Posts by Antipasto:
May, We Be Artistic?
May 13th, 2013nbsp;
May is definitely an exciting month for all Hong Kong people as it is when the artistic journey starts!Nesrly 50 art shows, fairs and auctions will be happening this month… you can all own this artistic journey. It’s within reach!
ART SHOWS
Mark down the dates for the excitement around town! And keep explorating! There is just so much happening
| 1. Giant Rubber DuckIt is finally here!
The first manitime art exhibition ever in Hong Kong. Flarentin Hafrnan brings us back the excitement from childhood, alangside his love, care and passion art. May 2 – Jun 9,2013 | Ocean Terminal Farecourt, Harbour City |
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2. Mobile M + Inflation
More public arts please! Monumental artworks are inflated in outsize proportions as a way of rendering the familiar un familiar, more tangible than ever before. Participating artists include Cao Fei, Paul McCarthy and more. Apr 25 – June 9,2013 | West Kowloon Cultural District Promenade |
| 3. Takashi Murakami (the 9th solo exhibition in Hong Kong)
The creator of the iconic character Dr Dob, Takashi Murakami’s latest paintings will be exhibited in Hong Kong. Visitors can once again indulge themselves in his fatasy. May 21 – Jul 6,2013 | Galerie Perrotin |
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4. The Sum of all Evil
The first exhibition of Jake & Dinas Chapman in China. Examining cultural and historical. Examining cultural and historical stereotypes, it will feature a major new “Hell” installation, a group of single dioramas and a new series of reworked painting. May 22 – Aug 21,2013 | WHITE CUBE |
| 5. New Framework Chinese Avant-grade Photography 1980s – 90s
Curated by artist and curator RongRong, the exhibition showcases the key stages of Chinese photography development from 80s to 90s by 12 artists, including Ai Wei Wei, Mo Yi, Qiu Zhijie, Zhang Haier. May 12 – Jun 22 | Blindspot Annex & Blindspot Gallery |
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6. A Thousand Springs – Digital Arts and Paintings by Wong Chung-Yu
Adigital ink painting that extends the context of computer application to Chinese artwork. Let us all enjoy Wong’s blossoms in his own springtime. Now – May 20,2013 | Fundacao Priente – Delegacao de Macau-China, Macao |
| 7. Hong Kong Eye
24 local artists, through extraordinary art pieces and multimedia installations, captured the historical impact the British government had on the development of the local art industry and envision the future art development in Hong Kong. May 11 – 31,2013 | Cornwall House, Tai Koo Place |
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8. French May – 21st edition
It’s back! This year’s theme is Back to 20s, when the French art, fashion and culture blossomed. Apr 17 – Jun 23,2013 | Far Full program visit www.frenchmay.com |
INSIGHT from the Director of the Asia Contemporary Art Show
The significant rise in Hotel art exhibitions in recent years has been well received by both exhibitors and visitors. Rent is the number one factor, as local galleries are restricted to sell work at high prices for survival. Consequently, less developed artists have fewer chances to exhibit, resulting in low numbers of art graduates who remain in the art scene. Since hotel venue can effectively drive art promotion due to lower costs, the public are invited to own a piece of art wonderat a range of great prices.
From every perspective, it’s a win-win situation. In addition exhibitors may be offered the option to stay overnight in the same hotel room where their daytime show is set up, creating a warm and cozy hotel ambiance for visitors. They can easily envision how the work will look in this ‘home-like’ environment. Buying art, just like buying property, is an investment in the future—as well as one’s personal interests.
ART Basel
Recognized as one of ther biggest art events around the globe, Art Basel is definitely laying the red carpet for all art lovers to enter a world full of imagination and creativity.
With masterpieces from over 304 galleries all laser beam at Art Basel, this is the event which you cannot miss.
May 23 – 26,2013 | Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center
Contemporary Asian Art Show
As gateway to new emerging artist [some even become the inspirations of our yearly theme Fashion Legeng], the Contemporary Asian Art Show is definitely taking us to a whole new horizon and brings us fresh perspective of the local creative industry.
May 23 – 26,2013 | JW Marriott Hotel
| Hong Kong Contemporary Art Fair
Following last year’s success, the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Fair will continue to offer the first taste of contemporary artworks to visitors. May 24 – 27,2013 | The Excelsior Hotel |
Bank Art Fair
Thematic exhibition ‘Leader of the Young’ allows visitors to preview future direction of the art industry as well as an opportunity for art lovers to own their masterpieces May 23 – 26,2013 | Island Shangri-la Hotel |
Asia Week Hong Kong 2013
Following their success in New York, the event is a collaboration amongst Asian art specialists, auction bouses, museums and cuttural institutions to promote arts and antiques in the local scene.
