Sotheby's Maison in Hong Kong is presenting 'Ballet Mecanique', the first major exhibition dedicated to the automotive works, handbag transformations, furniture and film works of Jay Ahr, the artistic identity of Belgian designer Jonathan Riss. The free public exhibition runs from 5 to 26 November 2026 at Sotheby's Maison, Landmark Chater, 8 Connaught Road Central, with advance booking required. It is open Monday to Saturday from 11am to 7pm, and on Sundays and public holidays from 11am to 6pm.

The show takes its name from Fernand Leger's landmark 1924 avant-garde film, and it is anchored by three gleaming 550-horsepower Rolls-Royce Corniche Coupes. Each car was taken apart into more than 70,000 individual pieces, then studied, re-engineered and rebuilt by Riss's atelier of mechanics, engineers, designers and artisans, a process he describes as pushing each vehicle to its limits. Riss has collected seventy-two vintage Corniche Coupes in total, and the three on view were disassembled piece by piece before being painstakingly reworked.

Beyond the cars, the exhibition brings together more than fifty transformed luxury objects, including customised Hermes bags and Jean Prouve daybeds, alongside the world premiere of Ahr's directorial film debut. The presentation is a selling exhibition, the first comprehensive survey to unite Ahr's kinetic automotive work, sculptural handbag interventions, archival furniture modifications and filmmaking in one place.

The project treats the automobile as the object that announced modernity, borrowing Leger's celebration of the symmetry, texture and kinetic energy of machines. For Sotheby's, the show continues the Maison's programme of staging selling exhibitions that cross the lines between art, design and luxury in its Hong Kong home.