Is the past always better? In a society obsessed with nostalgia, how can handicraft validate, criticise or rebut the popular idea? Timmy Wong is a master tailor of kwan kwa, a type of traditional two-piece Chinese bridal costume. He inherited ‘Lucky Embroidery’ from his father in 1977, which now stands as the only workshop still producing kwan […]
Committed to being a ‘textile heritage museum for all’, CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile) has come to its fifth year. This month, CHAT is thrilled to announce the launch of its ‘Accessibility Tour’, Hong Kong’s first museum guided tour led by both deaf and hearing docents using spoken and sign languages, offering a […]
Textile technology has long been central to the activities of industrialists, engineers, activists, politicians and artists. Silk workers of Shandong, China, arguably created the first spinning wheel as early as the 5th century BCE. In early 20th-century India, Mahatma Gandhi popularised the collapsible charkha spinning wheel that prized human labour over industrialisation. In 1970s Hong […]
To explore the intrinsic relationship between textiles and the environment, CHAT launched the community programme Seed to Textile in 2019, which has since been tracing textile manufacturing to its origin through planting and art making. In this year’s programme, Guangzhou-based artist collective BOLOHO leads a six-month participatory art project that delves into the interactions between […]
Media artist Kingsley Ng interprets the history and characteristics of his exhibition sites, creating contemplative, meditative experiences through poetic and minimalist interventions that involve sound, light, image and kinetic installations. Theatrical or ephemeral in nature, his works are completed through the audience’s interactions, such as touching and even meditating within the artwork’s space while recalling […]
Does heritage only serve to record a bygone era and feed the nostalgia of those living in changing times? How can we collectively learn from the past and forge a better future? In spring 2024, CHAT celebrates its 5th anniversary with the group exhibition Factory of Tomorrow. Featuring CHAT’s own contemporary art collection and newly commissioned […]
Frog Carnival 2024 is a participatory ink installation that invites the public to connect with the artwork and each other. In his iconic style combining ink art, calligraphy and oil painting, Frog King Kwok conjures a series of colourful works on fabric and other materials, welcoming the audience to a vibrant and creative celebration. Marked […]
Join us for an outdoor dyeing session with your family! Using CHAT’s Japanese indigo fermentation vat and suitable for the whole family (and even pets!), participants will learn Itajime shibori, a traditional Japanese folding, clamping and dyeing technique to make a beautifully patterned bandana in 100% cotton. The workshop will take place at The Deck […]
Join us for an outdoor dyeing session with your family! Using CHAT’s Japanese indigo fermentation vat and suitable for the whole family (and even pets!), participants will learn Itajime shibori, a traditional Japanese folding, clamping and dyeing technique to make a beautifully patterned bandana in 100% cotton. The workshop will take place at The Deck […]
Ready to unleash your creativity to craft a one-of-a-kind textile gift using natural materials? In this workshop, participants will join Hong Kong multidisciplinary artist Hao Lap Yan Benjamin in the wonderful world of natural Japanese indigo and food scrap dye to create a set of scarves (1 long and 1 short) in varied lengths. Participants […]
What brings us happiness? Wealth, status, love, or fame? And, what do we rely on to find happiness? Can we be happy alone? Jakkai Siributr: Everybody Wanna Be Happy offers a unique and insightful retrospective of Siributr’s artistic journey, and to explore what brings happiness in a thought-provoking and engaging way. Join an in-depth tour […]
The garments we wear every day are composed of fibres, many of which are derived from natural materials. CHAT’s ongoing community programme Seed to Textile has been tracing the roots of textile production since 2019 and exploring the contemporary significance of the relationship between textiles, humanity and the nature world. Stepping into the 4th year […]