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From today (June 14) to December 13, passengers of New World First Bus Services Limited (NWFB) and Citybus Limited can appreciate a series of artworks when travelling on NWFB and Citybus buses of designated routes or when waiting at designated bus shelters.
The "Mobile Art Gallery 2008", themed "Sporty Hong Kong", is another art event jointly presented by the Art Promotion Office (APO) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, NWFB and Citybus, following the "Mobile Art Gallery", "Gallery Ferry" and "Mobile Art Expedition" held earlier. The project aims to extend visual arts to the daily life of the general public, and providing diverse platforms for artists to display their works.
At today's launch cum award presentation ceremony of the Mobile Art Gallery 2008, the Deputy Director (Culture) of LCSD, Mr Chung Ling-hoi, said, "The award-winning artworks testify to local people's enthusiasm for sports and Hong Kong's dynamism. The project comes at the right time to inject artistic energy into the Olympic Games which will take place in August as well as to cheer on the participating athletes."
Launched in 2002, the project has gained support from NWFB, which has offered different display platforms for the "Mobile Art Gallery" under different themes through a partnership with Citybus and New World First Ferry. Feedback from passengers has been encouraging. They say that the galleries embellish the buses, promote appreciation of art and add value to their journey.
Offering bus bodies and bus shelters as the platform to display the artworks, the "Mobile Art Gallery 2008" called for submissions in October 2007. The competition was divided into two entry groups, Open group and Youth group. A total of 156 entries were received, among which 21 artworks with merit were selected. The selected artworks are reproduced and divided into three categories for display on buses and at the light boxes of bus shelters for six months. The NWFB has designated its service routes 8P,15 and 104 and Citybus has designated its routes 10, 788 and 962B to run the "Mobile Art Gallery". Meanwhile, light boxes at bus shelters in Wan Chai, Happy Valley, Pok Fu Lam, Shau Kei Wan and Tseung Kwan O will be used to showcase part of the artworks. These "Mobile Art Gallery" buses and bus shelters will provide regular services to the public.
For the bus shelters category, five winning artists and groups from the Youth group and five from the Open group have been selected. They are Lee Mei-yan, Poon Lai-man, Chan Pak-hei, Jenny Yuen Xue- hong, and Motion Art (Lau Ka-mei, Lau Ka-ho and Ng Chor-kwan), as well as Yuen Wing-yin, Sum Wing-wai, Tang Tsz-kin, Lee Chung-hoi and Lee Chung-hoi.
For the bus body (side panel) category, five winning artists from the Youth group and five from the Open group have been selected. They are Lee Lo-yu, Wong Hon-kwan, Tou Yat-tim, Ng Mei-yi and Cristo Lam Wai-tung, as well as Tang Tsz -kin, Yung Chee-mun, Yuen Wing-yin, Wong Chun-li and Siu Kin-ming.
The artwork by Chan Yee-man, who used digital imagery as the medium, has been selected for display on the whole body of a bus.
The public will also be able to view the selected artworks at the "Mobile Art Gallery 2008 - Graphic Exhibition of the Winning Artworks", which will be held at the foyer of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre from today to June 18.
For details of the project, please contact the Public Art Team of the APO at 3101 2738. For updated information on "Mobile Art Gallery" bus routes or locations of bus shelters with artworks on display, please contact the hotlines of NWFB at 2136 8888 or Citybus at 2873 0818.
Ends/Saturday, June 14, 2008
Issued at HKT 12:00
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