LCSD Annual Report 2002 - Cultural Services

Hong Kong Museum of Art aims to provide a balanced mix of exhibition and education programmes for the different needs of the community. In 2002, the museum staged 15 exhibitions, three of which featured exhibits from overseas and the Mainland, including Alberto Giacometti, Origins of Chinese Civilization — Cultural Relics from Henan Province and Wu Guanzhong — A Retrospective. To enhance cultural exchanges, an outbound exhibition Hong Kong Cityscape: Ink Painting in Transition was staged in the University of London's Brunei Gallery from July to September. Representative works by noted Hong Kong artists were exhibited as a highlight of the Hong Kong Festival in London.

The museum offered a wide range of education and extension programmes for both teachers and students to complement the new educational reform. Tailor-made extension programmes such as The Discoveryland of Art, an interactive travelling exhibition for children, was organised to foster their interest in and knowledge of art with reference to the Museum collection. Other events to further promote the Museum include International Museum Day 2002, School Culture Day and Museum Teacher Pass Scheme. Exhibition programmes, together with the education and extension activities, attracted more than 298,000 visitors during the year.

Situated in Hong Kong Park, the Flagstaff House Museum is a branch museum devoted to the display of Chinese teaware and the promotion of tea culture.

In addition to "The Hong Kong Story" permanent exhibition, the Museum of History presented four thematic exhibitions throughout the year. They were: The Great Wall: Gems of Cultural Relics of the Nomadic Tribes; War and Peace: Treasures of the Qin and Han Dynasties; The Battle for Hong Kong: Hong Kong under the Camera of the Japanese Army; and Bits of Old Hong Kong: Museum Acquisitions in the Last Five Years. The first two exhibitions not only enhanced public interest in Chinese history and cultural heritage, but also encouraged academic and cultural interflow between the mainland and Hong Kong. The Battle for Hong Kong: Hong Kong under the Camera of the Japanese Army exhibition recorded the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong from December 8-25, 1941, with a display of 70 historical photos. Bits of Old Hong Kong: Museum Acquisitions in the Last Five Years featured the lives of Hong Kong people over the past few decades as shown via some of the museum's most recent artifacts, acquired since Hong Kong's reunification with China. Together, the permanent thematic exhibitions attracted 897,000 visitors.

To increase public interest in local history and cultural heritage, the museum also organised 540 education and extension activities, including guided tours, weekend lectures, workshops, demonstrations and performances, field trips, video programmes, loan of educational resources, travelling exhibitions, symposia and quiz competition. As well, the museum and The Hong Kong Institute for Promotion of Chinese Culture jointly launched the First Inter-school Competition of Study Projects on Hong Kong's History and Culture on the subject of Immigrants and their Impact on the Development of Hong Kong. The response from schools was encouraging.

In addition to the Museum of Coastal Defence, the Museum of History also manages two other branch museums — the Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb Museum in Sham Shui Po and the Law Uk Folk Museum in Chai Wan.

The Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence is located in the converted, century-old Lei Yue Mun Fort in Shau Kei Wan. The Redoubt was renovated to house the permanent exhibition entitled 600 Years of Hong Kong's Coastal Defence which covers the Ming and Qing dynasties, the British period, the Japanese invasion and the resumption of Chinese sovereignty over Hong Kong.

During the year, the museum also organised three thematic exhibitions. The Medal Story featured a fine selection of some 200 invaluable medals and was jointly presented with the Orders and Medals Research Society (Hong Kong Branch), Military Uniforms in Contemporary Warfare, jointly presented with the World Militaria Association, showed battle gear and accessories. And Dr Sun Yat-sen and Modern China introduced the life history of Dr Sun including his studies in Hong Kong and his preparation for the Northern Expedition.

To arouse public interest in the history of Hong Kong's coastal defence, the museum organised education and extension activities, such as guided tours, lectures, workshops, demonstrations and field trips. During April and August, it ran a Junior Curator Training Course, which culminated in the trainees designing and producing two small-scale displays — Life under the Japanese Occupation, 1941-45: Food and Traditional Marriage Customs — by applying what they had learnt.

On October 1, 2002, the Museum of Coastal Defence along with the Hong Kong Adventure Corps, Hong Kong Air Cadet Corps and Hong Kong Sea Cadet Corps presented the Flag Raising Ceremony on National Day. Its aim was to give the cadets an opportunity to celebrate National Day by recognising the national identity. The year's various exhibitions and education activities attracted 331,650 visitors and participants.

Ancient Chinese Astronomy, an exhibition on loan from the Beijing Planetarium, the Beijing Ancient Observatory and the Suzhou Ancient Astronomical Chronograph Research Centre was presented in the Hong Kong Science Museum until April 7. Within an array of ancient Chinese astronomical and chronological instruments, the exhibition also featured two genuine astronomical instruments classified as Class One National Treasures, which demonstrated the ingenuity of ancient Chinese scientists. Also on display were interactive models of selected astronomical instruments to show how they work. The exhibition attracted 109,849 visitors in total.

From May 3 to August 7, 2002, the museum presented the Flowers in the Mirrors special exhibition. Conceptualised, designed and fabricated entirely in-house, the theme was based on a Chinese novel of the same title written in the Qing dynasty. The exhibition contained over two dozen exhibits, including mirror settings, a mirror labyrinth, and a range of interactive installations demonstrating the science of optics and symmetry.To complement the exhibition, which attracted 107,472 visitors, the museum organised a series of lectures, teacher's workshops, children's weekend activities, competitions and guided tours.