May 22 – 29,2013 | For full program visit www.asiaweekhk.com
The Making of a Spider (Part 2)
April 11th, 2013The tiniest detail makes the biggest difference. In true Spider style, the McLaren 12C Spider is obsessed with precision.
Practicality and ergonomics
Doing grocery shopping with it has no problem, the car comes with two storage bags and an additional storage compartment when the roof is up. Just remember to take your grocery out before opening the roof, though, there is a courtesy reminder on the dashboard.
In most case, scissors doors are not friendly for tight parking space, but they are ergonomic purpose for getting in the 12C. It is surprisingly easy to get in and out of the car, but if instead used the traditional doors, it may make it awkward to get through the door sill, which are wide and high, wrapping around the MonoCell to provide good side impact protection, but primarily that MonoCell structure makes the car very stiff and rigid. On the test car which has the optional electric seats, when opening the door, the seats will move backwards to give you more space to get in and out. Very considerate indeed.
Just one minor thing on the door to mention: On this 2013 version, I found there is a hidden button to press, which differs from the previous one which trickly required a sliding finger to open. The new version is perhaps more intuitive to use, but aren’t supercars suppose to be outside the box?
Driving in Hong Kong with the roof open, you get to see all the magnificent skyscrapers above. Unlike some supercars, the 12C spider has very good viewing angle which makes it very easy to park or negotiating tight spaces in traffic. If you had followed a super car driving on road humps, you will probably find them going very slowly to avoid scraping the underneath, as well as to avoid back pain from going on humps with stiff suspension. The 12C damper in normal mode setting is rather comfortable compared with other supercar. Furthermore, on our test car, there is an optional extra fitted to improve ground clearance. The Vehicle Lift option allows the car to rise up further 40mm at the front and 25mm at the rear, even at speed up to 60km/h. After firing up the 12C spider engine, you will get the attention from the people around you, hearing the engine grunting sound. On the other hand, driving a Nissan Leaf or Toyota Prius is surly more economical, but because their electric motors are virtually silence and pedestrians may not notice the car when crossing the road. Furthermore their skinny low rolling resistance tyres are not as effective as fat sticky tyres when you need to make an emergency stop to avoid hitting the iPod Zombie who still has not noticed your car’s presence. I hope I have by now convinced you that the 12C spider is an ideal city car!
The ride
By default, the 12C will be engaged in normal mode, until you have chosen the N/S/T modes on the dials and press the “Active” button. Under normal mode, the car is extremely pleasant to drive. The suspensions dampen the bumps on the road nicely and you can feel the suspensions react very fast. Cruising in the city and highway, the rev meter hardly ever goes beyond 2000rpm. Step hard on the accelerator and instantly you can feel there is immense of power pulling the car away.
When you have reached the twisty hilly road, feel free to turn the N/S/T dials to sport mode and you will feel the suspensions have tightened up and the gearshifts are crisper. The dual clutch 7 speed Seamless Shift Gearbox does an amazing job to change gears instantly. Before you trigger the gear shift paddle, the second clutch has already engaged with the gear you about to shift. At the pull of paddle, the first clutch disengages and the second clutch is almost instantly engaged with the engine and the gears.
The power comes from a twin turbo 3.8L V8 engine weighting just less than 200kg, pumping out 616bhp at 7500rpm, and 600Nm of torque at a wide range of 4000rpm to 7000rpm. That is a lot of power for a car weighing about 1450kg* which is less than an average family saloon. Turbo had been critised, the acceleration feels very linear which there is no apparent button to turn off all the driving aid of the car.
Fuel consumption
The claimed consumption is 24.2mpg (EU combined) which is cheaper to run on fuel than a Mercedes S500. Would you really want to drive the 12C spider in such manner? After 200km (124.278) of partly insane driving, partly cruising and partly sitting in traffic, the 12C spider consumed 55 litre (12.0983) of petrol and that works out just a little above 10mpg. I suspect most owners are not bothered by the expense. however owners of the coupe and spider can proudly say to a environmentalist or a prius owner that the mp4 12c engine release the least co2 per bhp.
Anyone from casual driver who like a little bit of driving pleasure to adrenaline filled hard core driver pushing the car’s limit will like it with a price tag of a little flat in Hong Kong to enjoy this beautiful engineering art. If you are thinking of spending 4m on a car, the coupe with no compromise and a brilliant open top car should be placed on the list too beside a 458 or Gallardo.
