The post-war period of the 1940s was one of uncertainties and expectations. After three years and eight months of Japanese occupation, on 15 August 1945, Hong Kong returned once more to British rule. The instability of the late 1940s was deepened by an influx of migrants from Mainland China, fleeing from the ongoing civil war. The diversity of people in the region led to the introduction of Hong Kong residency and the Hong Kong Identification Card in 1946, which encouraged the categorization of individuals on the basis of statehood: resident, visitor, immigrant, and refugee. This was one way in which Hong Kong identities were being defined.
The 1940s is recognized as a transitional period of Hong Kong’s 20th century art scene. Prior to this period, many of the artists working in Hong Kong saw the region as an outpost of their activities in Mainland China. One example is Huang Bore 黃般若 (1901–68) who established, in 1925, the Huihai Painting Cooperative in Guangzhou which, one year later, expanded to become the Chinese Painting Research Society with a branch in Hong Kong. In 1930, Huang also established the Chinese Fine Art Institute in Hong Kong with members pursuing painting and photography in Chinese and Western mediums. In 1949, Huang settled in Hong Kong and shortly after formed the Yung Sheh Hiking Club where members sketched and painted the scenery in Hong Kong. The painting of local scenery, whether in watercolors, ink, or oils, saw Hong Kong becoming the subject of representations.
Painting societies and similar, often short-lived, associations were common. They were means by which artists were able to set up exhibitions, hone their art skills, and create a community. Such associations were also instrumental in advocating for art education programs and schools, which would later emerge in the 1950s.
Other notable changes in the cultural field include the public dissemination of information concerning the arts. Print publications, which had halted during the occupation, began again and started to publish notices and articles on arts and cultural events in Hong Kong. The coverage in Wah Kiu Yat Po and Overseas Chinese Daily News 華僑日報 were among the most substantial, comprising information on exhibition openings, art competitions, as well as commentaries on the challenges faced by the cultural industries.
While Hong Kong artists at the time were largely self-taught or had trained overseas, the 1950s saw the inauguration of Hong Kong’s first institutional art programmes. Grantham College, now the Education University of Hong Kong, launched its first art course in 1951 and the Hong Kong Academy of Fine Arts opened in 1952. Five years later in February 1957, the city’s first university-level art training programme began at New Asia College—now part of the Chinese University of Hong Kong—spearheaded by historian Ch’ien Mu 錢穆 alongside artists Ding Yanyong 丁衍庸 and Chen Shih Wen 陳士文.
Other cultural organisations also began to take form. French nonprofit Alliance Française opened its Hong Kong headquarters in 1953 to promote French language and culture through events such as the annual Hong Kong French Film Festival (1972– ). The Modern Literature and Art Association 現代文學美術協會 was established by a group of writers and artists in December 1958 to bring together cultural workers and reinvigorate the lapsed cultural development in China. Around the same time, Sally Jackson Art Gallery, one of the first commercial art galleries in Hong Kong, likewise began operation. In 1959, Hong Kong artists Wucius Wong 王無邪 and Ho Siu Kee 何兆基 participated in the 5th São Paolo Biennale, marking one of the first international presentations by artists in the city.
These developments in the educational, social, and commercial facets of Hong Kong art took place in a rapidly changing city undergoing industrialisation—with an estimated 60% of employment being industrial work in 1957. This coincided with China’s radical Great Leap Forward industrialisation campaign which, exacerbated by natural disasters, disrupted the country’s agricultural output and led to a devastating famine. Many mainland residents fled to Hong Kong from 1958 to 1976, resulting in the second wave of post-war mass Chinese migration.
To grapple with its increasing refugee and immigrant population, the Hong Kong government began building public housing estates. The city’s public housing policy was set up in 1954 after a fire that destroyed shanty houses in Shek Kip Mei left refugees homeless in 1953.
Hong Kong’s first public art museum, the City Museum and Art Gallery, opened on Hong Kong Island in March 1962. It provided Hong Kong residents with physical access to international art and gave local artists a space to exhibit their work. The museum’s first major exhibition titled “Hong Kong Art Today” featured 120 works by 65 artists chosen via open call. Curated by John Warner, it was criticised for heavily favoring abstract art over other manners of expression.
Concurrent with the museum’s opening, Hong Kong artists Cheung Yee 張義 and Liu Guosong 劉國松 participated in the First International Exhibition of Fine Arts of Saigon in March 1962. Its aim was to “strengthen . . . the friendship of artists of all participating nations in an atmosphere of mutual confidence and respect” and was “open to artists of all ages and of every aesthetic creed.”
Artists also began forming collectives and showing their work in self-organised group exhibitions. Considered Hong Kong’s “avant-garde,” the Circle Art Group was founded by an ensemble of 11 Hong Kong-based artists—all men—in 1964. They worked across painting, printmaking, and sculpture and held over 40 shows in and outside of Hong Kong. Four years later in 1968, students of Lui Shou-kwan 呂壽琨, who spearheaded the New Ink Art movement in Hong Kong, inaugurated the In Tao Art Association 元道畫會 with a group exhibition at Hong Kong City Hall. The Association expanded into One Art Group 一畫會 in 1970.
Art publications began to sprout, reflecting the growing presence of art writing and criticism in the city. Modern Editions 好望角, a 13-issue periodical on art, was published by The Modern Literature and Art Association in 1963, while the first issue of the Hong Kong-based English-language bimonthly art magazine Orientations was published in 1969.
In May 1967, simultaneous to the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966–76), labor disputes at the Hong Kong Artificial Flower Works evolved into large-scale leftist riots against the colonial government, resulting in 51 people killed. This will lead to the colonial government’s closure of schools and publications that were sympathetic and supportive of the Chinese Communist Party.
Despite the stock market crash in January 1973, the decade saw substantial infrastructural development in Hong Kong. Six years of free compulsory education was granted in 1971 and was extended to nine years in 1978. The Cross-Harbour Tunnel, the city’s first underwater tunnel connecting Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, opened in 1972. Seven years later in 1979, the Mass Transit Railway began operation, making parts of Hong Kong more accessible at a previously unseen scale.
Landmark art institutions also debuted. The first international auction house to hold sales in Hong Kong, Sotheby’s opened its Asian division on Hong Kong Island in 1973. In July 1975, the City Museum and Art Gallery split into the Hong Kong Museum of History and the Hong Kong Museum of Art. Independent nonprofit arts organisation Hong Kong Art Centre opened its building on Hong Kong Island in 1977 and has since hosted exhibitions for both international and local artists, rented out spaces to local art groups, facilitated arts education, and led the advancement of new media art in the city.
Other initiatives that supported the early expansion of the field into new media and design include Hong Kong Baptist University’s School of Communication, which launched the first local film and video production course in 1970; the establishment of Department of Design of the Hong Kong Technical College (later the Hong Kong Polytechnic University) in 1972; and the opening of the Lee Wai Lee Technical Institute in 1979, which included a design programme.
Annual festivals and exhibitions began to take shape, with three milestone first editions taking place in the ’70s: the first Hong Kong Arts Festival launched in 1973, the first edition of the Contemporary Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition in 1975, and the first Hong Kong International Film Festival in 1977.
Hong Kong artists also drew attention internationally at the Expo ’70 in Osaka with the Hong Kong Pavilion. Press materials advertising the breadth of the Expo’s participants adopted the phrase “76 nations and one special administrative zone,” highlighting Hong Kong’s distinct status and consequently giving it further publicity.
In the second half of the decade, the British colonial government implemented the “touch base” or “reach base” policy, which allowed immigrants from mainland China were allowed to remain in Hong Kong if they were able to reach urban areas. The 1970s closed with economically optimistic prospects, given the PRC’s adoption of an oper door policy under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping 鄧小平 in December 1978.
The 1980s was marked by a palpable energy of radical expression and rigorous experimentation as Hong Kong’s first generation of locally raised and trained artists were coming of age at a period of heightened uncertainty provoked by the impending 1997 Handover. While hundreds of thousands of people began leaving the city after the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 and the endowment of Hong Kong British citizenships later in the decade, those who stayed grappled with the fluidity of Hong Kong identity and sought to define a postcolonial “HongKongness.” Often political and unapologetic, artists’ works and ideas during this time likewise reflected other new ways of thinking that were emerging on a global scale related to feminism, queer studies, and critical race theory.
