「設計奇觀——香港正稿時代」展覽

香港以招牌、廣告和商品聞名，背後歷史值得細味。二戰結束後，香港不但成為東亞一大出口中心，更發展出獨特的消費奇觀。在這社會變遷下，本地平面設計行業不單適應這種轉變，更為社會奇觀推波助瀾。

香港都市呈現海量炫目的圖像，當中絕大部分都曾由手工製作。小至一支霓虹光管、印刷品上一段文字，都經過細心設計。本展覽將聚焦我城奇觀背後不可或缺的的招牌、廣告等平面設計工作，探尋人手設計時代的驕人工藝。

Hong Kong’s abundance of signs, advertisements, and commodities has an illuminating history. The post-WWII era especially saw Hong Kong become not only a major export centre in East Asia but also a unique spectacle of consumption. In those decades, also the local graphic design industry adapted to the changing market—an industry that to an important extent defined the territory’s spectacle.

Often seen as a distant overload of images, Hong Kong’s spectacle was largely handmade. Every coloured tube of neon light, every tagline in each print ad had been carefully and manually designed. The exhibition highlights the practices that were involved in the designing of Hong Kong’s spectacle of signs and advertisements. This is a long-overdue probe into the craft behind the image.