Picture of the Day: Taxi Commendation Scheme

Good taxi driver? Take down all his info first

 

Yesterday afternoon I flagged down a taxi on Staunton Street near Tai Kwun in Central. At first the driver asked where I was going as he was a Kowloon taxi and needed to return the car, but agreed to take me in.

After a while I noticed in front of me was this sign: "Taxi Service Commendation Scheme", asking riders to scan the QR code and recommend your driver.

The nomination period already began on July 15 and goes on until September 30, and then the voting period is from October 22 to December 17.

When you scan the QR code, you have to enter the driver's name, mobile number, the taxi registration number and the license plate, when and where you got the ride from, and a section called "experience sharing" to add any other additional comments.

The form is exhausting to say the least, and what's the point?

Most people are not going to pay attention to fill out all these details and even the driver's mobile number? Obviously the people creating the form have not thought of the reality of having to fill it out.

And when do you fill it out? When a driver returns your smartphone to you or gets you across the harbour in 10 minutes?

We understand the taxi industry is trying hard to improve its services in its competition with car hailing apps like Uber, but this "Taxi Service Commendation Scheme" is not going to make drivers stop smoking in their vehicles, clean them better or have a sunnier attitude.

Though I have to say this driver had an Octopus reader and just as we were nearing my destination I asked if I could pay my ride with Octopus.

"You should have told me earlier," the driver replied with a surly attitude, turning it on.

He saved me the time and effort from having to fill out the form...

 

Takashi Murakami Versus Himself

Murakami's caricature of himself vomiting with happy flowers behind him

Last week my colleagues and I had a chance to see the latest Takashi Murakami show being held at Tai Kwun Contemporary that runs until September 1 minus the hordes of crowds. I saw his show last year at the Vancouver Art Gallery called The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg, and none of the pieces in there were in this exhibition in Hong Kong.

Entitled Murakami vs Murakami, this show gives another side of the artist that are on a more personal level, as well as site-specific pieces, sculptures, animation, costumes and even carpet! Visitors had to wear shoe covers in order to tour the exhibition as there are two rooms covered with Murakami carpet!

The curious The Birth of a Universe sculpture in gold

We were advised to go to the third floor then walk down and the first room had carpet covered in colourful skulls. In the middle of the large room is a giant gold leaf sculpture called The Birth Cry of a Universe after Murakami worked on it for 10 years.

It's several layers of creatures with nasty spiky teeth, collapsing on top of each other. Why one would make it in gold... is it meant to be ironic? Bling bling? Grotesque yet grand? We don't quite know what to make of it.

The next room is filled with mannequins all looking uniform in orange jumpsuits, and there are pieces from Murakami's own personal art collection. There are photographs of Larry Gagosian, prints of illustrations by Andy Warhol, some strange pieces of sushi that have images of women on them...

After walking down the spiral staircase we were immediately taken by the several costumes the Japanese artist designed -- with him as the mannequin in white complete with glasses, white beard and white hair. He is making fun of himself wearing them in various poses and they're hilarious.

Murakami being eaten by Mr DOB

He's dressed in a giant ball covered in his famous smiling flowers and he's even wearing a sunflower headdress complete with green leggings and even sneakers covered in his signature sunflowers. In another one he has a hot pink octopus on his head and a colourful suit with octopus arms on the blazer. Maybe Murakami should design his own line of clothing...

Even better he is being eaten by one his own creatures Mr DOB, actually Murakami's alter ego, or wearing what looks like a massive kimono but really it's a humungous polo shirt of his happy flowers, funky pants and giant slippers. His creativity really knows no bounds.

Another room features the superflat flowers. Murakami's theory of superflat refers to not only the perspectival flatness on the picture plane in Japanese art, but also the rejection of hierarchical divisions between high and low art, and of society itself.

This room is also covered in carpet featuring every possible shade of his flowers from red, green, blue and yellow that are all coded with numbers... it's really nerdy! There are giant sunflower cushions to sit on and watch a Murakami animation that is so absurd I burst out laughing when a creature that was terrorizing a city spewed out a giant piece of turd... thank goodness we couldn't smell it!

Cute (but expensive) flower cushions on the flower carpet

I also love the way Murakami is very willing to make fun of himself and the way he looks. There's a caricature of him vomiting some colourful stuff from his mouth, his eyes looking glazed. The walls were covered in the flower wallpaper and one of my colleagues thinks superfan Murakami collectors probably have the same wallpaper on their walls... how crazy is that?