Groundbreaking collectives pushed the envelope both formally and thematically. Experimental theatre company Zuni Icosahedron was founded in 1982 by co-artistic directors Danny Yung and Mathias Woo. It has produced more than 200 original performances and organised innumerable events, including the first “Hong Kong International Video Art Exhibition” in 1983 and one of the earliest screenings of queer films in the city, “Cinema & Homosexuals,” in 1985. Soon after in 1986, artists May Fung 馮美華, Ellen Pau 鮑藹倫, Wong Chi Fai 黃志輝, and Comyn Mo 毛文羽 formed Videotage, Hong Kong’s first organisation with a focus on video art and new media, which operated from a borrowed space in Zuni Icosahedron’s headquarters on Hong Kong Island. Videotage has initiated notable programmes for the development of new media, including the first annual Microwave International New Media Arts Festival in 1996 and the FUSE Art Residency in 2004.
Artists took matters into their own hands. As a response to the lack of institutional support for art practices, Christine Loh 陸恭蕙 and 21 artists self-organised the group exhibition, “Out of Context 外圍.” Held in a now-demolished building at 15 Kennedy Road in Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island, from 9 to 10 October 1987, the exhibition, groundbreaking in its time, featured performance art, paintings, sculptures, and installations. Spaces for exchange and accessibility were also carved out; the Association for the Advancement of Feminism 新婦女協進會 was established at Lei Cheng Uk Estate in Kowloon in 1984 while the first Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival was launched in 1989.
In the spring of 1989, the Beijing Democracy Movement ended in a violent crackdown by the Chinese government on 4 June, which resulted in thousands of civilian casualties. In solidarity, Art Support 藝援 and the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China 香港市民支援愛國民主運動聯合會 organised Art Fair for Democracy in collaboration with more than 30 local artists and art collectives. It took place on 16 July 1989 in Victoria Park on Hong Kong Island.
To close the decade in December 1989, Hong Kong Art Centre opened the exhibition titled “Turn of a Decade: A New Generation of Artists of the Eighties,” signaling the beginning of a new generation of Hong Kong artists whose cross-disciplinary approach to art-making considered the specificities of Hong Kong as a place.
On 4 April 1990, the Hong Kong Basic Law was adopted by the National People’s Congress of China. It came into effect on the midnight of 1 July 1997 when China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong, enabling the new Special Administrative Region to retain its own economic and legislative systems until 2047. While the city was weighted with tension surrounding the Handover, proactive artists and the greater availability of government support enabled its cultural ecosystem to expand further.
The Arts Development Fund was set up by the Hong Kong government in May 1993 to support work with a particular emphasis on new performing art groups and literature. Two years later in 1995, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) was established to fund cultural work through grant allocation, policies, and venue subsidies.
Among the early recipients of the HKADC grant was Para Site, one of the first exhibition-making institutions and artist-run spaces in Hong Kong founded by artists Patrick Lee 李志芳, Leung Chi-wo 梁志和, Phoebe Man Ching-ying 文晶瑩, Sara Wong Chi-hang 黃志恒, Leung Mee-ping 梁美萍, Tsang Tak-ping 曾德平, and Lisa Cheung 張思敏 in 1996.
HKADC additionally provided affordable rental venues for cultural institutions, alleviating the high cost of accomodations in the city. From 1999 to 2019, art groups could rent a space at 404 Shanghai Street in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, from the government at HKD 1 per year. The community artspace hosted exhibitions and public programmes before its closure in 2019. Among the tenants were Wooferten (2009–15) and CCC Artspace Green Wave Art 碧波押 (2016–18).
In 1998, artists gravitated toward the Oil Street Artist Village in the former Government Supplies Department warehouse and cemetery depot in North Point, Hong Kong Island. Rented out on a short-term lease at HKD 2.50 per square foot, the cheap rent and large premises attracted many practitioners, including Artist Commune, a nonprofit established by graduates from the First Institute of Art and Design in July 1997, and 1a space, an experimental art space founded by artists Choi Yan-chi 蔡仞姿, Hiram To 杜子卿, Howard Chan 陳沛浩, and Oscar Ho 何慶基 in 1998. However, in late 1999, the government reaquired Oil Street for commercial redevelopment and gave tenants the notice of termination. Thirty artists and art groups in the village initiated the Save Oil Street Campaign, which received widespread media coverage but failed to save the site. Instead, the government agreed to reassign another dedicated space for artists at the renovated Cattle Depot complex in Kowloon. During its 14-month existence, more than 100 public events were held with an attendance record of over 20,000 at Oil Street Artist Village.
Questions on the freedom of artistic expression, especially on the grounds of political censorship, recurred throughout the decade. On 6 June 1995, the Obscenes Article Tribunal ruled New Man (1984), a male nude bronze sculpture by British artist Elisabeth Frink, originally on display at Kailey Tower, Central, as an “indecent article.” The ruling was criticsed as censorship of artistic freedom and the tribunal’s verdict was later dismissed by the High Court. On 16 Sep 1996, artist Pan Xinglei 潘星磊 disfigured the nose on the statue of Queen Victoria on Hong Kong Island before splashing red paint over it as part of his performance Red Action. Pan served a one-month jail sentence for criminal vandalism, while the controversial work received wide coverage in the media. Danish artist Jens Galschiøt’s bronze sculpture Pillar of Shame (1996) was displayed at the annual June Fourth vigil at Victoria Park, Hong Kong Island, in June 1997. The Urban Council denied requests for a longer display period and was criticised for political censorship. Students from the University of Hong Kong then moved the work to their campus where it stayed until its forced removal by the government in December 2021.
Further signaling the rise of art writing and criticism in the city, the Hong Kong chapter of the International Association of Art Critics was established in 1996. This followed the inception of niche publications Crossover 越界, the first periodical dedicated to performance art, and NuNaHeDuo (Dislocation), a monthly photography journal, in 1990 and 1992 respectively.
The new century opened with Hong Kong’s first participation in the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001. Organised by Johnson Chang 張頌仁, the Hong Kong pavilion showed the group exhibition “Magic at Street Level” with artists Ellen Pau 鮑藹倫, Ho Siukee 何兆基, and Warren Leung 梁志和.
Two years later, the first case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong was found in March 2003. The outbreak took the lives of 299 people in the city before the World Health Organisation declared it contained on 5 July 2003. But as Hong Kong was recovering from SARS, on 1 July 2003, half a million residents took to the streets to protest against the implementation of Article 23, which among other things sought to “prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government.” Perceived by the populace as a threat to freedoms of expression, the bill was ultimately abandoned.
Monumental cultural policies were initiated. Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa’s 董建華 2005 Policy Address advocated for the development of the cultural and creative industries. In 2008, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority statutory body was established with a HKD 21.6 billion upfront endowment by the Legislative Council to cultivate the West Kowloon Cultural District, a cultural hub conceptualised in 1998. It will include the Xiqu Centre, M+ modern and contemporary art museum, Freespace contemporary performance space, Art Park, and Lyric Theatre Complex.
Communal artists spaces centered on exchange took form. Asia Art Archive opened on Hong Kong Island in 2000 through the initiative of co-founders Claire Hsu 徐文玠 and Johnson Chang 張頌仁 to document and make accessible the recent history of arts in Asia. The residential and industrial Fo Tan district in the New Territories developed an artist community among students and graduates of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Fine Arts Department when Gordon Lo, Lam Tung-pang, Tony Ma, Tozer Pak, Sam Tang, Castaly Leung, Amy Lee, and Joey Wong held their first open studio exhibitions at Studio 318 in Fo Tan in 2001. By 2007, the Fotanian artist community comprised more than 28 studios and 100 artists.
On Hong Kong Island, Art and Culture Outreach (ACO) opened at the residential Foo Tak Building in Wan Chai in 2003. Comprising an exhibition space and bookstore, ACO offers artists affordable spaces in the building. A nine-storey artist village in Kowloon, the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC) opened in 2008 to provide artists with affordable studios and exhibition facilities. Their tenants include Lumenvisum, Hong Kong Open Printshop, and Floating Projects.
Hong Kong’s position as a heavyweight in the global art market became clear as art fairs joined the city’s growing register of commercial galleries and auction houses. Fine Art Asia launched its first edition in 2006 while Asia Art Fair, the precursor to Art Basel Hong Kong, was inaugurated in 2008, simultaneous to the debut of the Hong Kong International Arts and Antiques Fair.
