next to two orange signs hanging above a display of drinks in plastic bottles. The third photo shows two signs hung on a scale. The last photo shows signs of various sizes and colours on small wooden sticks that are stuck into packages of food lying on a shop counter.
Four photographs in a row, each showing printed signs on paper displayed in various spots in different shops. The signs are written in languages spoken in Oaxaca. The photograph furthest to the left is of a sign displaying opening hours, hung above a round metal pot of a dark brown food. The next photo shows two elderly and slightly smiling people, one sitting and one standing next to two orange signs hanging above a display of drinks in plastic bottles. The third photo shows two signs hung on a scale. The last photo shows signs of various sizes and colours on small wooden sticks that are stuck into packages of food lying on a shop counter.

Beyond Discipline

Artist Gala Porras-Kim writes about studying and looking at visual culture beyond established western and academic frameworks and disciplines
7 mins: 
Critique  /  Article
Monochrome film still in which a skeleton dressed in a suit with a white bowtie, black top hat, and glasses holds up a skull mask in the Mexican Day of the Dead style with a gloved hand.
Monochrome film still in which a skeleton dressed in a suit with a white bowtie, black top hat, and glasses holds up a skull mask in the Mexican Day of the Dead style with a gloved hand.

1930s Mexico, Isamu Noguchi, and Sergei Eisenstein’s Unfinished Mexican Film

In 1930, Sergei Eisenstein start a film project in Mexico—but it was never finished. Professor Natascha Drubek remembers the doomed project
10 mins: 
Moving Image  /  Article
Two red light shades placed on a white background.
Two red light shades placed on a white background.

Plastic: A Hong Kong Story

Jessica Leung of Star Industrial Co. Ltd reflects on how her family’s business turned Red A into a household name
9 mins: 
Design and Architecture  /  Video
Video showing interview with artist Zheng Guogu.
Video showing interview with artist Zheng Guogu.

When Kitchen Products Become Art

One M+ curator and three conservators chat about the particular challenges of restaging 'Sample Room' by Zheng Guogu for 'Canton Express'
8 mins: 
Visual Art  /  Article
Two people suck on opposite ends of the same enlarged straw.
Two people suck on opposite ends of the same enlarged straw.

How to Restore an Artwork That No Longer Exists

M+ curators and conservators chat about restaging 'Sucker', a work that no longer physically exists, as part of the 'Canton Express' exhibition
6 mins: 
Visual Art  /  Article
Conservator Natalie Harding and former conservation intern Jessica Wu are cleaning parts of Liang Juhui’s work, ‘City’, a tall tower-like structure that has been temporarily dismantled for cleaning purposes.
Conservator Natalie Harding and former conservation intern Jessica Wu are cleaning parts of Liang Juhui’s work, ‘City’, a tall tower-like structure that has been temporarily dismantled for cleaning purposes.

Preserving the History of Tomorrow: Curating and Conserving Canton Express

One curator and three conservators sit down to share how they collaborated in restaging 'Canton Express' at the M+ Pavilion
6 mins: 
Behind the Scenes  /  Article

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