The final room is a serene departure from the previous one, though it's completely covered in gold. In a way it harks back to Warhol's Silver Factory, but up several notches with the wow factor. There's a giant gold sculpture called Flower Parent and Child, a caricature of Murakami raising his right hand in salute with his dog Pom, the first creature with whom he could really express his love -- even though he is married...

Murakami vs Murakami is such a curious exhibition that reveals so many facets of the artist and his evolution of work. His mind must be going non-stop with so many ideas that he has to have a giant team of people to execute them all -- brilliantly too.

A gold sculpture of Murakami and dog Pom

He and Jeff Koons are the two artists who don't physically have a hand in every single piece of work they produce, and yet they claim them as their own. However it's no different from artists from other periods in history who relied on apprentices to help them too.

Nevertheless the size, scale and various mediums Murakami produces is staggering and doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

Murakami vs Murakami
June 1-September 1, 2019
Tai Kwun Contemporary
10 Hollywood Road
Central
www.taikwun.hk
Tai Kwun Contemporary

Picture of the Day: Giant Monkey

A giant snub-nosed monkey hanging from H Queens

The other day I was at Tai Kwun, the former Central Police headquarters, and when I looked up, I saw a giant monkey across the street!

Called Golden Monkey, it's a 14-metre tall inflated snub-nosed monkey created by Australian artist Lisa Roet. It was installed in December on the H Queens building and will be there until next month.

Several years ago Roet began a series of works called Extinct Distinct, based on her documentation of some newly discovered yet endangered species of primates.

She says there are many interesting stories associated with snub-nosed monkeys. "Their sneezing snub nose is definitely one of them," Roet says. "They sneeze to get melted ice and rain out of their upturned nose. Before they were discovered, nearby villagers though the sneezing sound was from their sick ancestors. That led scientists traveling in the village to investigate, and they found this new species in Yunnan's high mountains in 20210. Global warming made an impact on its habitat, making it a symbol of changing global weather patterns."

As a result, Roet wants to make large-scale versions of this monkey to place them on skyscrapers in urban centres to highlight the increasing urbanization and co-habitation of urban and nature.

A Quick Visit to Tai Kwun

One of the two courtyards in Tai Kwun that gives a wonderful spacious area

The other day I had a bit of time and was near the newest landmark in Hong Kong -- Tai Kwun (大馆), or the former Central Police Station and had a quick look around.

The beautiful staircase that everyone has photographed

Many people have posted pictures on social media already, particularly the spiral staircase and the stairs where it says "Mind the Step" at each step... a bit tedious one might say.

Tai Kwun has been a long time coming. It was closed in 2006 and then the public got a chance to look at it before it was renovated in 2008 in a partnership between the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Hong Kong government, but nothing happened for a long time; perhaps behind the scenes there was a lot of assessment that had to be done in terms of the buildings' stability and condition.

And then in May 2016 one of the retaining walls suddenly collapsed that set back the project another year or so. Meanwhile as a passerby, the construction site was wrapped up in white and for a long time we couldn't see any progress.

The second courtyard with a Herzog & de Meuron building

But finally a few months ago Tai Kwun opened its doors. Much of the original buildings have been retained, and there are two modern additions to the compound, futuristic buildings designed by Herzog & de Meuron, who you may remember designed the Bird's Nest in Beijing.

The Central Police Station was first built in 1841, and it's a huge complex that has two giant courtyards with trees, making it quite a nice setting. However the jail cells -- you can see some of them -- seem quite tiny, and prisoners were physically tortured. They couldn't even use the toilet -- only a bucket, and another bucket of fresh water.

You can access Tai Kwun from the Mid-Levels escalator

Some of the spaces in the buildings have been converted into cafes and restaurants, while the larger spaces are for art exhibitions by local artists. However we prefer admiring the architecture. There's a lot of concrete but also wood, and the compound is pretty much in tact, leaving the massive courtyards free for people to wander and feel enveloped by the space.

I have yet to try the restaurants and bars here, but it would be quite neat to dine here and see what the atmosphere is like in the evening.

Meanwhile I have heard from people who live and work in the area are so glad Tai Kwun is open because the scaffolding around it made the area congested and now there are more options for pedestrians to get around Wyndham Street.

One of the tiny jail cells in Tai Kwun

I will have to come back another time to look at Tai Kwun again more closely, but it's a nice way to spend even 20 minutes wandering around and admiring our latest landmark in the city.