Educational programmes that provide undergraduate and graduate training in the arts also opened for their first cohorts, including the Hong Kong Art School (2000), HKBU’s Academy of Visual Arts (2004), the Hong Kong Design Institite (2007), and the Hong Kong campus of the American Savannah College of Art and Design (2009–20).
In the 2010s, Hong Kong became the world’s third largest art market after New York and London. One year after Hong Kong signed the Free Trade Agreement with member states of the European Free Trade Association on June 2011, the first Affordable Art Fair was held at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre in March 2012. Soon after, Swiss-based international art fair franchise Art Basel debuted its Hong Kong iteration in March 2013 with a focus on Asian art, while its local counterpart Art Central was launched in May 2015. Altogether, these fairs attract thousands of galleries, collectors, and visitors annually. Their dates often mark the beginning of Hong Kong Art Week.
The city’s cultural institutions, many of which were independent artist-run spaces, matured and expanded into recognized players in the field, while new international museums were established. Two revitalised heritage sites opened with exhibition-making museums in 2018: Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts opened to the public in the former Central Police Station Compound on Hong Kong Island with JC Contemporary and JC Cube, which hosts performances for theatre, music, dance, and film, while the Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT) was inaugurated in the former cotton-spinning mills of Nan Fung Textiles as an organisation dedicated to spearheading research into and the development of Hong Kong and Asia’s new textile arts. With more cultural institutions, both government and non-government bodies also began offering training programmes for cultural workers based in Hong Kong, enabling residents to acquire museum training and cultural education without going overseas.
However, the decade’s most culturally significant moments were arguably found outside in the streets during the days, weeks, and months the people of Hong Kong spent in protest. Occupy Central started as a response to the call for solidarity by the international Occupy movement against socio-economic inequality and took place beneath the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation’s (HSBC) headquarters in Central on Hong Kong Island from 15 October 2011 until 11 September 2012. Two years later, the movement evolved into the Occupy Central with Love and Peace civil disobedience campaign, aggravated by the government-proposed reforms to Hong Kong’s electoral system and closure of Civic Square, a public space in the Hong Kong Government Offices that was fenced off during earlier demonstrations. There, artists to stage public performances aimed at expressing and raising awareness surrounding issues of freedom of speech and demonstration, rights to public spaces, and land ownership. It ended on 15 December 2014 after 79 days.
In 2019, protests against a proposed extradition bill developed into a city-wide demonstration that saw hundreds of thousands of people calling for among other demands an inquiry into police conduct and universal suffrage on 9 June. Schools, bus and rain stations, underground subways, and other public spaces were covered with posters produced by anonymous artists, while nameless zines, stickers, postcards, and pamphlets were distributed or left in boxes along busy footpaths. These materials either sought to disseminate information, show support, or express dissatisfaction. On 12 June, more than 100 arts organisations in Hong Kong called a one-day strike to protest the extradition bill.
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16.04.1935
Kung Sheung Daily News publishes its first coverage on arts and culture
Publications
On 16 April 1935, the Hong Kong-printed Chinese-language newspaper Kung Sheung Daily News, also known as the Industrial and Commercial News 工商日報, published its first coverage on arts and culture. It was a short announcement on the opening of a solo exhibition by Hong Kong artist Luis Chan 陳福善. This marked the first of the publication’s many short notices on art events.
Kung Sheung Daily News operated from July 1925 to 1984, only ceasing publication from 1941 to 1945 during to the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. It rose to prominence as one of the major Hong Kong newspapers in the 1960s and ’70s. On April 1964, the company relocated from its premises at Des Voeux Road, Central, to 18 Fenwick Street, Wan Chai.
Multimedia Information System, Hong Kong Public Libraries, n.d.
Search for “香港工商日報, 1935-04-16.” The announcement is printed on the bottom left of page 10.
Robert H.N. Ho. “Kung Sheung Daily News.” Accessed 26 May 2023. http://www.roberthnho.com/en/FamilyHistory/Kung-Sheung-Daily-News.
12.1937
Nanjing Massacre (1937–45)
Policies and socio-political events
The Nanjing Massacre marked the fall of China’s Nationalist capital under Japanese forces during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45).
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Second Sino-Japanese War.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 January 2024.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Second-Sino-Japanese-War.
History.com Editors. “Nanjing Massacre.” Last modified 11 August 2023.
https://www.history.com/topics/asian-history/nanjing-massacre.
12.1941
Battle of Hong Kong
Policies and socio-political events
From 8 to 25 December 1941, the Battle of Hong Kong was fought against Imperial Japanese troops crossing over from Guangdong to invade the New Territories and Kowloon.
Letters, Paul. “The Battle of Hong Kong through the Eyes of People Who Survived It.” South China Morning Post, 16 December 2016.
https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2054842/battle-hong-kong-through-eyes-people-who-lived.
.jpg?sv=2017-11-09&sr=b&se=2025-04-27T00:15:40Z&sp=r&sig=wEEP0SFPVu8NFav53X6FHYs3C%2FcolWHVv5MpjdjOUbM%3D)
1945
First wave of post-war mass Chinese migration to Hong Kong begins (1945–51)
Policies and socio-political events
While wrought by Civil War with the communist revolution on the horizon, China saw the first wave of post-war mass Chinese migration to Hong Kong take place between 1945 and 1951. Within these six years, Hong Kong’s population more than tripled, from 600,000 to 2.1 million.
Chen, Laurie, and Yujing Liu. “Explainer: How Hong Kong Has for Decades Been a Migrant Magnet.” South China Morning Post, 23 December 2017.
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/community/article/2125451/explainer-how-hong-kong-has-decades-been-magnet-refugees.
15.08.1945
Japanese occupation ends
Policies and socio-political events
British forces returned to Hong Kong on 30 August 1945, after Japan’s unconditional surrender on 15 August, ending the three years and eight months of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.
Lee Shau Kee Library, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “Three Years and Eight Months: Hong Kong during the Japanese Occupation.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://library.hkust.edu.hk/exhibitions/japanese-occupation/.
1948
British Council opens its Hong Kong headquarters
Diplomatic organisations
The British Council opened its headquarters in Hong Kong in 1948, coinciding with the passage of the British Nationality Act 1948, which created the status of “Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies.” The Council’s building at 3 Supreme Court Road in Admiralty, Hong Kong Island, opened in 1996.
British nationality act 1948: 11 & 12 George VI. Chapter 56 (1948).
British Council Hong Kong. “Our history.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
25.11.1948
Overseas Chinese Daily News starts publishing on arts and culture, debuts the Hong Kong Year Book
Publications
The earliest article on arts and culture to appear in the Hong Kong-based Chinese-language newspaper Wah Kiu Yat Po or Overseas Chinese Daily News 華僑日報 was published on 25 November 1948. The newspaper’s articles were more substantial than those published in other contemporaneous publications and included information on exhibition openings and art competitions, as well as commentaries on the challenges faced by the cultural industries.
Overseas Chinese Daily News was founded in 1925. It was one of the few papers to continue publication throughout the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong from 1941 to 1945 and became one of the leading Hong Kong newspapers of the 1960s and ’70s. Overseas Chinese Daily News published the annual Hong Kong Year Book from 1948 until 1991 when the media company was acquired by South China Morning Post. The paper ceased publication in 1995.
“【香港報紙】已經消失的工商日報及華僑日報.” 港識多史｜香港歷史社會研究社, 12 October 2022.
Multimedia Information System, Hong Kong Public Libraries. “Overseas Daily News.”
Search “香港工商日報, 1935-04-16.” The announcement is on page 8.
鄭明仁. “香港年報年鑑熱門收藏.” am730, 24 February 2022.
https://www.am730.com.hk/column/新聞/香港年報年鑑熱門收藏/308655.
01.10.1949
People’s Republic of China is established
Policies and socio-political events
The People’s Republic of China was established on 1 October 1949.
Wikipedia. “History of the People’s Republic of China.” Accessed 19 November 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China.
1951
First art teacher training programme in Hong Kong is launched
Art education
Grantham College, one of the five teacher training colleges which were merged in 1994 to become The Hong Kong Institute of Education (the predecessor of The Education University of Hong Kong), began offering art teacher training programmes in 1951.
G.C.E. Past Students’ Association Whampoa Primary School. “History of the School.” Accessed 28 November 2023.
https://www.gcewps.edu.hk/?page_id=1191.
