Editor

So....next few weeks

Hong Kong has long been criticized for the lack of an artistic scene – But I can report back that there is a scene it’s alive and kicking.

I’ve just returned from 10 days R&R in Hong Kong, Part of which I spent at the ‘Fringe Club’ http://www.hkfringe.com.hk/ on Albert Rd. Which hosted its annual cabaret and fringe arts festival called the ‘city festival’ whilst I was in Hong Kong.

A film, shot in night-vision, shows a bird's-eye-view of a remote Siberian town. Unsavoury genetic experiments are taking place. The scientists' buildings, from far above, look austere and forbidding. The town is cold-hearted, desperate. Clouds drift across the freezing sky.

Except none of this exists. The town is papier-maché, the clouds are cotton wool blobs, lollystick lampposts and Lego men are scanned by a common cam-corder.

Spyski is refreshingly daft, not least in terms of the plot, which runs more or less as follows:

Performance art duo, A2 have been described as being ‘like a chance meeting of TS Eliot and Agnes Varda’. Since forming in 1999, they have established a dedicated following of fans. Some have been audience, while many others have actually been involved with the personal performances that more than often delve deeply into questions about the human condition. Franck Bordese meets co-Director Anton Mirto in between rehearsals for their next work ‘About Blindness’ that premieres at the Royal Opera House on Friday, 14th November.

‘This is soooo fresh! I love the whole electro-Afro Highlife influences - fucking cool with a twist of synth heaven aka Jean Michelle Jarre on the set of a Wolfgang Petersen shoot ... Fucking awesome! My mate Henry Smithson and them Radioclit boys will love this! Must get a copy to Dave [Lynch].’ DJ Silencio on the new album, In Exile from Noblesse Oblige. Indeed, we asked two of our music writers to give the album a seeing to. Silencio sets the scene, while Todd Hart (Dalston Oxfam Blog, Manifesto) talks music.

WAITING FOR THE FILM4 FRIGHTFEST…
AN INTERVIEW WITH KEVIN “4” GATES
By Vera Brozoni

RR: What do you think of this year's Film4 Frightfest and what would you recommend for a zombie movie aficionado?

'50 Ways To Leave Your Lover'
at the Bush Theatre
running until 9th August

"Don't cry", pleads one of the leaving lovers, "this'll take so much longer if you cry."

Faceless: Chasing the Data Shadow

Written by Manu Luksch, Mukul Patel

Stranger than fiction
Remote-controlled UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) scan the city for anti-social behaviour. Talking cameras scold people for littering the streets (in children’s voices). Biometric data is extracted from CCTV images to identify pedestrians by their face or gait. A housing project’s surveillance cameras stream images onto the local cable channel, enabling the community to monitor itself.