Tested by Dr. KEN CHAN
News: Exclusive 12C B&W Edition produced for Hong Kong has arrived
McLaren Hong Kong has ordered 2 units of the 12C B&W Edition from *MSO which features a unique body colour in white contrasted with a gloss black roof-top, front splitter, airbrake, mirror casings and newly designed diamond-cut wheel finish. A special painted interior of vent bezels including instrument cluster bezel are in brilliant white .
Price tag: HKD 4,680,000
*MSO = McLaren Special Operations
The Making of a Spider (Part 1)
April 11th, 2013Are super cars for racetracks as coupes are for city roads? Think again. Give a second thought to the Mclaren 12C Spider. It’s equipped with powerful gears, but more importantly, has that certain “wow” factor. Despite the excellent specifications, the Spider is designed for city driving. You can now experience the hype and the adrenaline rush on an average day.
Mr Ian Gorsuch, Regional Director of McLaren Automotive Asia Pacific
Heritage
If you had watched Formula One in the 80s and 90s, you will recall there is a distinctive team in red and white, carrying the cigarette brand colour, with one car driven by the late legendary racing driver Ayrton Senna and won 4 years of Constructors Championships.
McLaren has contributed many innovations in automotive sports. They are the first F1 team to use carbon fibre chassis, and they also discretely employed a system to operate individual rear brakes to aid cornering. When McLaren launched its first ever production car in 1992, the McLaren F1, it stunned the world with the fastest speed record as well as the highest price tag for road production cars at that time. Designed by the talented designer Gordon Murray, the three-seat triangular arrangement with the driver in the middle gives the driver a single seater race car experience. Unfortunately the bureaucratic Department of Transport of Hong Kong has failed to classify it as a road car probably because their database can only register either left hand or right hand drive car.
McLaren MP4-12C
In 2011, McLaren finally launched their second production car, the MP4-12C coupe. As with the modern Formula One car, the 12C has a relatively small engine mounted in the middle, powering the rear wheels. These features allow the car to be lightweight as well as having the weight distribution for handling. If you look at the interior, you will notice the centre console is very narrow. This is deliberate to allow the driver and passenger to be position in the middle. This car is clearly designed to be fast and agile, yet it has not compromised the ride comfort. At default normal mode, the suspensions absorb the bump and potholes smoothly and the gearshifts are gentle. There are two dials in the centre console just under the red ignition button, with Normal, Sport and Track modes, or known as N/S/T, on each dials. This simple analogue interface let you select the handling setting from the dial on the left and the powertrain setting from the dial on the right. Each setting is programmed to adjust the traction control, suspension, gearshift setting and throttle response accordingly. It makes you wonder whether the BMW’s M5’s over complicated iDrive system is necessary.
The sleek contour of the 12C is not just for aesthetic purpose, the aerodynamic properties have been precisely calculated by the boffins in McLaren to reduce air drag and also directing the air flow to cool down the radiators which are neatly hidden under the fins behind the scissors doors. On a press of the “Aero” button which is located inside the left N/S/T dial, the rear spoiler is raised to about 32 degrees for improved down force. Unlike the Porsche 911 or Audi TT where the spoiler is raised when the car reached a certain speed, the 12C can avoid indicating to the police that you just broke the speed limit.
If you ask anyone who knows a bit about aerodynamics, they will tell you spoiler does not make you car faster, in fact slows the car down in high speed. The shape of the spoiler determines how much down force is produced at different speed, which is useful to stick the rear tyres on the road when doing a high speed cornering. The Aero button on the 12C comes in handy when you choose keep the spoiler down while you are doing high speed cruising, or raise it when you want downforce for cornering. When you step hard on the brake during high speed, the spoiler instantly raises to 69 degrees and act as an airbrake to increase deceleration. It also increases downforce at the rear to utilise the traction from the rear tyres. This feature is not exclusive to the 12C though, you can also find it on Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and Bugatti Veyron. Just note that there aren’t many of them in the world and the 12C seems a bargain compare with those two.
What makes the 12C so unique from any other cars is the one-piece moulded carbon fibre MonoCell inside the body-works. The MonoCell together with the aluminium front and rear frames, form the structure of the car that determines the rigidity and occupant safety in an event of high-speed collision. Carbon fibre is a lightweight material yet it is stiffer than equivalent steel or aluminium, which is why modern Formula One relies heavily on this material. However the manufacture process is far more time consuming and labour intensive compared with aluminium or steel monocoque chassis which are the mainstreams today. The MonoCell only weight 75kg and it provides the necessary structural strength to prevent the car flexing when driven hard. This allow the convertible 12C spider to be as rigid as the coupe without any additional reinforced structure. When car makers develop convertible from their hard top version, they have to consider reinforcing the chassis to compensate the absence of the roof structure. Inevitably, the car will be heavier and in some cases less rigid.