1952
Hong Kong Academy of Fine Arts opens
Art education
Founded by artist-educator Chan Hoi-ying in 1952, the Hong Kong Academy of Fine Arts offers “a curriculum with a strong focus on drawing skills.” The academy, “the first art academy in the city that is registered with the Education Department of the Hong Kong government,” has since continued to operate at 438 Nathan Road in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon.
Hong Kong Academy of Fine Arts. “Brief Introduction of the Academy.” Accessed 28 November 2023.
1953
HKU launches its first Chinese art and archeology course
Art education
The University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) Department of Chinese launched an undergraduate course on Chinese art and archaeology in 1953, the first teritiary art programme in Hong Kong.
HKU Fine Arts and Art History Alumni Association. “HKU Fine Arts in 40 Years.” Accessed 19 May 2023.
1953
Alliance Française de Hong Kong is established
Diplomatic organisations
Established in 1953, Alliance Française de Hong Kong is a nonprofit focused on promoting French language and culture by offering courses and organising events. In 1970, the nonprofit founded its own art journal, Le Journal de Hong Kong, which circulated until it was succeeded by the quarterly French-Chinese magazine Paroles in 1982. Alliance Française also organises the Hong Kong French Film Festival, held annually since 1972, and French May, which “features both established and emerging French artists and performers, as well as local and international artists who are inspired by French culture” every year since 1993.
According to the French Diplomacy website, there are almost 20,000 French nationals in Hong Kong as of 2019, making “the French community in Hong Kong is the second largest in Asia.”
France Diplomacy. “France and Hong Kong.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/china/france-and-hong-kong/.
French May Arts Fest. Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://www.frenchmay.com/en-us.
Alliance Française de Hong Kong. “Who are we?” Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://www.afhongkong.org/en/about/who-are-we/.
1953
HKU opens the Fung Ping Shan Museum
Museums
The University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) Fung Ping Shan Museum is the oldest museum in Hong Kong. It was originally established as the Fung Ping Shan Library in 1932 and housed Chinese publications before turning into a teaching museum dedicated to Chinese art in 1953. In 1994, it was renamed as the University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG). It is located on campus grounds at 90 Bonham Road in Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong Island.
University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong. Accessed 31 May 2023.
10.10.1956
Double Tenth Riots
Policies and socio-political events
As a result of escalating political tensions in the city, the Double Tenth Riots occurred between 10 and 12 October 1956 in northern Kowloon.
Li, Chu Wai, and 朱維理. “More than a Potential Threat: The PRC’s Intervention During the Double Tenth Incident / 中共在雙十暴動中的介入及對英國治港政策的威脅.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch 56 (2016): 9–39.
02.1957
New Asia College launches its Fine Arts Specialised Training Programme
Art education
New Asia College chancellor Ch’ien Mu 錢穆, Ding Yanyong 丁衍庸, and Chen Shih Wen 陳士文 launched the two-year Fine Arts Specialised Training Programme on February 1957. The first university-level art training programme in Hong Kong, the programme was structured around art theory, studio art training, and the study of literature, history, and philosophy. Students could choose to focus on either Chinese or Western painting. Professors included Ding, Chen, Zeng Keduan 曾克耑, and CC Wang 王己千. The initial intake was around 20 students. The course became a four-year undergraduate programme in February 1959.
CUHKUPDates. “The Art of Artist Development.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://www.iso.cuhk.edu.hk/english/publications/CUHKUPDates/article.aspx?articleid=1910.
朱琦：《 香港美術史》。三聯書店（香港）有限公司，2005年，第130頁。
The Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Museum. “Sincere Brush : Works of Ting Yin-yung Courtesy of His Students and Friends in the Department of Fine Arts, CUHK.” Exhibitions. Accessed 31 May 2023.
http://www.artmuseum.cuhk.edu.hk/en/exhibition/current/detail/38.
21.05.1957
HKU establishes its Department of Extra-Mural Studies
Art education
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) formally instituted its Department of Extra-Mural Studies on 21 May 1957. Among its notable alumni is artist Gaylord Chan 陳餘生. In 1992, the Department was renamed the School of Professional and Continuing Education (HKU SPACE).
HKU SPACE. “Milestones.” About. Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://hkuspace.hku.hk/milestones.
Hong Kong Museum of Art. “In loving memory of the late Mr Gaylord Chan (1925-2020).” Last modified 29 June 2020.
https://hk.art.museum/en/web/ma/news/in-loving-memory-of-the-late-gaylord-chan.html.
1958
Great Leap Forward (1958–60)
Policies and socio-political events
The Great Leap Forward was a Chinese Communist Party campaign aimed at advancing China’s industrialisation process through increased human labour in large-scale rural communes. Implemented from 1958 to 1960, the campaign disrupted the country’s agricultural output and resulted in the Great Famine (1959–61).
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Great Leap Forward.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 February 2024. https://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Leap-Forward.
1958
Second wave of mass Chinese migration (1958–76)
Policies and socio-political events
The second wave of post-war mass Chinese migration to Hong Kong took place from 1958 to 1976, in the midst of the Great Leap Forward, Great Famine, and Cultural Revolution in China.
Chen, Laurie, and Yujing Liu. “Explainer: How Hong Kong Has for Decades Been a Migrant Magnet.” South China Morning Post, 23 December 2017.
Skeldon, Ronald. “Emigration from Hong Kong: 1945-1994: The Demographic Lead-up to 1997.” Essay. In Emigration from Hong Kong: Tendencies and Impacts, 54. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1995.
12.1958
The Modern Literature and Art Association is established
Artist and cultural groups
The Modern Literature and Art Association 現代文學美術協會 was established by a group of writers and artists in December 1958. Its founding manifesto laid out its mission to bring together cultural workers and reinvigorate the lapsed cultural development in China. The association organised exhibitions, such as the Hong Kong International Salon of Paintings, and published periodicals, including New Currents (1959–60) and Modern Edition (1963). It has been inactive since 1964.
Members included Eddie Cheung 張樹生, Cheung Yee 張義, Chuang Che 莊喆, Dei Tien 戴天, Hon Chifun 韓志勳, Pat Hui 許雪碧, Binghing Kam 金炳興, King Chia-lun 金嘉倫, Mokit Kei 祁慕潔, Raymond Kong 江從新, Veronica Kong 江靜枝, Kuo Venchi 郭文基, Eunice Lam 林燕妮, David Lam 林鎮輝, Yiukuen Lau 劉耀權, Yingho Lee 李英豪, Liu Guosong 劉國松, Paul Lo 盧因, Lui Shou-kwan 呂壽琨, Pansy Ng 吳璞輝, Pingchuen Ng 吳炳銓, Pan Shichao Gilbert 潘士超, Quanan Shum 岑崑南, James Ting 丁智, Van Lau 文樓, Cheeching Wong 黃志清, Wucius Wong 王無邪, Chiwan Yip 葉子雲, Wailim Yip 葉維廉, and Jackson Yu 尤紹曾.
The Modern Literature and Art Association. Manifesto of The Modern Literature and Art Association Hong Kong. Hong Kong: The Modern Literature and Art Association, 1959.
Man, Eva Kit Wah. Issues of Contemporary Art and Aesthetics in Chinese Context. Berlin: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2015. Information about The Modern Literature and Art Association is on page 73.
1959
Great Famine (1959–61)
Policies and socio-political events
With China’s agriculture disrupted by the Great Leap Forward industrialisation campaign and further exacerbated by natural calamities, an estimated 16.5 to 45 million people suffered and died of starvation in China between 1959 and 1961.
Meng, Xin, Nancy Qian, and Pierre Yared. “The Institutional Causes of China’s Great Famine, 1959-1961.” The Review of Economic Studies 82, no. 4 (293) (2015): 1568–1611. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43869477.
05.1959
New Currents begins publication
Publications
The Modern Literature and Art Association published the Chinese-language journal New Currents 新思潮 from 1959 to 1960.
Wong, Wucius, ed. New Currents (Issue 1). Hong Kong: The Modern Literature and Art Association Hong Kong, 1959.
The issue is also accessible via https://aaa.org.hk/archive/24937.
