WST TV

1. Family-friendly Hong Kong duplex a home for the coronavirus era with its creative approach to living and work spaces

   Video conferencing from the kitchen, clashing schedules, incessant background noise, jostling for comfortable desk space – these were just some of the problems the Batten family were having to contend with last summer.By October, they knew they had to move. “We tried to make our existing flat work, even converting the kids’ playroom into a home office, but by the time we were four or five months into the pandemic we realised the situation wasn’t getting any better – it was getting worse,” says…

2. Can design make the world better? Yes – think sculptures that double as safety features and DIY tools the elderly can operate

   If you’re looking for an example of inclusive design, the very text of Jeremy Myerson’s new book is a good place to start. Designing a World for Everyone: 30 Years of Inclusive Design is packed with richly illustrated examples of architecture, products and systems that were conceived to work for as many people as possible, regardless of age or ability.It’s written in a lively and familiar way, no doubt informed by Myerson’s previous career as a journalist.“People won’t read an academic text,…

3. Jungle Cruise movie review: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt in enjoyable adventure based on Disney’s popular theme park ride

   3.5/5 starsDwayne Johnson headlines an old-fashioned romp through the Amazon in Jungle Cruise, the latest film spun off from a popular Disney theme park ride.Like Pirates of the Caribbean, the studio will doubtless hope this action adventure spawns a multimillion-dollar movie franchise, even if it doesn’t boast a character as memorable as Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow.What it does have is some genteel chemistry between Emily Blunt’s headstrong adventurer Dr Lily Houghton and Johnson’s…

4. Christie’s Asia to hold year-round sales at new headquarters in Hong Kong from 2024

   Auctioneer Christie’s has signed a 10-year lease on a new Asia Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong that will allow it to hold year-round auctions and private sales from 2024.The building, called The Henderson, is being developed in the city’s Central district on Hong Kong Island by Henderson Land in the space where the Murray Road multistorey car park used to stand. It is designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the British firm named after and founded by the late British-Iraqi star architect.Francis…

5. Ghost Mansion movie review: Korean horror anthology sees webtoon artist visit haunted apartment to turn curse into a bestseller

   2.5/5 starsDigital comics known as webtoons are proving a fertile source of material for South Korea’s booming media industry. Many recent K-drama hits, including Sweet Home and Itaewon Class, were adapted from the popular new medium, while blockbuster franchise Along with the Gods also began life on the virtual page.Ghost Mansion, a horror anthology film from first-time director Jo Ba-reun, aims to return the compliment, spinning a yarn about a struggling webtoon artist who ventures into a…

6. Recent Hong Kong history, from Sars epidemic to ‘umbrella movement’ to ‘fear of now’, inspires city artists’ work, on show in two exhibitions

   Works by Hong Kong artists are showing in commercial galleries in the city that ordinarily only sell art from overseas, under an initiative by the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association.This comes at a time of unprecedented interest in Hong Kong culture. The city is enduring a difficult transformation, which has spurred creativity.Hong Kong artists have been reflecting on the city and its circumstances, often in subtle ways. Examples of their work are on view in Wong Chuk Hang at Axel Vervoordt…

7. Wong Ping’s video art, cynical, crude and cartoonish, is a rebellion against adult responsibility

   Wong Ping, a self-described comedian, plunged into art several years ago with the libido of a petulant schoolboy under no adult supervision.In his animated world, genitals are playthings indistinguishable from stuffed toys, while naive jokes about scatological and reproductive processes abound.Wearing his political incorrectness like a badge of honour, the 37-year-old artist has nonetheless attracted growing international interest, and the New Museum in New York has just opened a first American…

8. K-drama review – Kingdom: Ashin of the North sees Netflix’s hit zombie series return for revenge-fuelled special episode starring Jun Ji-hyun

   3/5 starsWhile we wait for a likely third season to materialise, Netflix invites us to return to the Kingdom saga this summer through this prequel origin story. Ashin of the North is a feature-length special that clues us in on the mysterious Ashin, played by superstar Jun Ji-hyun, who appeared in the closing moments of the second season.Following a dense preamble that outlines the geopolitics of the Jurchen forces, officials of the ancient Korean Joseon kingdom and the Seongjeoyain tribe…

9. The inherited trauma of the Killing Fields for Khmer Americans infuses the short stories Anthony Veasna So left behind before he died, and collected in Afterparties

   Afterparties: Stories by Anthony Veasna So, pub. Ecco PressWhen Anthony Veasna So died in December, aged just 28, he left behind a reputation as an author on the brink of stardom, a powerful voice for other Khmer youth growing up in America in the shadow of the collective tragedy of their parents’ and grandparents’ generations.Now, a collection of his short stories, Afterparties, has been published, helping his fiction to reach a larger audience. Many of the tales have already appeared in…

10. At Helsinki Biennial, Hong Kong artists capture zeitgeist of a world in flux, where opposing values collide and rules can be tossed aside

    Fans of the satirical The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy sci-fi series by Douglas Adams will instantly recognise the title of a Hong Kong art exhibition in Finland.“So Long, Thanks Again For The Fish” invokes the parting shot from all the dolphins as they abandon earth and species of lesser intelligence, such as humans, before the planet’s annihilation by aliens. The Cantonese name of the show is less final, less of an echo of the current exodus from Hong Kong. Taken from a Stephen Chow Sing…