Editor’s Note
The future is exciting. Space travel, flying cars, smart homes—what’s not to love? When we first decided to theme this issue around the future, we were ready to go to the far ends of the Earth—and if necessary, beyond—to meet the inventors creating robot doctors, 3D-printed food, human microchips and more. But as our conversations developed, we realised what really intrigued us were the people, places and projects that will change our lives in the next five, 10 or 20 years—the near future rather than the distant.
Someone who is shaping the immediate future of Hong Kong is our cover star, Adrian Cheng. Adrian has spent the past 10 years developing Victoria Dockside, the US$2.6 billion cultural district on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront that comprises K11 Artus serviced apartments, the Rosewood Hong Kong hotel, K11 Atelier offices and K11 Musea (pictured above), a retail and cultural hub that Adrian sees as a centre for experimentation and innovation. “K11 Musea is more than a shopping centre. I see it as a Silicon Valley of culture,” he reveals in our feature (p.156). “Contemporary art, fashion, music, design, coffee, gastronomy, performance art—they’re all here.” Adrian hopes this melting pot of creative disciplines won’t only change the way visitors shop, but will forever change the way people think about art and culture.
He isn’t the only innovator who believes the future lies in mixing things up. Writer Adam Hay-nicholls reveals how carmakers are looking beyond getting you from A to B and are now building vehicles that are also your personal butler, masseuse and even doctor (p.150), while Hongkonger Patrick Sun is exploring how art can be used as a tool to enact social change around Asia (p.166).
There are plenty more visions of the future in these pages, including an introduction to the craftsmen making watches fit for the year 3000 (p.120), a fashion shoot showcasing this season’s Blade Runner-inspired menswear (p.92) and an investigation into how traditional Chinese medicine is not only surviving but thriving in the 21st century (p.178).
Finally, I sat down with physicist and TV presenter Brian Cox, who has brought the wonders of space into living rooms around the world with his documentaries about the stars and planets (p.164). He predicts that humans will move heavy industry off Earth to the asteroid belt and that, within 20 years, an astronaut will set foot on Mars. The near future may be wilder than you think.