03.1962
City Hall Museum and Art Gallery opens
Museums
The City Museum and Art Gallery opened on the top three floors of the City Hall’s High Block at Edinburgh Place in Central, Hong Kong Island, in March 1962 as Hong Kong’s first public art museum. It amassed a permanent collection, provided Hong Kong residents with physical access to international art, and gave local artists a space to exhibit their work. In addition to the premises of the City Museum and Art Gallery, the City Hall housed an Exhibition Gallery in its Lower Block, which was available to the public for lease.
Artist Wucius Wong 王無邪 became the assistant curator of the City Museum and Art Gallery in 1966. In 1975, the museum split into the Hong Kong Museum of History and the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA). The latter of which relocated to Tsim Sha Tsui in 1991 and remains there to this day.
Asia Art Archive. “Hong Kong City Hall / City Museum and Art Gallery.” Ha Bik Chuen Archive. Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://aaa.org.hk/en/archive-collection/13089.
info.gov.hk. “50 stories tell the tale of Hong Kong Museum of Art over the past 50 years (with photos).” Press Releases. Last modified 11 October 2012.
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201210/11/P201210110304.htm.
HKU Fine Arts and Art History Alumni Association. “HKU Fine Arts in 40 Years.” Accessed 19 May 2023.
03.1962
Hong Kong artists in the First International Exhibition of Fine Arts of Saigon
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Cheung Yee 張義 and Liu Guosong 劉國松 participated in the First International Exhibition of Fine Arts of Saigon in March 1962. The exhibition’s aim was to “strengthen . . . the friendship of artists of all participating nations in an atmosphere of mutual confidence and respect” and was “open to artists of all ages and of every aesthetic creed.” Entries were chosen through submissions by the participating countries.
International Exhibition of Fine Arts of Saigon. An essay in First International Exhibition of Fine Arts of Saigon, 1962, 167–216. Saigon: International Exhibition of Fine Arts of Saigon, 1962. Catalogue.
11.1962
Chatham Gallery opens
Galleries
Described as Hong Kong’s “first art gallery” by the South China Morning Post on 4 November 1962, Chatham Gallery 雅苑畫廊 opened on Chatham Road in Hung Hom, Kowloon, under the ownership of schoolteacher Dorothy Swan.
McHugh, Fionnuala. “When Hong Kong had no galleries: 1970s art revisited in show.” South China Morning Post, 2 April 2016.
Bailey, Stephanie. “Hong Kong or the history of a global art hub.” Art Basel. Accessed 18 January 2024.
https://www.artbasel.com/news/hong-kong-history-institutions-galleries-artists-art-basel-week?lang=e.
梁, 寶山. ""殖民地的現代藝術(連載)."" 獨立媒體. 5 May 2008.
05.1962
“Hong Kong Art Today”
Performances, screenings, exhibitions
“Hong Kong Art Today” was the first major exhibition of the City Hall Museum and Art Gallery after its opening in March 1962. Organised by John Warner, the exhibition opened on 25 May and featured 120 works by 65 artists chosen via invitation and open call. It was the first show dedicated specifically to Hong Kong art, which aligns with the new museum’s mission to acknowledge the city’s artistic landscape as its own entity instead of as a subsection of Chinese or British art.
According to Warner, the artwork selection process showed “a preference for material quality, intelligent experiment and originality rather than outworn cliche, dull technical skill and cheap imitation.” However, while the exhibition produced great interest in the local scene, its selection of works was met with controversy as works by many veteran Hong Kong artists, including Luis Chan, were not accepted.
Hong Kong Art Today. Hong Kong: 1962. Catalogue accessible onsite at Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/180995.
Wikipedia. “Hong Kong Art Today.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
1963
Goethe-Institut opens
Diplomatic organisations
In 1963, Goethe-Institut opened at 1 Duddell Street in Central, Hong Kong Island, to foster cultural exchange between Hong Kong and Germany by providing language courses and cultural events. The nonprofit exhibits both German and local artists. It is one of the earliest organisations promoting new media such as video and installation art in Hong Kong.
In 1969, Goethe-Institut relocated to 141 Des Voeux Road in Central before moving to the Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) in Wan Chai. The Goethe Gallery is located on the 14th floor of HKAC and presents eight to ten exhibitions with local and German practitioners every year. In celebration of its 50th anniversary in 2013, the Institut opened a black box space at Goethe-Gallery to cater specifically to sound and new media artworks.
50 Years Goethe-Institut Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Goethe Institut Hong Kong, 2013.
1963
Sally Jackson Art Gallery opens
Galleries
Founded by artist Jackson Yu, Sally Jackson Art Gallery 三集畫廊 opened in the 1963 as one of the first art galleries in Hong Kong.
Lai, Minghoi Victor, and Chipang LAU, eds. In Conversation with Hong Kong Art 1960–1979. Hong Kong: Joint Publishing (Hong Kong) Company Limited, 2014.
03.1963
Modern Edition is published
Publications
Modern Edition 好望角 is a 13-issue periodical on art published by The Modern Literature and Art Association 現代文學美術協會 in 1963.
The Modern Literature and Art Association was established by a group of writers and artists in December 1958. Its founding manifesto laid out its mission to bring together cultural workers and reinvigorate the lapsed cultural development in China.
Modern Edition (Issue 1, March 1963). Hong Kong: Modern Edition, 1 March 1963. Periodical accessible onsite at Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/208341.
04.1963
“Hong Kong 1850–1910”
Performances, screenings, exhibitions
“Hong Kong 1850–1910” was a photography exhibition held at the City Hall Museum in April to June 1963. The show seeks to present a “pictorially unbiased record” of everyday life in Hong Kong during the early decades of the British colonial period. The photos on display, pulled from government and private sources, are categorised into 10 groups: Kowloon and Kowloon City; old Hong Kong buildings; Hong Kong street scenes; panoramas of Hong Kong and Kowloon; views of the Victoria Harbour and the waterfront; sport; typhoon damage; Chinese buildings and festivals; prominent people and groups of people.
Hong Kong 1850–1910. Hong Kong: City Museum and Art Gallery, 1963. The exhibition leaflet is available online at Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/206895.
10.1963
CUHK opens with New Asia College’s Department of Fine Arts
Art education
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) opened with the New Asia College as one of its constituent colleges in 1963. New Asia College’s Department of Fine Arts was the first to offer a tertiary-level fine arts programme in Hong Kong. The programme is still offered today and consists of studio art practice and art history.
Artist Liu Kuo-Sung 劉國松 was the department’s chair from 1972 to 1976. In 1973, the department relocated to the university’s main campus in Sha Tin, New Territories. A year later, it developed a new programme combining art history and studio practice.
The Department of Fine Arts launched its MPhil in History of Chinese Art in 1981; Ph.D. in History of Chinese Art in 1992; MA in Fine Arts in 1993; and MA in Cultural Management in 2001. It has trained multiple generations of Hong Kong artists, including Ho Siu-kee 何兆基, Anthony Leung Po-Shan 梁寶山, and Phoebe Man 文晶瑩.
Liu Kuo-sung. “Timeline.” About. Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.liukuosung.org/timeline.php?lang=en.
New Asia College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. “History.” About New Asia. Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.na.cuhk.edu.hk/about-new-asia/history/.
Department of Fine Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. “History.” About Us. Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~fadept/about-us/history/.
Wikipedia. “Department of Fine Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Fine_Arts,_Chinese_University_of_Hong_Kong.
1964
“An Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Painting”
Performances, screenings, exhibitions
Liu Kuo-sung 劉國松 participated in “An Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Painting,” which was shown in 14 countries in Africa.
“現代水墨 - 劉國松.” Ministry of Culture, the Government of Taiwan. Accessed 28 November 2023.
In particular, it is stated in the chronology on page 157 that: “At the age of 33, he participated in an exhibition titled 當代中國繪畫展 (literal translation: Contemporary Chinese Paintings Exhibition) in 1964, which toured to 14 countries in Africa.”
1964
Circle Art Group established (1964–73)
Artist and cultural groups
The Circle Art Group, often considered as Hong Kong’s “avant-garde,” was founded in 1964 and remained active for a decade. It was formed as an ensemble of 11 Hong Kong-based artists—all male— who worked in painting, printmaking, and sculpture. The Circle Art Group held over 40 shows in and outside of Hong Kong, including annual group exhibitions at the City Hall Museum and Art Gallery and overseas shows with the Luz Gallery in Manila between 1966 and 1967. They also participated as individuals in the Hong Kong Pavilion at the 1970 Osaka Expo.
