Unique and exclusive art tours have become highly sought after – and not just because of the insight they provide into art investing.
“We want to explore the complexity of cultural influences and open a dialogue between Asia and the West,” explains Pearl Lam, renowned founder of Hong Kong and Shanghai based Pearl Lam Galleries and provider of one of the world’s most exclusive private art-guide experiences.
Lam’s tours are among the 50 transformative experiences offered through HSBC Jade’s The Enrich List, a curated portfolio of opportunities designed to inspire and aid self-enrichment. The experiences are organised around four pillars – Curated Adventure, Ultimate Wellbeing, A Purposeful Life and Game Changers. Artistic discoveries like Lam’s are part of the Game Changers pillar, which offers life-changing programmes that challenge traditional thinking, and radical experiences that take people outside their comfort zone.
Pearl Lam is highly qualified to challenge cultural boundaries with her exclusive artist studio visits, curator meetings and Asia art fair guides. She is herself the product of a confluence of cultures: she was born in Hong Kong, educated in the US and UK before becoming instrumental in showcasing China’s modern art scene.
Lam’s tours focus primarily on – largely undiscovered – art from Asia, giving deeply informed insight into the region’s vibrant, and less understood, modern art scene.
A similar experience, born in the West and also on The Enrich List, prides itself on having a global focus. The Cultivist has offices in London, New York, Brussels, LA and Shanghai and calls itself the world’s only global arts club.
Cultivist members gain unparalleled access to elite art events and complimentary, queue-free entry to more than 100 museums and galleries globally.
“Our approach ensures members’ journeys through art are always effortless and enriching,” explains co-founder Daisy Peat.
“We aim to encourage a deeper relationship between the individual and the artwork, giving our members a greater understanding and appreciation of the art that matters most to them.”
The Cultivist perceives art to be a force for good with the potential to rewire sensibilities.
But changing your perspective via art isn’t for everyone. For some, rewiring sensibilities comes more easily with scientific intervention.
In the Sierra Helada mountains on Spain’s Costa Blanca, the SHA Wellness Clinic aims to transform mindsets with Brain Photo Modulation. The technique – also a Game Changers experience on HSBC Jade’s The Enrich List – involves passing a small electric current through the skull and the underlying cortex in a process known as transcranial electrical stimulation.
“It was a bit uncomfortable, giving somebody permission to tinker with how my brain behaves,” admits a former client, a UK news broadcaster who undertook the treatment to stop smoking. “But after trying everything else and failing to kick nicotine for 13 years, I needed to make a radical shift. I owed it to my son, and to myself.”
SHA’s Brain Photo Modulation stimulates cellular rehabilitation and improves cognitive function and memory through low-intensity, pain-free brain stimulations.
It has also been used to improve language learning capacity, mathematical ability, memory and coordination as well as helping to combat depression and anxiety.
The somewhat radical new treatment is offered by SHA as part of its week-long detox and change programme, but it’s just one small part of a broad and holistic methodology that brings together ideas from East and West. The programme was inspired by the dietary theories of the Japanese macrobiotics master Dr Michio Kushi, for example, and remains true to the philosophy of traditional Chinese medicine. While SHA also embraces modern science wholeheartedly with nutrition, genetics and preventative medicine as key components in its treatments.
Even the clinic’s surroundings were taken into careful consideration: its coastal microclimate is felt to be optimal for good health.
The clinic has attracted an international clientele since its launch ten years ago, and its popularity suggests there’s a growing appetite for approaches that embrace science, art and tradition in the pursuit of personal transformation.
