Beijing

Visceral rock screening

The film Fjogur Piano, produced by a Chinese team to go with Icelandic band Sigur Ros' latest album Valtari, is coming to Beijing. Sigur Ros describes the film as self sculpting of one's body and has "a mesmerizing and visceral quality that keeps you coming back".

10 am-10 pm, until Jan 8, Cinema Complex MOMA Broadway Cinematheque, 1 Xiangheyuan Road, Dongcheng district. 010-8438-8257/58

Leslie Cheung remembered

The Cantonese pop icon and acclaimed actor Leslie Cheung passed away almost 10 years ago. Three musicians trained in classical music will hold a tribute concert to the super star. Known for mix-matching music styles, the trio Yunhe is made up of lecturers from the Chinese Academy of Music. They specialize, respectively, in clarinet, violin and cello. Yunhe plans a classical rendition of Cheung's 20 hit singles for the show.

7:30 pm, Jan 6. Nine Theaters, Chaoyang District Culture Center, 17 Jintai Xili, Xiaozhuang, Chaoyang district. 010-8599-1188

Western prints

High Life and Low Life, an exhibition devoted to 18th century Western prints will display the art works of both the emerging bourgeoisie and its contemporary aristocrats.

Visitors will get to admire the works from major 18th century artists including Thomas Rowlandson, Antoine Watteau and Francisco Goya.

9 am-16:30 pm, until Feb 1, Arthur M.Sackler Museum of Art and Archeology, inside Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian district. 010-6275-1667

Rural scenes

Two batches of photographs by British and Chinese artists are currently on exhibition, featuring the lives of rural northern China in the late 1940s.

British couple David and Isabel Crook took 700 photos, recording the scenes of daily life, festivities, weddings, funerals and worshipping in Shilidian village.

The works of Chinese photographers, Wu Qun and Gao Liang, are also on display.

10:30 am-6:30 pm, until Jan 26. Taikang Space, Red 1-B2, Caochangdi, Cuigezhuang village, Chaoyang district. 010-5127-3173

Shanghai

Effects of light

In a solo show named Remains of the Day, artist Shi Jing pursues a conceptual exploration of light, through cameras, TV programs and reflective surfaces. His latest installation piece features a 24-hour news channel projected on to a mirror ball, which disperses it into a rainbow of hues. Through this process, the artist completely negates the content of the broadcast.

9 am-6 pm, until Jan 20. OV Gallery, Room 207, Bldg 4A, 50 Moganshan Road. 0139-1637-3474

Fragile art

Glass sculptures by Luo Xiaoshu are featured in the exhibition Mental Imagery at Shanghai Museum of Glass. The exhibition also marks the kickoff for Phase 2-A of the museum. Luo is a professor at Shanghai University and his glass artworks have been exhibited extensively in China.

9 am-5 pm, until March 7. Shanghai Museum of Glass, 2F, 685 Western Changjiang Road. 021-6618-1970

Curtain-raiser

Spider's Web is a 1954 play by British crime writer Agatha Christie. The Chinese production will be the seventh project of a series of Agatha Christie's works that have been presented in Shanghai.

The story is about a diplomat's wife, Clarissa, who imagined she would find a dead body in the library, and one day it really happens, and everyone in the house becomes involved.

7:30 pm, Dec 31-Jan 27 except Mon; 2 pm Sat matinee. Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, 288 Anfu Road. 021- 6473-0123

Guangzhou

Double your joy

Two complimentary exhibitions at Iron Curtain Gallery show paintings by leading Chinese contemporary artists. Shandong born Qi Wenqing's exhibition The Way of Dogs examines Fido's attributes of loyalty and sincerity through strong brush strokes and colors in oil paintings.

Joint Exhibition on Behalf of My Classmates features 29 talented artists who graduated from Guangzhou's Academy of Fine Arts' oil painting and sculpture departments in the 1990s, with the common denominator being an emphasis on geometry.

Until Jan 22. Iron Curtain Gallery, F10, Redtory, 128 Yuancun Siheng Road, Tianhe district. 020-8557-4417

Hong Kong

Tuning in

Unleash your inner diva at a tribute to the best musicals from Broadway, the West End, Disney and local Hong Kong creations. Musical Theater Songs Telling an Untitled Story strips away the distraction of costumes and stage settings to focus the limelight on the voices of four talented singers belting out unforgettable show tunes from the likes of Les Miserables and Cats.

9 pm, Jan 11. Cabaret Theater, Hong Kong Fringe Club, 2 Lower Albert Road, Central. 852-2521-7251

Element of time

French artist Bernard Frize is considered one of the most important painters of his generation.

His art encompasses elements of seriality and the passage of time with compositions that are systematic and meticulously orchestrated according to a set of rules.

His first exhibition in Hong Kong includes a monumental new work alongside paintings from his 2004 Insulaire, a series based on the concept of fragments from a whole.

Until Jan 15. Simon Lee Gallery Hong Kong, 304, 3F, The Pedder Building, 12 Pedder Street, Central. 852-2801-6252

China Daily

(China Daily 01/06/2013 page15)