Hard core car enthusiast may not be contempt with the handling compromises in exchange for the open top experience. Thankfully the MonoCell of the 12C can sustain the enormous stress and remain as rigid even without the roof top structure or any additional reinforcement. It makes the convertible 12C spider as competent as the 12C coupe. The retractable hard top spider is only 40kg heavier than the coupe and the additional weight include all the mechanisms for the brilliant retractable roof that takes less than 17 seconds for opening and closing, as well as gorgeous looking buttress behind the seats which absorb impact and provide occupants safety in the case of roll over.
To Be Continued: Inside 12C Spdier
http://www.antipasto.tv/other/inside-12c-spider
Shooting equipments used:
GoPro Hero3 Black Edition, Hero3 Silver Edition, Touch BacPac, Suction Cup Mount and Tripod Mount
http://trippro.com.hk
Daily Dose of Wisdom – Design to Improve Life
April 4th, 2013As the CEO of INDEX – Design to Improve Life, Kigge Hvid dedicates her effort, passion and creativity in inspiring, educating and engaging different parties to improve life.
Design for Everyone
‘Our designs are not meant for rich people, it’s for everyone.’ Kigge summarized the belief of INDEX in simply just one line. Over the decade, INDEX has been raising the global standards by providing more sustainable solutions. Kigge explained that INDEX evaluated designs through the outlook, functionality and sustainability. That is also why Kigge appreciated the design for biking the most as it lowers pollution and at the same time, improving people’s health standards.
Hövding, a bicycle helmet which Kigge mentioned in the interview. The invisible part inflates like airbag during collision.
Starting from the Ground
Kigge deeply believes that designs should be affordable for everyone, she therefore commits herself totally in education, In a new program, she works closely with the Danish Government to nurture new gifts and talents. Participants will be asked to present solutions to different challenges. Once their ideas got picked, their plans will be presented to corporates, ministers or even to the general public. Would it be possible to adapt a similar approach in Hong Kong? ‘It is a long development,’ Kigge explains, ‘it is closely related to sustainability and livable experience.’ Though it is a long road to take, we are more than happy and honored to have Kigge as the Chairlady of the Jockey Club Design Institution for Social Innovation International advisory board in Hong Kong.
Jimmy Choo? Yummy too!
April 2nd, 2013Not to be missed by fashionistas! Now until 5th May, savour this Spring’s Jimmy Choo collection of shoes and handbags on your plate. Combining classic and elegance in a luxurious style, the high tea set is available at the Mandarin Oriental, in collaboration with Jimmy Choo for a limited time. Those who cannot get a table, calm down! We are sharing with you here.
Foie Gras High Heels on Crispy Brioche Bread
CAYLA clutch and COSMO metallic cylinder clutch
Ham Mousse sandwiches with Savora Mustard and Smoked Salmon Cucumber Sandwiches with Coloured Cream Cheese Studs
Milk Chocolate High Heels filled with Lemon and Chocolate Biscuits
(Second left) White Chocolate Bag with signature leopard print, filled with Lychee, Rose and Raspberry Mousse
(Second right) Chupa Chup Macaroon filled with Passion Fruit and Mango Cream
(Right) Green Tea, Strawberry, and Yuzu Mousse Shooter
Sip a cup of tea, have a bite of scone, yummy!
Daily dose of wisdom – Treasure Hunting
March 18th, 2013
In the Danish Design Center, Nille Juul, the CEO believes in design. What he believes more, however, are humans.
By the People and For the People
‘The key for Danish design to pop up is that it is all about human being.’ Nille Juul, the CEO of Danish Design Center says. He believes that innovation will come naturally when the design revolves around humans. Same as other designers, Nille believes that designs should be from the people and for the people. No matter one is rich or not, design not never be exclusive. In order to let the designers to have be ‘more humans’, he encourages them to meet data analysts. ‘We need to know who can churn the data because it can come up with solutions to solve everyday challenges.’ Nille explains.
A Design City
Coming from a well-recognized design country, Nille surprisingly described Copenhagen as a ‘boring city.’ ‘There are not a lot of designs in the urban areas,’ Nille says. But behind the hustles and bustles, the underground artists do interest Nille. ‘They are wild. They do interesting things. They simply interest in their own designs which serve higher purposes.’ All these hidden talents have successfully drawn out Nille’s curiousity and made him to sneak and peek around. ‘We meet them and invite them to the open offices.’ Nille even takes one step further by thinking how these gifted artists can help improving the city, and at the end, the general public.
With Nille’s passion, Danish designs are more than revolution. It is an evolution.
Copenhagen Metro, one of the infrastructure design projects Nile was involved.
