The name Zuni Icosahedron expresses two essential elements of its theatre works: colour (zuni) and form (icosahedron). While "Zuni" stands for a colour between green and blue, "Icosahedron" is a twenty-sided object as well as a highly infectious virus.[3]
Over the years, Zuni has been invited to more than 30 cities in Europe, Asia, and America for cultural exchange and performances. In 2000, Zuni co-presented “Festival of Vision: Berlin / Hong Kong”, the first ever large-scale cultural exchange between Asia and Europe. In 2009, Zuni’s artistic director Danny Yung was awarded the Merit Cross of the Order of Merit by the German Federal Government in recognition of his contribution to arts and cultural exchange between Germany and Hong Kong.[4]
Since 2009, Zuni has been a venue partner of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, producing a series of theatre works and outreach education programmes.[5]
Zuni is currently[when?] led by its co-artistic directors, Danny Yung and Mathias Woo.
Major theatre works
2010
Experimenting Traditions Series: Stage Sisters (Director: Danny Yung)
A Digital Opera in 7 Acts – The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci (Director: Mathias Woo, Libretto: Diana Liao, Composer: Steve Hui)
Remembrance of Karaoke Past (Director: Mathias Woo)
Zuni has undertaken outreach to schools and the community by setting up an Art Education Unit since 1987. Over the years, it has designed and organised various creative education projects, including exhibitions, performances, workshops and cultural exchange activities. A notable example is the Black Box Exercise, which started in 1995, in which each participating students is given one 30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm black box to create their own work. The exercise was brought to Kolkata, Mumbai, and New Delhi in 2005 by the India Foundation for the Arts, and around 8,000 local artists, teachers and students has participated.[6][7]
In 2012, Zuni launched “Tian Tian Xiang Shang”, a Creativity-For-Community and School Development Programme, which includes a series of sculptures creations, workshops for primary and secondary students and exhibitions.[8][9]
Architecture is Art Festival
The Architecture is Art Festival (AIAF) is the biannualart festival presented by Zuni Icosahedron since 2009. With architecture as the central topic, a series of multimedia performances, traditional Chinese opera, exhibitions, seminars, conferences and student workshops are held at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and other venues.[10] As Rossella Ferrari writes in her review in TDR, "(AIAF)...is a celebration of architecture and theatre or, rather, of architecture in theatre and architecture as theatre—the first of its kind in Asia and possibly worldwide."[11]
^"Cinema & Homosexuals". Zuni Icosahedron Newsletter. LGBT Hong Kong. January 1985. Archived from the original on 28 January 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2020.