M+ at Night: Hong Kong Retro-Grooving

EVENT DESCRIPTION

M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong presents ‘M+ at Night: Hong Kong Retro-Grooving’ on Friday, 3 May 2024 evening. The event will be a special night where dynamic lighting, energetic music, exciting creative activities and drinks take over the museum. Participants can unwind from the stresses of everyday life and connect with friends and like-minded souls.

M+ at Night in May 2024 will collaborate with Canton Mambo to create a night with the theme ‘Hong Kong Retro-Grooving’, celebrating the multifaceted culture of Hong Kong through music, dance, and diverse aspects of visual culture. Visitors can experience the retro Hong Kong waves of different eras and drift into the night and explore the unique retro aesthetics of local culture from 1960s to 1980s, including fashion, design, film, music, and dance, blending local and international influences.

The creative direction, concept, and curation of this edition of M+ at Night are a collaboration between M+ and Jason Swamy (Do What You Love Asia Ltd) and Hugo Belloy (Dreams and Dreams Ltd). Studio Raito is the collaborating light design studio for this series.

 Listen & Dance

Music

The 1980s marked the golden era of Hong Kong’s disco culture. But what was the social scene like before then? Visitors can experience the evolution of music and dance spanning decades—from the Latin rhythms of the 1950s to the eclectic rock of the 1970s and all the way to the signature disco anthems of the 1980s. They can also groove along with a vinyl set by Gia Fu, the iconic founder of the Canton Mambo music project, genre-spanning DJ duo Brahms & Johnny Hiller, and the Canton Mambo crew, as well as the Carnivale Latin Band formed by Jordie Guzman. Additionally, dance instructor Sherman Mosquito from DanceMos (HK) will lead visitors through the basic steps of the cha-cha, Salsa, and other social dances along with other professional dancers on the dance floor. Visitors can connect with others and experience a movie-like night, as well as enjoy the vibe and meet new friends through live music and social dance.

Vinyl Memories

It is used to be prevalent to listen to music on vinyl records. They became hugely popular from the 1950s to 1980s for its sound quality and unique listening experience, with dedicated collectors even today. Led by veteran music critic Dr Wong Chi Chung, a sharing and vinyl listening session with music representatives from the local music scene, including Gia Fu, founder of the legendary Canton Disco Andrew Bull, and Johnny Hiller, will be held as they discuss vinyl’s peculiar global influences of each era in Hong Kong while showcasing LPs from their personal collections.

Play & Interact

Drop-in Workshops:

Beaded Jewellery Making

The period between the 1960s to 1980s was the golden era of plastic production of Hong Kong. Plastic goods were highly innovative in terms of their design, material usage, and colour combinations. Visitors can create retro bead jewellery inspired by those plastic goods.Mix & Match Fashion Collages

Get inspired by styles from different places and eras to create a collage showcasing visitors’ unique look using fabrics and photos from magazines. Mix and match materials to highlight one’s distinctive style.

Conversations: Back to the Y2K

Y2K, the period from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, saw the crossover of the Internet and the real world, influencing various fields such as music and fashion. Artist Swing Lam will bring visitors back to the year 2000 to find out how the pop culture elements of yesteryear have become the ‘Y2K style’ that Gen Z has embraced. Visitors are invited to bring their own Y2K object and share with the artist their stories.

Pop-up Chat by M+ Staff

What goes on behind the scenes at the museum? Gain insight into a piece of work and hearing the interesting behind-the-scenes stories from staff across M+ departments.