Members included Hon Chi Fun 韓志勳, Wucius Wong 王無邪, Cheung Yee 張義, Van Lau 文樓, King Chia-lun 金嘉倫, David Lam Chun Fai 林鎮輝, Jackson Yu 尤紹曾, Paul Chui Yung Sang 徐榕生, Gilbert Pan Sze Chiu 潘士超, Kuo Ven Chi 郭文基, and Chen Ping Yuon 陳炳元.
Hong Kong Museum Journal. Volume 1. Hong Kong: Leisure and Cultural Services Department, 2017.
Wong, Michelle. “In Focus: Circle Art Group.” Ocula, 23 March 2018.
https://ocula.com/magazine/features/in-focus-circle-art-group/.
1964
Hong Kong Technical College launches certificate courses on design
Art education
The Hong Kong Technical College, the predecessor of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, began offering part-time evening certificate courses on design in 1964. In 1972, the college became Hong Kong Polytechnic and the Department of Design was formally established to offer higher diploma and higher certificate programmes in design.
School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “Our History.” Accessed 28 November 2023.
https://www.polyu.edu.hk/sd/school/our-history/.
Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “History.” Accessed 28 November 2023.
https://www.polyu.edu.hk/en/about-polyu/history/.
University Fellowships, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “Professor Wucius Wong, BBS.” The Fellows. Accessed 28 November 2023.
https://www.polyu.edu.hk/universityfellowships/fellows_detail.php?lang=en&id=104.
1965
CUHK launches its Department of Extra-Mural Studies
Art education
The Chinese University of Hong Kong’s (CUHK) Department of Extra-Mural Studies was established in 1965, with Wucius Wong 王無邪 as its inaugural faculty member. Wong developed the Certificate Course in Applied Design which was launched in 1966. Three years later, the City Hall Museum and Art Gallery hosted an exhibition of Hong Kong design students titled “Design: The Beginnings” in 1969.
In 1967, King Chia-Lun 金嘉倫 joined the department and later became its Staff Tutor in charge of art courses in 1972. Ding Yanyong 丁衍庸 taught Chinese painting at the department from 1973 to 1978. The Department of Extra-Mural Studies was renamed the School of Continuing and Professional Studies in January 2006.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “2016 University Fellow Professor Wucius Wong.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.polyu.edu.hk/universityfellowships/fellows_detail.php?lang=en&id=104.
Hong Kong Museum of Art. “Design: The Beginnings (Poster).” Exhibitions, Resources. Accessed May 31 2023.
https://hk.art.museum/en/web/ma/resources/hong-kong-art-research-portal/exhibitions/1962-1973.html.
Kao, Mayching. “Biography of Ding Yanyong.” Hong Kong Museum of Art. Accessed 19 November 2023. https://hk.art.museum/Archive/resources/DYY_biography_eng.pdf.
King, Chia-lun. Born of Fire, 7. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Xinhua Book City Publishing Co Ltd.
School of Continuing and Professional Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong. Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://www.scs.cuhk.edu.hk/en.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “University Fellowships.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://www.polyu.edu.hk/universityfellowships/.
1966
Cultural Revolution (1966–76)
Policies and socio-political events
The Cultural Revolution took place in China from 1966 to 1976.
Lieberthal, K. G.. “Cultural Revolution.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 March 2024.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Cultural-Revolution.
04.1966
Star Ferry Riots
Policies and socio-political events
On 4 April 1966, So Sau Chung 蘇守忠 started a hunger strike in protest of the proposed increase in ferry fares by the British colonial government. The Star Ferry Riots 天星小輪加價暴動 ensued on the nights of 6 and 7 April following So’s arrest for “causing an obstruction.”
Scott, Ian. “Bridging the Gap: Hong Kong Senior Civil Servants and the 1966 Riots.” The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 45, no. 1 (2016): 131–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/03086534.2016.1227030.
Hollingsworth, Julia. “Flashback: Hunger Striker Who Sparked 1966 Star Ferry Riots.” South China Morning Post, 20 October 2017.
05.1967
Leftist Riots (1967–68)
Policies and socio-political events
In May 1967, simultaneous to the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966–76), labour disputes at the Hong Kong Artificial Flower Works evolved into large-scale leftist riots against the colonial government, resulting in 51 fatalities. This subsequently led to the colonial government’s closure of schools and publications that were sympathetic and supportive of the Chinese Communist Party.
Cheung, Gary Ka-wai. “Introduction: The 1967 Riots: A Watershed in the Postwar History of Hong Kong.” In Hong Kong’s Watershed the 1967 Riots, 1–8. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009.
1968
In Tao Art Association established
Artist and cultural groups
In Tao Art Association 元道畫會 was established by students of Lui Shou-kwan 呂壽琨, who spearheaded the New Ink Art movement in Hong Kong. Lui advocated for the combination of traditional Chinese ink art with Euro-American modern art, in particular abstract expressionism. “The First Joint Exhibition of In Tao Art Association” took place at Hong Kong City Hall in November 1968. The Association expanded into One Art Group一畫會 in 1970, with the “One Art Group First Joint Exhibition” held at Hong Kong City Hall in October 1971.
Members included Beatrice Tso 章家慧, Irene Chou 周綠雲, Ho Chungwah 何重華, Lee Weion 李維安, Ng Yiuchung 吳耀忠, Own Tehbay 翁德備, Tam Chishing Laurence 譚志成, Tan Doen 譚曼于, Tang Sekwing 鄧錫榮, and Wong Wangfai 汪弘輝.
Galerie du Monde. “One Art Group – The Pioneers of Ink Art.” Accessed 18 January 2024.
https://galeriedumonde.com/exhibitions/12-one-art-group-the-pioneers-of-ink/overview/.
The First Joint Exhibition of In Tao Art Association — Catalogue. Hong Kong: In Tao Art Association, 1968.
Vigneron, Frank. Art Appreciation and Criticism in Context Series: 4. Understanding Hong Kong Art through Culture. Hong Kong: Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2012.
1969
Orientations begins publication
Publications
Orientations, a bi-monthly magazine printed in Hong Kong, was first published in 1969. Distributed worldwide, its content focuses on Himalayan, Indian, Middle Eastern, and East and Southeast Asian art.
Orientations. Accessed 31 May 2023.
1969
Hon Chi Fun receives the John D. Rockefeller 3rd Foundation Fellowship
Awards, grants, residencies
In 1969, Hon Chi Fun 韓志勳 became the first Hong Kong recipient of a fellowship from the John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award, the predecessor of the Asian Cultural Council. With the fellowship, Hon spent one year in New York.
Asian Cultural Council Hong Kong. “ACC salutes to Hon Chi Fun (1922–2019).” Accessed 31 May 2023.
1970
Hong Kong in Expo ’70, Osaka
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Hong Kong participated in its first world exposition at Expo ’70 in Osaka, the first international exposition held in Asia. Designed by Hong Kong City Hall architect Alan Fitch under the theme “Enjoyment and Enterprise through Harmony,” the Hong Kong Pavilion incorporated 13 orange-red sails and an artificial lake which altogether “give the appearance of a traditional Chinese junk or sampan.” Its interior was divided into three interior sections that showcased the city’s social transformation and robust industrial economy: “Social Progress,” “Industrial Progress,” and “Hong Kong’s Cultural Tourism.”
Works in the Pavilion comprised local crafts, architecture, and artworks “that exemplifies the idea of ‘social progress,’” including those by Kan Taikeung 靳埭強, Van Lau 文樓, and Lui Loping. It also featured Chinese opera and dance performances as well as a Cantonese restaurant.
Press materials advertised the breadth of the Exposition’s participants by adopting the phrase “76 nations and one special administrative zone,” which highlighted Hong Kong’s distinct status and consequently gave it further publicity. The exposition featured more than 100 pavilions and was visited by over 50 million people.
M+. “Archival material, Hong Kong pavilion at Expo ’70 (1968–1970), Osaka, Japan.” Collection Online. Accessed 31 May 2023.
“Hong Kong Pavilion at Osaka Expo Reflects How Industry Improves Lives, Modern Sculpture Is Complete.” Wah Kiu Yat Po. Accessed 31 May 2023 via the Ha Bik Chuen Archive at Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/201707.
[Magazine Articles on Hong Kong Pavilion in Osaka Expo 1970]. Accessed 31 May 2023 via the Ha Bik Chuen Archive at Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/189625.
