Exhibition · Blue Lotus Gallery · Hong Kong
City of Lights, Hong Kong’s Neon Heritage A landmark exhibition and book launch celebrating the soul of neon in Hong Kong Blue Lotus Gallery presents City of Lights, an extensive archive by photographer Keith Macgregor documenting Hong Kong’s neon-drenched skyline of the 1990s and 2000s. The book, featuring hundreds of previously unseen images, and accompanying exhibition serve as both a record of the city's iconic neon signage and a tribute to a bygone era: a time when these signs shaped the city's visual identity. “Like so many others, I took neon for granted when I was younger, viewing it as urban wallpaper rather than investigating the creativity, skill, engineering, and imagination needed to create these dynamic, superb works of art,” said Macgregor. Through hundreds of vivid, previously unseen images, he captures the restless energy of a city defined by its illuminated streets. At its height in the 1980s, Hong Kong’s skyline shimmered with more than 100,000 neon signs. Today, fewer than 400 remain. City of Lights arrives at a pivotal moment, when the urgency to document and preserve this vanishing heritage has never been greater. A renewed fascination among Hong-Kongers is evident in the success of recent exhibitions at the Hong Kong Design Institute and Tai Kwun, presented in partnership with Tetra Neon Exchange (TNX), reflecting a collective desire to reconnect with and safeguard this defining chapter of the city’s visual history. Beyond the photographs, the book draws on the human stories behind the glow. It features conversations with those fighting to keep the craft alive: the master benders who hand-bent the glass, the installers who braved the heights, and the conservationists and creators ensuring neon has a future in the city. “Keith’s body of work constitutes one of the largest photographic archives of Hong Kong’s streets and neon signage,” said co-author Cardin Chan, former general manager of TNX and founder of the cultural heritage company, The…