Living in this fast-paced world today, is there even time for nostalgia? Changes are inevitable in big cities, but not all changes are necessarily positive. In Hong Kong, I often complain to my local friends that 90% of the lovely spots that I discovered the year before are likely to disappear within [...]

I visited Manchester once when I was at university when my friends and I drove to the city and spent half a day there. I don't recall much except for traffic jams and gloominess; needless to say, I was not particularly impressed. Yet when I found out about the Asia Triennial Manchester [...]

 
Around this time last year, I saw a few puppetry performances at the Suspense festival (see my previous blog entry here), but for some reason, the festival is not taking place this year. However, all is not lost as there is Pie’s Mimetic Festival, a two week celebration of the emerging [...]

Yoshitomo Nara at the Dairy Art centre

 
This autumn/winter, lucky Londoners have the opportunity to see the solo exhibitions of two internationally renowned Japanese contemporary artists Yoshitomo Nara and Shinro Ohtake. The artists were both in town to talk about their work, and I was especially interested in hearing from Yoshitomo Nara [...]

 
A while back I wrote about the Japanese soft power on the world, but within the last decade, the world has witnessed how South Korea managed to conquer the world through technology, design, cosmetics (including surgeries) and pop culture in a relatively short period of time. The transformation is staggering because South [...]

 Top: Haggerston; Bottom: Hanqing Miao's performance

 
I used to spend much my time hanging out at the ICA, yet since summer, I have been frequently visiting another new arts/cultural space, The Proud Archivist in Haggerston (an area where I was not familiar with before). I have never eaten in the restaurant downstairs [...]

New paper stationery by Kuroyagiza from Japan
 
Can you remember the last time you received a handwritten letter from someone? I can't (postcards don't count). Have we lost the art of letter writing? Did you ever have pen pals when you were younger? In recent years, authors, designers and retailers are trying to [...]

Apart from a string of art fairs taking place in London last month, there was also the 2-week long Dance Umbrella festival, showcasing exceptional talents in the world of choreography from around the world.
At the festival, I saw some brilliant and ground-breaking dance performances produced by two contemporary dance companies. The first one [...]

 
The title of this blog entry came up because of an article I read recently on BBC magazine regarding the effects of climate change. Higher temperatures and droughts across the globe are having big impact on the entire ecosystems, including the reduction of leaf pigments production and causing leaves to fall from [...]

Top: 50 ft installation of work by David Shillinglaw; Bottom left: Jack Teagle; Bottom right: Ego Leonard
 
Although I am not a big fan of mega art fairs, I would support smaller art fairs and independent artists who may not be represented by galleries. These fairs also provide an opportunity for visitors [...]