1970
First film and video production course in Hong Kong launched
Art education
The Hong Kong Baptist University’s (HKBU) School of Communication was founded in 1968 in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon. In 1970, it launched Hong Kong’s first film and video production course.
Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. Accessed 31 May 2023.
School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University. Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://www.comm.hkbu.edu.hk/comd-www/english/front/index.htm.
1970
Le Journal de Hong Kong begins publication (1970–82)
Publications
Alliance Française Hong Kong began publishing its art journal, Le Journal de Hong Kong, in 1970. It circulated until it was succeeded by the quarterly French-Chinese magazine Paroles in 1982.
Paroles. Accessed 31 May 2023.
04.1970
First Institute of Arts and Design established
Art education
The First Institute of Arts and Design 大一學院藝術設計中心 was established in 1970. It provided a fine art diploma course that covered drawing, design, painting, printmaking, and three-dimensional media. The institute also hosted numerous exhibitions featuring One Art Group, Jaffa Lam 林嵐, and Belinda Kung Yang.
[Application Form for Fine Art Diploma Course at First Institute of Art and Design]. Hong Kong: First Institute of Art and Design, 1970. Accessed 31 May 2023 via the Ha Bik Chuan Archive at Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/189381.
1971
Lion Art Monthly begins publication (1971–96)
Publications
Lion Art Monthly 雄獅美術月刊 was a Taiwanese art journal that was widely circulated in Hong Kong during the time of its publication from 1971 to 1996. The monthly features not only the work of contemporary Taiwanese artists, but also introduces to its readers a wide spectrum of ideas from both the Asian and the Western art worlds. In around 2011, Lion Art launched a digital archive to provide its subscribers with access to the digitalised content of the past issues of Lion Art Monthly. Lion Art also publishes books on Chinese and Western art and culture, as well as offers art classes to members of the public. In August 2023, the group announced the closure of their business citing the challenge of adapting itself to the changing tastes of the readers.
Lion Art Knowledge Archive. “Lion Art Monthly.” Accessed 28 November 2023. http://udp.ksml.edu.tw/lionart/Monthly.aspx?page=1.
“獅吼40:雄獅美術四十週年的回顧與前詹.” Lion Art Knowledge Archive, July 2011. Accessed 28 November 2023.
“雄獅圖書50年走入歷史 創辦人：面對閱讀世代革命 無能對應.” Yahoo! News, 7 August 2023. Accessed 28 November 2023.
https://tw.news.yahoo.com/雄獅圖書50年走入歷史-創辦人：面對閱讀世代革命-無能對應-122657708.html.
1971
CUHK’s Art Museum opens
Museums
CUHK’s Art Museum opened in 1971 on the university’s campus in Ma Liu Shui, New Territories. The university’s vision was to build a museum that would provide a platform for the learning of Chinese civilization through the studying of the country’s artistic legacy and cultural relics.
History, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Museum. “About.” Accessed 28 November 2023.
http://www.artmuseum.cuhk.edu.hk/en/about/history/.
1972
Hong Kong Technical College opens Department of Design
Art education
The Department of Design of the Hong Kong Technical College, later the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, was established in 1972. Wucius Wong 王無邪 became a senior lecturer in the department in 1974 and held the position until 1984.
“HKU Fine Arts in 40 Years.” HKU Fine Arts and Art History Alumni Association. Accessed May 31, 2023. https://hkufaaa.hk/.
1972
Nigel Cameron joins South China Morning Post
Publications
Nigel Cameron (1920–2017) joined the South China Morning Post (SCMP) and remained an art critic for the paper until 1994. Cameron moved to Hong Kong in 1962 and was variously employed as a historian, art critic, art dealer, and exhibition organiser. He was the first English-language art critic in Hong Kong. After he joined SCMP, the newspaper began publishing longer articles on arts and culture.
Batten, John. “Obituary: Art Critic Nigel Cameron Championed Hong Kong Artists.” South China Morning Post, 16 February 2017.
01.1973
Hong Kong stock market crashes
Policies and socio-political events
The Hong Kong stock market and stock markets worldwide crashed in January 1973, with the Hang Seng Index plunging from 1,700 points to just 150 points.
SCMP Reporter. “Crash of 1973 worse, says Arculli.” South China Morning Post, 12 October
2008. https://www.scmp.com/article/655972/crash-1973-worse-says-arculli.
Fung, Winnie. “Hong Kong Stocks Sink Anew.” The New York Times, 9 December 1978.
1973
Hong Kong Visual Arts Society established
Artist and cultural groups
The Hong Kong Visual Arts Society (VAS) was established in 1973 by graduates of HKU Space’s Art and Design faculty. VAS seeks to foster local arts development and periodically organises art and art education programmes - such as art fairs and painting forums - in collaboration with schools and other local institutions. The VAS inaugural exhibition was held at Hong Kong City Hall from 2 to 4 October 1974.
Founding members include Gaylord Chan 陳餘生, Frog King 郭孟浩, Eddie Lui 呂豐雅, Tsang Fan Kwong 曾繁光, Danny Lee 李展輝, Eddie Cheung 張德成, Josephine Chow 周淑芬, Stephen Yau 游榮光, Samuel O 柯韶衛, and Li Ki Kwok 李其國.
Hong Kong Visual Arts Society. Accessed 31 May 2023. https://www.hkvas.com/.
1973
Arts Promotion Office established (1973–84)
Galleries
Arts Promotion Office was a commercial art gallery established by Sandra Walters and Josette Bertrou in 1973. The gallery was incorporated into Alisan Fine Arts gallery in 1984.
Tsui, Enid. “Sandra Walters, pioneering art dealer and agent in Hong Kong who inspired the city’s art scene.” South China Morning Post, 3 February 2021.
Wong, Michelle, ed. “Interview: Sandra Walters — Transcript (English).” Asia Art Archive and Hong Kong Museum of Art, 2013. Accessed 31 May 2023. https://aaa.org.hk/archive/21166.
1974
Touch-Base Policy (1974–80)
Policies and socio-political events
The British colonial government implemented the “touch-base” or “reach-base” policy from 1974 to 1980. Under the policy, immigrants from mainland China were allowed to remain in Hong Kong if they were able to reach urban areas.
Skeldon, Ronald. “Emigration from Hong Kong: 1945-1994: The Demographic Lead-up to 1997.” In Emigration from Hong Kong: Tendencies and Impacts, 54. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1995.
Laurie Chen and Yujing Liu. “Explainer: how Hong Kong has for decades been a magnet for refugees and migrants.” South China Morning Post, 23 December 2017.
1974
Visual Arts becomes a HKCEE subject
Art education
In 1974, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority introduced the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) curriculum, which culminates in a standardised examination taken after the end of students’ five-year secondary school education. Visual Arts was one of the subjects included in the curriculum. HKCEE was replaced by the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) in 2012.
Hong Kong Examinations and Assessments Authority. Accessed 31 May 2023.
1974
Phoenix Cine Club established
Artist and cultural groups
Phoenix Cine Club 火鳥電影會 was a private film club ran/organised by artist May Fung 馮美華 that rented rooms in the Chun Wah School in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, on weekend nights to show 16 mm films. “The apparatus was a 16 mm projector and a makeshift screen. The seats were the tables and chairs of the Kindergarten.”
In 1985, artist Ellen Pau 鮑藹倫 joined the club. One year later, they launched the Alternative Film & Video Festival. That same year, Pau, Fung, Wong Chi Fai 黃志輝, and Comyn Mo 毛文羽 formed Videotage, the earliest organisation in Hong Kong to focus on video art and new media.
[Search: Phoenix Cine Club 火鳥電影會 at Asia Art Archive].
Lee, Christie. “In Hong Kong, What is Home? Ellen Pau Tackles the Question In Her 30-Year Retrospective.” Zolima City Mag, 1 January 2019.
Asia Art Archive. “Phoenix Cine Club 火鳥電影會.” Ellen Pau Archive. Accessed 31 May 2023. https://aaa.org.hk/en/collections/search/archive/ellen-pau-archive--phoenix-cine-club/sort/title-asc.
Lo, Raymond. “Phoenix Film Club.” Cinema Treasures. Accessed 31 May 2023. http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/30506.
c.1975
Quorum Galleries opens
Galleries
Quorum Galleries 閣林畫廊 opened at 11 Wyndham Street in Central, Hong Kong in 1975 to showcase the works of contemporary Hong Kong artists. The director of the gallery was Kim Schmidt.