A thematic exhibition, Discover Soil and Slope, was jointly developed by the Museum and Civil Engineering Department to introduce soil science and the importance of slope safety to the public. It was displayed in the museum lobby for two months, then converted into a travelling exhibition for free loan to secondary schools.

In mid-2002, Science News Corner, a new gallery was set up to introduce the public to scientific research currently being undertaken in local universities and to keep them up to date with the latest scientific developments. The corner has four zones, namely, SciTech Profile, Hot Talk, Science Windows and Science Web, and the information therein is regularly updated. Two of the most popular themes in 2002 were Nanotechnology and Plant and Fungal Biotechnology each displayed for three months.

In June, the museum joined with the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to present a series of lectures featuring three Nobel Laureates in physics, Prof. C.H.Townes, Prof. C. Cohen-Tannoudji and Prof. G.'t Hooft. The series, which attracted audiences of more than 1,000 people, illustrated the museum's continuing efforts to promote public interest in frontier science.

From August to December, the museum teamed up with Radio Television Hong Kong to produce a series of twice-weekly radio programmes, concentrating on the lives of 24 famous scientists and their contributions to the modern world.

Another exhibition, Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body, was launched on November 22. It features interactive displays of exaggerated human organs, enabling participants to find out about the body in a fun way. For example, you can experience a giant burp by pumping soda pop, crawling and sliding through a 10-metre-long 3D model of the digestive system and becoming a dust particle that journeys through a giant nose. The exhibition has attracted 48,502 visitors so far.

The department has launched a Teacher Museum Pass Scheme to encourage teachers to visit museums and to make use of the museum resources to support their teaching. The Hong Kong Science Museum, serving as the coordinator of scheme, arranged orientation sessions for teachers and processed applications from more than 2,000 schools. In June, a Resource Centre equipped with audio-visual facilities and computers was set up to provide science education reference materials and information services to visitors

Over the year, the Museum worked together with academic institutions, universities and professional bodies on a number of special projects to promote science. Science Alive 2002, Fun Science Contest, Primary Science Project Competition, Joint Schools Robotic Olympiad, the 35th Joint School Science Exhibition and Science Debates were some of the most popular.

In 2002, the museum's exhibitions and extension activities attracted more than 868,000 people.

The Hong Kong Space Museum is working together with the Hong Kong Astronomy League (formerly the Astronomy Workshop) to establish an Interactive Astronomical Observatory in the New Territories. The purpose of the project, which is funded by the Quality Education Fund, is to set up a remote-controlled telescope that can be accessed by teachers via the Internet for teaching and organising astronomical activities. The training programme for teachers began in November last year. The observatory equipment is under procurement, and construction work will start soon and is expected to complete in 2003.

The museum's Astronomy Resource Centre was opened to public at the end of 2002. The museum has published two astronomical publications Ancient Chinese Star Map and Butterflies in the Starry Sky as well as the Astrocalendar 2003.

During the year, the Space Museum launched two Sky Shows, Butterflies in The Starry Sky and In Search of New Worlds; four Omnimax films, Beauty and The Beast, Journey into Amazing Caves, Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure and Dolphins; and five School Shows Sun, Moon and Stars, The New Solar System, Cosmic Voyage, Amazing Journeys, and The Greatest Places. They attracted more than 362,000 people.

The museum also organised 194 extension activities with more than 28,000 participants, and displayed 11 temporary special exhibitions. The 59 permanent exhibits, most of them interactive, in the Hall of Astronomy and Hall of Space Science attracted more than 360,800 visitors.

The Hong Kong Heritage Museum seeks to foster the cultural identity of the local community and promote Hong Kong's heritage to overseas visitors, and features a wide variety of programmes on local history, arts and culture.

This year, the museum's overall theme was entitled Women's Festival, a major project comprising a number of exhibitions and activities. Fong Yim Fun: Life and Work of a Female Cantonese Opera Artist celebrated the distinguished achievements of a local female artist; Images of Females in Chinese History illustrated the transformation of women's image and lifestyle from the Warring States to the Qing dynasty; Hong Kong Women's Identities — A Historical Survey focused on the changing roles of women in the past century; and Superwoman — Hong Kong Poster League Episode II showcased six local male designers and six international female designers.

Other major displays included an event to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China, and From Life to Mind — Kan Tai-keung's Design and Art, a spectacular retrospective of the internationally acclaimed Hong Kong designer.

Education and extension programmes such as Hong Kong International Museums Day 2002, Community-based Integrative Arts Performance Project (in collaboration with the Hong Kong Institute of Education) and Arts Education Expo 2002 (in collaboration with the Hong Kong Arts Development Council) also attracted wide public attention and involvement.

In 2002, the museum's exhibitions and activities attracted 745,000 visitors and participants.

The Heritage Museum manages three branch museums, the Sam Tung Uk Museum in Tsuen Wan, the Hong Kong Railway Museum in Tai Po Market and the Sheung Yiu Folk Museum in Sai Kung.

The Hong Kong Film Archive's major functions are to acquire, preserve, catalogue and document Hong Kong films and related materials. It holds some 5,500 films and 917,000 related materials. Located in Sai Wan Ho, the Film Archive's facilities include a 127-seat cinema, a 200-square-metre gallery, four temperature-and-humidity-controlled film stores and a resource centre with a fully computerised cataloging system.

During the year, the Film Archive organised nine exhibitions and 19 thematic film shows with 460 screenings, conducted 15 seminars and 34 guided tours, which together entertained over 214,000 visitors. The Film Archive has also published a number of publications including The Swordsman and His Jiang Hu: Tsui Hark and Hong Kong Film, The Cathay Story and Chang Cheh: Memoirs and Criticism.