Art beat in August

Chinese ink

Chinese literati have had the tradition of creating ink art, believing literature and art share the same creative origin. Five writers and poets who have continued this tradition are staging an exhibition of their ink paintings. Luo Qing, Dao Zi, Xiao Jing, Chen Cun and Yang Jian are presenting their experiments with ink in a contemporary social context.

9 am-5 pm, till Aug 17, Zhu Qizhan Art Museum, 580 Ouyang Road, Hongkou district,??Shanghai

Antenna

Young Pioneers Creative Theater Festival is an annual event that has been promoting original theater productions since 2008. Antenna is a project sponsored by renowned TV celebrity Wang Han and his wife Yang Lele. It tells the story of two young people troubled by their extrasensory perception, who decide to change their sensory organs with the help of a surgeon.

7:30 pm, Aug 13-17, Ke Center for Contemporary Arts, Building B, 613 Kaixuan Road, Changning district, 021-6131-3080, 80 yuan

HK pop

Two veteran pop singers from Hong Kong: Alan Tam and Hacken Lee are performing a joint concert at the Mercedes- Benz Arena. Tam has been active in the Chinese music scene for almost 30 years and Lee for 20. The duo fi rst teamed up for concert tours in 2002. At the upcoming show they will present their golden hits, most of which are in Cantonese.

Aug 16, Mercedes-Benz Arena, 1200 Expo Avenue, Pudong, 400-181-6688 280-1280 yuan

Swan Lake on Ice

The Moscow Ballet Theater is presenting Swan Lake on Ice. The ice-ballet production touring China will also feature some Chinese elements, such as traditional Chinese acrobats. Among the performers are international award-winning ballet dancers and national champion athletes.

7:15 pm, Aug 15-17, Shanghai Oriental Art Center-Opera Hall, 425 Dingxiang Road, Pudong, 21-6854-1234 80-580 yuan

Drum United

Led by Lucas van Merwijk, who has been active in the jazz and Latin music scene for more than 25 years, Drum United from the Netherlands are showcasing their distinctive style that is a little Cuban, a little Brazilian and little North American. The other members of Drum United are Gianna Tam, Mousse Pathe from Senegal, Marco Toro from Venezuela, Alper Kekec from Turkey, Afra Mussawisadeh from Ireland, and Simone Sou from Brazil.

8 pm, Aug 17, QSW Arts and Culture Center-q.house, 2F, 179 Yichang Road, Putuo district, 021-6266-1110 100 yuan for presale, 120 yuan on the door

Nanfang festival

Inspired by the popular TED conferences, Nanfang International Literary Festival has invited six VIPs to each give a 21-minute speech at the upcoming event at the Guangzhou Opera House on Aug 19. The distinguished lecturers include Nobel Prize-winning writer Mo Yan, movie director Ann Hui from Hong Kong, Zhu Dingjian, chairman of golf resort giant Mission Hills Group, and Mao Jihong, founder of clothing brand Exception de Mixmind. During the festival, which runs from Aug 18 to 22, five Dutch writers will come to Guangzhou to interact with their fans, and representatives from Penguin and Random House will join a forum about the publishing industry.

9:30 am-5:30 pm, Aug 19. Opera Hall, Guangzhou Opera House, 1 Zhujiang West Lu (Road), Zhujiang New Town, Guangzhou. 020-8300-3708.

Leung talks new book

Leung Man-tao, a sharp and humorous Hong Kong social commentator and TV critic, is coming to Fang Suo Commune with his new book Key Words on Aug 19. The book and Leung's lecture cover incidents that have aroused heated public discussions, such as a string of attacks in Chinese kindergartens and probes into controversial social phenomena like showing off wealth.

7:30 pm-9:30 pm, Aug 19. Fang Suo Commune, MU35 TaiKooHui shopping mall, 383 Tianhe Lu (Road), Tianhe district, Guangzhou.

Moonstruck pianist

Italian pianist Luigi Rubino is coming to TU Space with his debut solo album A Theme For the Moon on Aug 19. The keyboardist of Italian neo-classical band Ashram inherits the poignant style from the band's music in his solo album, taking the audience into a cinematic scenario in which a girl dances alone in the moon. Rubino's composition style has some similarity with classical music by composers like Debussy.

8:30 pm, Aug 19. TU Space, 361-365 Guangzhou Dadao Zhong (Avenue Middle), Yuexiu district, Guangzhou. 020-3659-7623.

Abstract ideas

Lelege Art Space's current exhibition tells six stories about Chinese artists' engagement with abstract art. Changing: Abstracts in China looks into how artists such as Tan Ping, Liang Quan and Wang Guangle interpret and build their individual vocabularies of abstract art based on their experiences. The exhibition doesn't aim to make people understand or persuade them to like abstract art. Instead it encourages people to broaden their outlook toward possibilities in art.

10 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays, until Aug 20. Lelege Art Space, Room B-03 of Grand floor store of Yuanyang New Express Building, Dong Sanhuan Bei Lu (Road), Chao-yang district, Beijing. 010-8446-6434.

For more, here

Li Shaozun

Today is the last day to visit the ceramic exhibition by the artist from Jingdezhen of Jiangxi province. Li’s ceramic creations depict hand-drawn plants, fl owers and birds. The artist named his studio “Si Ji Shao”, inspired by an ancient Chinese book’s defi nition of good handicrafts: a combination of time, locality, materials and technique.

10 am-6 pm, Aug 20, Two Cities Gallery, 1F, 20 Shaoxing road, Xuhui district, 021-5252-1518

Tong Zhengang

This versatile artist works in a variety of media including ink, oils and ceramics. His new exhibition at the Long Museum features 40 ink paintings, more than 10 sculptures and a series of installations. The Heart Sutra is the most important series, according to curator Xu Gang. The artist produced the work after recovering from a serious illness in 2011 to highlight the practical signifi cance of Buddhist scripture, and how it can guide people’s lives.

10 am-6 pm, Tue-Sun, Aug 12-21, Long Museum West Bund, 3398 Longteng Avenue, Xuhui district, 021-6422-7636

Book fair

The weeklong South China Book Festival will kick off in Pazhou International Exhibition Center, the venue for Canton Fair, on Aug 15. More than 300,000 publications will fill the 50,000-square-meter space. There are special areas for publications from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia. More than 300 cultural events will be organized during the festival, allowing readers to interact with their favorite writers.

9 am-6 pm, Aug 15-21. Area B, Pazhou International Exhibition Center, Pazhou station of subway Line 8, Guangzhou.