With the aim of encouraging audience participation of various age groups and interests, a series of special programme were organised throughout the exhibition period in the form of audio walks, night bus tours, workshops and a talk to provide a unique platform for knowledge exchange and sharing. The public was invited to experience, explore and engage with the subject and object of neon signs in multiple and creative ways.
All programmes were FREE, although some had required a deposit to hold the reservation which was refunded in full after the programme. Please click here to view the event highlights.
Shortcut to Tours | Workshops | Talks | Event Highlights
HIGHLIGHTS
NEON MAP
Tours | Workshops | Talk
Audio Walks
Unlike a traditional guided tour, Audio Walks invite audience to pause, look, listen and consider the city’s neon signs in new ways. Experience and re-discover Yau Tsim Mong through professionally-produced 60-minute audio segments by electronic musician Choi Sai Ho, storyteller Yuen Che Hung, poet Liu Wai Tong and sound artist Cédric Maridet. The journey starts at Yau Ma Tei’s Kansu Street Temporary Rest Garden and ends at Sai Yeung Choi Street South. From the abstract, fictional to the sentimental, these Audio Walks are free for the public to access and download online in the form of audio tracks before embarking on the special journey.
Start the Walk
Night Bus Tours
Join the nighttime open-top bus tours aboard the double-decker bus to witness up-close, and learn about, Hong Kong’s neon signs from the perspectives of local history, advertising design and street culture. Bus departs from Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, and participants can explore neon signs located on both sides of the Victoria Harbour, from the neighbourhood of Yau Tsim Mong district until that of Wanchai where the tour ends. Each bus tour was led by experts of various subject areas. A special tour was also arranged for the visually impaired. Please click here to view the event highlights.
Neon in the Old Days (Cantonese)
(Rescheduled to 24 May 2014 (Saturday))
10 May 2014 (Saturday)
7:00 – 9:00 pm
(Rescheduled to 24 May 2014 (Saturday))
7:00 – 9:00 pm
By looking at photos of early Hong Kong street scenes, this tour will examine the influence of the city’s social and economic developments on the transformation of neon signs. Participants are invited to reflect on the meaning behind the documentation of Hong Kong’s unique cityscapes as they compare neon signs of the past with those found today. Please click here to view the event highlights.
Speaker: Cheng Po Hung, Expert in Hong Kong History, Honorary Advisor of the University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong
Quota: 45 participants; Suitable for all ages
Meeting Venue: Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui (near The Peninsula Hotel)
Note: FREE programme; A refundable $70 deposit is required to reserve your booking
This bus tour considered the relationships between shop signages, urbanism and architecture, as well as how scale and viewing distances affect the design of neon signs. Typography, symbols, colour and other visual elements employed in the design of shop signages will be considered in relation to Hong Kong’s vernacular street culture, from a macro and micro point of view. Please click here to view the event highlights.
Speakers: Keith Tam, Assistant Professor, School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Brian Kwok, Lecturer, School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Quota: 45 participants; Suitable for all ages
Meeting Venue: Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui (near The Peninsula Hotel)
Note: FREE programme; A refundable $70 deposit is required to reserve your booking
Specially-designed for the visually-impaired, this tour focused on neon signs in relation to Hong Kong’s cultural developments and the natural growth of neon signs as part of the city’s streetscapes. Through the talk and audio description, participants discovered neon signs in an engaging way that helped to visualize and widen one’s experience of the neon city through the mind’s eye. Please click here to view the event highlights.
Supported by: The Hong Kong Society for the Blind
Speaker: Elson Cheng, Professional Member, The Hong Kong Institute of Architectural Conservationists
Meeting Venue: The Hong Kong Society for the Blind, 248 Nam Cheong Street, Sham Shui Po
Quota: 80 participants; For those with visual impairment. Participants will be requested to present their Registration Card for People with Disabilities (Visual Impairment). Each participant must be accompanied by a friend or relative.
Workshops
This workshop offered an interactive experience for parents and children to explore Hong Kong’s neon signs through storytelling and city hunt. Parents re-discovered neon signs from the perspectives of their children. In the first two workshops, participating children could not only develop storytelling skills but also learn about the history, design and interesting stories behind neon signs. Parents were invited to join the last workshop which ended with a mini-party with storytelling performances by their children. Please click here to view the event highlights.
Led by: William Yip, Founder and Artistic Director and Sharon Yau, Resident Programme Supervisor of Theatre Noir Foundation
Venue: Room 812, Scout Association of Hong Kong – Education Centre, Hong Kong Scout Centre, Scout Path, Austin Road, Kowloon
Quota: 20 participants per each language; For children aged 7 – 11 (must be accompanied by a parent for the last workshop)
Note: FREE programme; A refundable $70 deposit is required to reserve your booking
As the number of neon signs dwindle in our city, perhaps it’s time to start counting down its last ten years. This workshop motivated participants to express their personal affection for neon signs, and to some extent, our city, through the medium of photography. The workshop began with a sharing session by photographer Lau Ching Ping on his Vertical Landscape photography series that portrayed Hong Kong’s unique cityscape featuring vertical neon signs, followed with a short trip to the Yau Tsim Mong neighbourhood to explore neon signs through the lens of the camera. Please click here to view the event highlights.
Led by: Lau Ching Ping, Photographer
Venue: Room 812, Scout Association of Hong Kong – Education Centre, Hong Kong Scout Centre, Scout Path, Austin Road, Kowloon
Quota: 20 participants; For those aged 18 or above
Note: FREE programme; A refundable $70 deposit is required to reserve your booking. Participants are required to bring their own camera, tripod and cable release for long exposure at night.
The older generation may still hold vivid memories of streets once full of glittering neon lights. They may still be familiar with the design of neon signs of the old bygone days. This workshop included an outdoor trip to explore the city’s neon signs for inspiration, creative making time and a sharing session. Participants gained a greater understanding of neon signs and designed a personal and unique object to take home. Please click here to view the event highlights.
Supported by: The Neighbourhood Advice-Action Council
Led by: Margaret Chu, Artist
Venue: Sham Shui Po District Elderly Community Centre, 1/F., Ancillary Facilities Block, Shek Kip Mei Estate, 100 Woh Chai Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon
Quota: 45 participants; For those aged 60 or above
Public Talk
In conjunction with NEONSIGNS.HK, this panel discussion re-examined neon signs through the lens of visual culture. Including two sessions of keynote presentation and a panel discussion, the talk elaborated on neon signs as a case study for investigating the everyday—from the perspectives of design, visual art, cinema, literature and popular culture. Please click here to view the event highlights.
Moderator:
Dr Ng Chun Hung, Associate Professor of Department of Sociology, The University of Hong Kong
Speakers:
Tobias Berger, Curator (Visual Art), M+
Christopher Doyle, Cinematographer
Christoph Ribbat, Professor of American Studies, The University of Paderborn, Germany
Keith Tam, Assistant Professor of School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Venue: agnès b. CINEMA, 2 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Language: English with Cantonese simultaneous interpretation
Submitted by
My Neon City
TIPS:
On a neon sign, the words are created by glass tubes. On a LED sign, the words are composed by many tiny light bulbs. Don’t mix them up!
