Hong Kong’s annual design festival deTour returns to PMQ to showcase creative works from local and international creative communities. This year’s theme ‘Having → Being: Designing Inner Worlds’ highlights the underlying connections between design and inner strength, inspired by Erich Fromm’s book To Have or To Be, in which he argues that true value lies in what we are and not, as society would have us believe, what we own. This year’s deTour invites visitors to explore the potential of design, focusing on how it can enrich our inner lives and elevate the experience of “being”.
Throughout PMQ, there will be 17 installations and exhibitions that prompt visitors to think about how design has affected our lives and environments. We particularly enjoyed Seoul-based artist duo Kimchi and Chips’ large-scale immersive installation, ‘REWORLD Type 2’ – what looks like a wall of small mirrors is actually revealed to each be a prism showing a slightly different view of the city behind it, constantly shifting and zooming to remix fragments of our surroundings into a new reality.
Look out also for ‘A place of Being’, an interactive scale by Wich Chau and Match Chen, which speaks to achieving balance and equilibrium in life; ‘Air-Scape’ which comprises of 3D-printed vessels and soilless foam which supports various penjing plant growth; a satirical look at post-modern feng shui by Yoojin Chung in ‘Capturing Qi’, serving as a new perspective on trying to control success through the invisible substance of Qi, and much more.
Aside from these installations in the PMQ courtyard, don’t forget to head upstairs into the studios for more thought-provoking design works, such as ‘DIVINE’ by Ford Cheng and Vinzan Leung, a mirror installation framed by a bone-like structure that blooms and shrinks in accordance with how close the viewer is.
There will also be a series of talks, workshops, and family programmes, so if you’ve ever wanted to dabble in coffee ground sculpture or learn about the connection between design and psychology, then here’s your chance.
Entry to deTour 2024 is free. See more details about the programme on the official website.