On 7 August, HeyTea announced that it was launching its latest series of art and lifestyle brand activations called “HEYTEA Art Weekend”. Each season of the events will be a collaboration with a global artist, designer, illustrator or creator and bring inspiring experiences to its customers. The first season of the event series is due to take place between 16-18 August.
The first HeyTea Art Weekend will be held at the Modern Art Museum Shanghai (上海艺仓美术馆, also translated as Yicang Art Museum). The museum is currently hosting a David Hockney exhibition called Paper Trails. Shown between 19 June and 9 October, it was co-curated by curator Shai Baitel and actor Russell Tovey. The exhibition focuses on the paper-based work by Hockney, from paintings, drawings, collages and his Xerox prints in the 1980s. HeyTea will organise 3 private guided tours of the exhibition over the weekend of 16-18 August, with 20 people invited to each session. Followers can apply for a place on Xiaohongshu (RED) with HeyTea’s Eastern China account.
On Saturday 17 August, HeyTea will collaborate with zine culture advocates So Much Co (好多现象) to hold a zine-making workshop. With HeyTea’s “Joy Art Life” concept, each participant can “become” David Hockney for a day to explore paper as a medium with drawings, collages, writing or however they want to use the paper to create their own zine. You can apply for one of 10 places for the events on Xiaohongshu as well.
Museums and exhibitions have been more popular than ever. Museums about local and traditional Chinese culture, as well as art by European old masters, are the most reported and accessible. Working with a contemporary art exhibition, as well as a creative workshop seems like a left-field choice. Perhaps this explains the small groups and less promotions. However, HeyTea is seemingly committed to making the art weekends an ongoing series, perhaps trying to leverage the coolness that contemporary art and design has on younger and “xiaozi” consumers, like its collab with the Studio Ghibli exhibition. It will be interesting to see if it can also bring interest to contemporary art through HeyTea’s large audience base.
