Business of Design Week “BODW CityProg” 200+ Design & Creative Happenings

Finding Clarity in Post-pandemic World with Vision to Design for Society

HONG KONG
SAR – Media OutReach – 2 December 2020 – The global pandemic
has upended our everyday lives like never before. The optometric term
“20/20 vision” denotes normal visual acuity measured at a distance of
20 feet. In this age of uncertainties, having such a clear vision becomes ever
more important in helping us grasp opportunities and uphold hopes amidst the
unprecedented crisis. Organised by Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC), BODW
CityProg (CityProg) comes to its third edition this year with the theme
“20/20 Vision of Post-pandemic World”. We present more than 200
design and creative happenings to inspire you to search for your unique 20/20
vision and a spirit of designing for society.

As in
previous years, CityProg spans across November and December. Its 9-day peak
period from 28 November to 6 December will coincide with Business of Design
Week (BODW) and other concurrent events to ignite an outburst of creativity
throughout the city. Carrying on the 3 platforms distinctly curated for
different types of creative partners, this year CityProg continues to connect
local creativity and design initiatives with incredible local talents to bring
to the public 17 one to three-day Anchor Site Festivals, 5 Design EduVation
programmes targeting different age groups and more than 50 Satellite Events.
They add up to more than 200 activities of various scales and unfold in 4 types
of “post-pandemic 20/20 vision”: Made in Hong Kong, Wellness and
Sustainability, Placemaking and Business as Force for Social Good. All of these
visions aim to foster the design thinking and creative problem-solving spirit
to boost the city’s resilience and agility as the post-pandemic era ushers in.

In
addition, organised by Hong Kong Design Centre and initiated in 2018, 3-year
creative tourism project Design District Hong Kong (#ddHK) comes to its final
year with the theme “transFORM” to forge ahead into the future with
creativity.

Creative
Tourism Project “Design District Hong Kong #ddHK”

Presents
“Colour Fantasy” Chinese Garden Gala in Victoria Park

to
“transFORM” Signature Urban Park Through Design and Placemaking

and Lead
You to Explore Wan Chai’s History and New Possibilities for Public Spaces

As all
walks of life are planning ahead for the post-pandemic era, #ddHK is also
proactively harnessing design and creativity to present a novel Chinese garden
gala “Colour Fantasy” in Victoria Park, a signature urban oasis in
Hong Kong. With elements such as mountains, rocks, ponds, windows, paving,
bridges and streams, it “transFORMs” the park into a reinvigorating
public space for the post-pandemic world where users can relax and recharge
themselves.

Victoria
Park was originally a typhoon shelter. More than a century ago, with the wish
to drive away a plague, people living in Tai Hang performed the “fire
dragon dance” and sank the “dragon head” into the typhoon
shelter afterwards to symbolise its return to the heaven. In the mid-50s,
Victoria Park was built on the land reclaimed from the typhoon shelter.
“Colour Fantasy” presents 7 sets of design installations. All of them
incorporated elements from the Tai Hang fire dragon dance ritual in the form of
design. They are scattered in different corners as if the fire dragon overlays
on the entire plan of the park, blessing Hong Kong during the ongoing pandemic.

As the
pandemic lingers on, everyone wants to take a breather from the urban hustle
and bustle and the stressful fight against the crisis. Green parks which are
essential to any city are ideal buffer zones for us. With boundless creativity
and imaginations, #ddHK turns Victoria Park into Hong Kong’s back garden by
curating a series of sense-opening experiences to help citizens return to the
great outdoors, immerse in nature and tend to their well-being. Observing
social distancing rules, they will also rediscover the park’s potentials in the
new normal and get inspired to reimagine future public spaces. Having explored
Victoria Park, they can follow the “Colour Wan Chai” map to discover
the urban palette of Wan Chai through dining, shopping and sightseeing,
indulging themselves in uniquely coloured cityscapes.

For further
details about CityProg & #ddHK, visit our official website and follow us on
social media to explore our city’s design surprises anywhere, anytime!

About BODW CityProg

BODW CityProg (CityProg) is a citywide creative business and
community activation programme that features 3 distinct platforms: “Anchor
Site Festivals”, “Design EduVation”, and “Satellite Events
& Offer”. The programme activates local creative neighbourhoods by
connecting creative units, business and community organisations through
co-creation, exchange, matching and partnership. As new alliances and ideas
start to flourish, CityProg engages people of all ages with exciting
happenings, enhances public spaces, and encourages creativity and design to
take wing in the community, fostering the development of local creative
ecosystems.

As a community extension of Business of Design Week (BODW),
CityProg spans all year round with its peak in November and December. It was
debuted in 2018 by Hong Kong Design Centre, with Create Hong Kong of the
Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as the Lead Sponsor.

About Design District Hong Kong

Design District
Hong Kong (#ddHK) is fantasised as a curated open-air design district gallery
coupled with festivals to boost tourist attractions in Wan Chai and Sham Shui
Po by a series of creative design and street events; through which the
inhabitants, cultural and creative communities, local designers and artists
familiarise visitors with an “dei dou” (Cantonese) / “di dao” (Putonghwa) authentic
experience of Hong Kong with their original design concepts, traditional
craftsmanship, distinct architecture, district characteristics and unique
stories presented by a cluster of creative modes.

#ddHK is a 3-year Creative Tourism
Project with a number of self- guided routes to explore creative works to be
updated from time to time in Wan Chai and Sham Shui Po. The entire project is
organised in the form of community collaboration, social conversations and
participative design, with traditional craftsmanship, localisation street
activities and creations. To provide visitors and citizens with an experience
that combines local history and culture with rich regional features Optimize
the different scenic spots and buildings in the district.