Hong Kong has produced stellar filmmakers such as Wong Kar-wai and John Woo but art-house cinema directors have been less successful. Movie Movie, the region’s first and only pay TV film channel curated by an art-house cinema, set out to give the city’s film lovers easy access to high-quality, independent international films.

The channel just marked its first anniversary. The hk$40 (€4) monthly subscription to the channel comes with a free video on- demand service and invitations to monthly previews of the latest cinema releases at Broadway Cinematheque, the channel’s operator and the city’s only commercial art-house cinema.

“It is almost an art to find the right balance in programming,” says Jocelyn Choi, Movie Movie’s programming director. Selections range from accessible yet non-mainstream productions to the films that win awards at Cannes or Berlin. “Our line-up includes Amour, Searching for Sugar Man, The Hunt and some festival gems such as Faust and Waste Land,” she says.

As an added extra, the channel also produces a show hosted by a renowned local film critic that is provided to increase the audience’s understanding of the art of film.
moviemovie.com.hk

Founded in 1985 by father and son Brian and Alan O’Rourke, Ruark’s radios are a sound investment. Engineered and designed in the UK, the Ruark R1 (pictured below) combines the company’s 1960s aesthetic with improved sound quality and a larger, brighter display. “We feel our customers appreciate style and quality over gimmickry,” says managing director Alan O’Rourke.
ruarkaudio.com

Brussels-based art publisher Michèle Didier has been working as a liaison between artists and print industry professionals since 1987. So far Didier has collaborated with Michelangelo Pistoletto, David Cunningham and John Miller, to name a few. Last year the publisher opened a new space in Paris’s Haut-Marais neighbourhood that serves as a bookstore selling Didier’s prints and books as well as a gallery displaying works by contemporary artists. Currently on show until the end of August is the LA BOÎTE UNTEL exhibition by French artistic trio Jean-Paul Albinet, Philippe Cazal and Alain Snyers.
micheledidier.com

1. Claude Closky’s Inside a Triangle, 2011

2. Samuel Bianchini’s Audience Works, 2013

3. David Cunningham’s Alphabet, 2010

Universal Art is launching a smartphone app to help reinvent museum visitors’ art experience. With a single swipe, the app reacts to the artwork, retrieving audio-commentary, historical context data and related content. “Visitors can play with the canvas, touch and animate several elements and discover new points of view,” says creator Jonathan Da Costa.
universal-art.com

The editors at Hong Kong-based Readymade Magazine are doing a great job of promoting emerging regional and international creative talent, including painters Tore Chung and Ying-Ling Hsu, through their project RMM ArtBooks: a collection of 12 booklets on as many artists. It has topped the art and illustration best-seller chart at the bookshop Eslite and is flying off the shelves at other Hong Kong stores. The next 12 booklets will be out later this year. We spoke to Readymade’s Amber Fu about the project.

You publish culture magazine Readymade. Why have you now branched out into booklets on art?
Readymade Magazine and RMM ArtBooks complement each other. The magazine highlights the thoughts and conversations with interviewees, while the art books introduce young and talented artists and photographers. We exhibit different artworks humbly in these art books in the hope of giving the best setting for our readers to appreciate the works. We wanted to let our local readers know about the fresh, creative power we have around us.

Why are the booklets proving popular?
It’s relaxing to read RMM ArtBooks. And the content is full of passion. Our aim with this project is to encourage young consumers with the message that owning well-produced art books can be affordable even though we insist on using the finest paper to show the works of these artists – that’s how we attain the highest resemblance between the original and published work.
journal.the-readymade.com