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"Minamata: A Requiem", a groundbreaking music-theatre production by Kung Chi-shing and Kingsley Ng that raises questions about the physical, moral and spiritual costs of environmental pollution, will premiere in June.
Composer and musician Kung Chi-shing and new media artist Kingsley Ng collaborate on this production that takes as a historical starting point the discovery in the 1950s of the disastrous effects of toxic pollution on the people of the fishing villages of Minamata, Japan, many of whom were slowly poisoned by mercury in the water. Inspired by the moving photographs of Minamata victims taken by the journalist Eugene Smith, Kung and Ng have created this multi-media performance as a requiem for the earth and as warning for our generation. Kung and Ng have crafted a stunning work that is both music-theatre performance and visual art, collaborating with musicians, actors, and poets from Japan, the USA, the UK and Hong Kong, to reveal the relevance of Minamata for our world and our times.
Kung Chi-shing is a composer, performer and music activist. As both an individual artist and as a founding member of the performance group The Box, for over 20 years he has forged a unique style of experimental, cross-genre music. Kingsley Ng is an interdisciplinary visual artist working primarily in conceptual, site-specific and community-oriented projects. His works have been featured in notable international exhibitions, most recently at the Ircam-Centre Pompidou in Paris and the World Exposition 2010 Shanghai China.
The music theatre work "Minamata: A Requiem", one of the programmes of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department's Boundless Multi-Media Series, will be staged at 8pm on June 15 and 16 (Friday and Saturday) and at 3pm on June 16 at the Multi-Media Theatre, HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity. Tickets priced at $200 (free seating) are now available at all URBTIX outlets, on the Internet and by credit card telephone booking. Half-price tickets are available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and their minders, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients. (Limited tickets for full-time students and CSSA recipients.) Group and series booking discount schemes are also available, please refer to programme leaflet for details.
A "Minamata: A Requiem" workshop will also be held at 3.30pm on June 30 (Saturday) at Room 512, HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity. Tickets priced at $50 are available at all URBTIX outlets, on the Internet and by credit card telephone booking. Discount schemes are not applicable to workshop tickets.
A post-performance talk will be held on June 15. Patrons are welcome to join with free admission.
For programme enquiries, please call 2268 7323, or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/multi_arts/000003b8.html . For ticketing enquiries, please call 2734 9009. For credit card telephone bookings, please call 2111 5999. For Internet bookings, please visit www.urbtix.hk.
Ends/Friday, May 4, 2012
Issued at HKT 12:00
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