HK Independent Traveller Blog

This   Juan Muñoz  exhibition came to my attention when I was looking for a program on a Saturday in Milan.  The photo shown in the The Guardian's article were figures looked like Chinese or Asian.  The figures, description of the exhibition and short life of the artist were like a magnet drawing me to visit it.Juan Muñoz is a contemporary Spanish artist (storyteller) after the Franco dictatorship.  He died suddenly at the age of 47, year 2001. Juan Muñoz's exhibition of  Double Bind and Around  is held at  HangerBicocca  in Milan, from 9 Apr to 23 August 2015. It contains 15 installations and over 100 sculpted figures. The entrance is placed with the artist's Waste Land .  A small bronze man sitting demurely on a shelf, gazing at people, interacting with them with a background of patterned surface. The yellow, black and gray floor created depth and distance. Around the central part sits another small figure...

I had a few hours transit in Paris on 1st May. The landing was 5 or 10 past 12 pm.  The ticket centre for Paris urban and suburban was very crowded.  Queues stood in front of the various ticket machines and the centre as well.  I chose the ticket centre as there were more people serving. The waiting was not too long and I could take a RER train departing before 1 pm.  My destination was Notre Dame.  The journey took about 40 minutes with stops at the suburban and city centre.  By the way, a 1-day ticket costs €23.5 for zone 5, covering airport connection. It was cloudy with drizzle all through the day.  Cold!  But it did not reduce the zeal from tourists.  Crowds were at Notre Dame .  The queue to enter into the church was endlessly long.  The facade is very beautiful, full of exquisite sculptures, telling you stories and win your admiration for long.   I just could not stop appreciating them and shooting photos...

3 Feb 2014   This is the first time I went to the Kowloon Walled City Park after the demolition of the area in April 1994.  It has much history.   With its strategic location the site was used by the imperial officials in 15th century and fortified in 1668. Defence facilitie grew sharply after the British occupation in 1841.  A walled garrison-city was constructed in 1846-47. An area of 6.5 acres was enclosed with massive stone walls with 7 watchtowers and four gates.  The switch from Qing officials to British troops led to a deterioriation of the area into semi-lawless enclave and festering squatter slum. The wall was torn down and the stone used to extend the nearby Kai Tak airfield during the Japanese Occupation in 1941-45. After the war, high-rise buildings emerged without authority.  It became a notorious nest of drugs, crime and vice dens.  In 1987 the British and Chinese officials agreed to demolish the area...