HKDI Gallery

Free workshops and guided tours that complement the Exhibition are now available. For details and ticket reservation, please scroll down to the Public Engagement Activities section or visit the Eventbrite

About Exhibition

Design is ubiquitous in our lives. It not only is a composed and rational technical practice, but also a pursuit of creative art rich in emotions and humanity. Drawing inspirations and ideas from human sentiments and cultures, designers put forward designs that equally reflect their concerns and care for human life. Through their observation and understanding of the needs, social environments, cultural backgrounds and other aspects of the users, designers create products and services that are both practical and artistic. The selection and usage of elements such as colours, materials, forms and space also communicate the designs' concepts and values. Further to satisfying the functionality, design also aims to bring users a better, more comfortable and meaningful life, thus transcending the materialistic level and becoming the embodiment of emotion and liveliness. 

Since the era of modernism, design in the West has, under the influence of Bauhaus, embraced simplicity and geometric shapes. The design concepts and methods of modernism also have a far-reaching impact on the field of design in China, sparking a school of excellent designers and design theorists in their creations and research. 

In contemporary context, 'warmth' in design has become increasingly important. As our usage and reliance on digital technologies such as social media, virtual reality and artificial intelligence grow, our craving for authenticity, warmth and humanness has become more pronounced. 'Design with Warmth' hopes to inject deeper cultural significance and humanistic values into the design, providing more comfort to our spirituality and resonance to our emotions while earning approachability and relatability from users. 

As the first large-scale, inter-regional, sectoral and disciplinary design triennial in China, the inaugural Guangzhou Design Triennial, organised by the Guangdong Museum of Art, not only sets up a platform to bring together design synergies and practices but also offers an opportunity for designers from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and their international counterparts to delve into the development and research of design, as well as the contemporary beliefs and social values. ‘The Warm-beings’ exhibition is the first Guangzhou Design Triennial that actualised a cross-border exchange in Hong Kong, in which works from indicative designers are showcased. Our exploration of design in this exhibition leads to a much more sublime exchange which goes beyond a mere artistic expression or the expansive meanings it embodies in humanistic sensation, cultural heritage, eco-responsibility and social values. Through this exhibition, we look forward to demonstrating the various degrees of warmth conveyed by designers from assorted cultural backgrounds via their excellent works, whether they be past, present or future. We also aim to yield more possibilities about design from this field filled with humanistic touch and exuberance and promote the research on design history, the growth of the discipline, innovation to the industry and long-term prospect of designers, injecting new impetus to the sustainable development of culture and economy of our time. 



Wang Shaoqiang 
Director of the Guangdong Museum of Art Association 
Vice Chairman of the Guangdong Artists Association 
Director of Guangdong Museum of Art 

Bai’e Tan, Guangzhou, November 2024 

Exhibition Photos

About Guangdong Museum of Art

Built in 1997, the Guangdong Museum of Art is among the first batch of national key art museums. It embodies a modern multifunctional art museum that integrates six primary functions: collection, research, exhibition display, education, exchange, and service. As an important showcase to display the cultural image of Guangdong and promote the culture of South of the Five Ridges (Lingnan), it unswervingly implements the cultural mission of inheriting Lingnan art tradition, exploring art ecology, promoting international art exchange, and enhancing the artistic appreciation of the public.  Rooted in its local conditions, the Museum extends its influence across the Greater Bay Area, bears in mind the general picture of the whole nation, and orientates itself towards the global stage. The Museum continuously seeks breakthroughs in high-quality collection, high-level utilisation, and high-quality services, striving to build a national and even world-class art palace. In 2024, the Bai’etan Greater Bay Area Art Center was launched, forming anew pattern of one museum and two sections for staggered development in Bai’etan and Ersha Island. 

About Curator

Professor Wang Shaoqiang is the director of the Guangdong Museum of Art. He serves as a second-class researcher of relics and museology, an expert who proudly receives special allowances from the State Council, a professor and doctoral advisor at the Chinese National Academy of Arts, a member of the China Artists Association, the President of the Guangdong Art Museums Association and the Vice-Chairman of the Guangdong Artists Association. He has been selected as one of the leading talents in publicity, ideology and culture for the Guangdong Special Support Plan and was chosen for cultivation programmes such as the Ten-Hundred-Thousand Project in Guangdong. He was named twice in a row in the Art Power 100 and dubbed as one of the Influential Figures by National Arts Magazine. He won the 22nd Italy Naples Cultural Classics (INCC) Award, the 14th Golden Star Award for Chinese Artists: Face in Focus in 2023 and the 4th Premio Artis Suavitas 2023. He served as the Chief Curator of the Chengdu Biennale in 2023 and was rated as the International Promoter of Lingnan Culture in the same year. In 2024,he entered into the Guangdong Artists' Workshop by the Guangdong Federation of Literary and Art Circles 

Public Engagement Activities

For ticket reservation, please visit Eventbrite

Morphing Material in Craft Workshop: Warm Concrete

Warm Encounters: Exhibition Guided Tour — Simon Chan

Morphing Material in Craft Workshop: Pendulum Bonsai

Layers of Warm-beings: Exhibition Guided Tour — Leah Hsiao

Press Release

Press Release (Download PDF)

Master Lecture

Main Speakers:

  • Ms. Liao Shani, Deputy Head of Exhibition and Design Department, Guangdong Museum of Art
  • Mr. Han Jiaying, Participating Artist
  • Mr. Kan Tai Keung, SBS, BBS, AGI, Participating Artist
  • Ms. Ma Ke, Participating Artist
  • Mr. Meng Fanhao, Participating Artist

Date: 

23 January 2025 (Thursday)

Time:

4:45–5:45pm

Review:

https://youtu.be/FUMD8jpcjj8

Language: 

Putonghua 

Venue:

VTC Auditorium, Hong Kong Design Institute

Public Service

Guided Tours

Guided Tours can be arranged for schools and community groups by advanced booking. Registration and enquiries: hkdi-gallery@vtc.edu.hk 

Visit Us

Exhibition Period  
24.01 - 13.04.2025
(Closed on Tuesdays
) 

Opening Hours 
10:00 - 20:00 

Venue  
HKDI Gallery, Hong Kong Design Institute 
3 King Ling Road, Tseung Kwan O, NT 
(MTR Tiu Keng Leng Station Exit A2) 

Enquiries 
hkdi-gallery@vtc.edu.hk / +852 3928 2566 

Acknowledgement