[Search: “Quorum Galleries” at Asia Art Archive.]
McHugh, Fionnuala. “When Hong Kong had no galleries: 1970s art revisited in show.” South China Morning Post, 2 April 2016.
1975
First Contemporary Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition
Performances, screenings, exhibitions
Organised by the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA), the first edition of the Contemporary Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition took place in February 1975. It was an open competition with a resulting exhibition. The exhibition aimed to provide a survey of the development of the Hong Kong art scene and to promote local artists to the general public.
The Contemporary Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition was renamed Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition in 2001, before changing its name again to the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Biennial Awards in 2009 to further distinguish itself from other international biennial and triennial exhibitions.
Hong Kong Museum of Art. “Exhibitions & Events.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://hk.art.museum/en/web/ma/exhibitions-and-events.html.
Art in Asia. “The Hong Kong Contemporary Art Biennial Awards.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
http://www.artinasia.com/artSceneDetail.php?catID=0&filSM=VIDE&artSceneID=49.
1975
City Museum splits into the Hong Kong Museum of History and the Hong Kong Museum of Art
Museums
City Museum and Art Gallery split into the Hong Kong Museum of History and the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) in July 1975. While HKMoA remained in City Hall, the Hong Kong Museum of History moved to Star House in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.
In 1991, HKMoA relocated from the top floor of City Hall’s High Block on Hong Kong Island to its own premises at 10 Salisbury Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. Later in 1998, the Hong Kong Museum of History relocated to 100 Chatham Road South in Tsim Sha Tsui.
info.gov.hk. “50 stories tell the tale of Hong Kong Museum of Art over the past 50 years (with photos).” Press Releases. Last modified 11 October 2012.
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201210/11/P201210110304.htm.
Hong Kong Museum of History. Accessed 31 May 2023.
1975
First Modern Chinese Ink Painting Exhibition
Performances, screenings, exhibitions
The first batch of graduates from CUHK’s Modern Ink Painting Diploma course taught by Liu Guosong 劉國松 co-organised the “First Modern Chinese Ink Painting Exhibition 現代水墨畫展” with the Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) at Hong Kong City Hall in 1975.
Participating artists included Au Kit-seung 區潔嫦, Cheung Wai-kwun 鄭慧君, Cheung Chi-chun 張志真, Cheuk Hung-dock 卓鴻鐸, Chan Shun-mei 陳純美, Fung Kwok-leun 馮國聯, Lai Fong-ying 賴芳英, Lo Oi-ling 盧愛玲, Leung Shiu-hua 梁少華, Tang Ching-kwok 鄧靖國, Tsui Yun-chung 徐潤中, So Kwok-hung 蘇國雄, and Tse Kwok-hung 謝國雄.
Hong Kong Modern Ink Painting Society. Accessed 31 May 2023.
12.1977
The Modern Chinese Ink Painting Association established
Artist and cultural groups
The Modern Chinese Ink Painting Association was established by graduates of CUHK’s Modern Ink Painting Diploma course taught by Liu Kuo-sung 劉國松, after two editions of the Modern Chinese Ink Painting Exhibition in 1975 and 1976. Liu promoted the modernisation of ink art by expanding the visual language of traditional Chinese ink painting and integrating it with Euro-American modern art.
The Modern Chinese Ink Painting Association’s first exhibition was held at Hong Kong City Hall in December 1977. In 1989, the association was renamed the Hong Kong Modern Chinese Ink Painting Association 香港現代水墨畫協會.
Participating artists included Chan Shun-mei 陳純美, Cheung Wai-kwun 鄭慧君, Cheuk Hung-tuo 卓鴻鐸, Fung Kwok-leun 馮國聯, Lai Fong-ying 賴芳英, Law Kai-chung羅啓中, Lee Yuk-chor 李旭初, Leung Siu-wah 梁少華, Li Suk-yee 李淑兒, Lo Oi-ling 盧愛玲, Lo Sui-ki 盧瑞祺, Siu Chi-wah 邵智華, So Kwok-hung 蘇國雄, Tang Chi-cheung 鄧志强, and Tong Tat-yee 唐達儀.
Hong Kong Modern Ink Painting Society. Accessed 31 May 2023.
1977
Hong Kong Arts Centre opens
Non-collecting institutions
The Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) is a nonprofit arts organisation established by Tao Ho 何弢, Bill Bailey, and Lo King-man 盧景文, which opened its building at 2 Harbour Road in Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island, in 1977. Comprised of galleries, auditoriums, a concert hall, a theatre, and rehearsal rooms, HKAC has hosted exhibitions for both international and local artists, rented out spaces to local art groups, promoted new media, and facilitated arts education in Hong Kong.
Tao, Bailey, and Lo announced the establishment of HKAC in 1971. A year later, then Governor of Hong Kong Murray MacLehose granted 10,000 square feet of land to the nonprofit. Unable to acquire government funding, HKAC began the construction of its building after rigorous fundraising in 1975. Its inaugural exhibition, “Exhibition of Graphics by Contemporary Masters,” however, was held earlier in 1972 at a venue lent by the Bank of America.
HKAC has spearheaded new media art in the city. HKAC organised Hong Kong’s first video art exhibition in 1983 and its first installation art exhibition in 1985. Ten years later in 1995, HKAC launched the annual Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards (ifva), which celebrates short film, animation, and media arts. In 2005, it established Public Art Hong Kong, the first organization dedicated to the promotion of public art in the city, and, in July 2013, inaugurated Comix Home Base, the first arts venue in Hong Kong dedicated to comics and animation, at 7 Mallory Street in Wan Chai.
The nonprofit also launched art-education initiatives, including the Part-time Fine Art Programme partnership with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and Melbourne Technical (RMIT) University in 1998. In January 2000, HKAC established its Education Department as a separate organisation, the Hong Kong Art School (HKAS).
Hong Kong Arts Centre. Accessed 31 May 2023. https://hkac.org.hk/.
1977
First Hong Kong International Film Festival
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
One of Asia’s oldest film festivals, the first Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) took place in the summer of 1977 with a focus on world cinema. It was opened by Italian director Roberto Rossellini’s biographical film Italy: Year One (Anno uno) (1974) and closed by the 1971 Taiwanese wuxia film A Touch of Zen 俠女 by director King Hu 胡金銓.
In its second year, in 1978, HKIFF presented a cinema retrospective on Cantonese films of the 1950s and began publishing its Chinese and English bilingual catalogues.
The HKIFF was organised by the Hong Kong Urban Council from 1977 to 1999, before it was turned over to various government departments such as the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council between 2000 and 2004. The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society Ltd. was officially established as an independent nonprofit organization that would manage the HKIFF in 2004.
Hong Kong International Film Festival. Accessed 31 May 2023. https://www.hkiff.org.hk/.
1978
HKU establishes its Department of Fine Arts
Art education
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) established its Department of Fine Arts in 1978 under the leadership of professor Chuang Shen. It was housed in the Fung Ping Shan Building next to the Fung Ping Shan Museum with 11 students enrolled in its inaugural programme in Chinese art. In 1979, its first Western art history programme was introduced and led by Carolyn Muir.
The department relocated to HKU’s Main Building in 1983 and, ultimately, to the university’s Centennial Campus in 2012. In 2020, the department was officially renamed the Department of Art History.
Department of Art History, University of Hong Kong. “Fine Arts at 40.” Timeline. Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://arthistory.hku.hk/artat40/index.php/timeline/.
HKU Fine Arts and Art History Alumni Association. “HKU Fine Arts in 40 Years.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
1978
Bull Jun Arts Association of Hong Kong established
Artist and cultural groups
Bull Jun Arts Association of Hong Kong 牛君畫會 was established by Ding Yanyong’s 丁衍庸 students in commemoration of Ding in 1978.
“牛君畫會「衍藝呈新」” HKTKWW, 26 August 2015.
https://www.tkww.hk/epaper/view/newsDetail/1363746104746840064.html.
1979
Lee Wai Lee Technical Institute opens
Art education
The Lee Wai Lee Technical Institute opened in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, in 1979, funded by a donation from industrialist Lee Wai Lee. It included a two-year Design Certificate programme. In 1999, the Lee Wai Lee Technical Institute merged with eight other technical institutes, including two colleges, to form the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE). IVE relocated to a combined campus with the Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) in Tiu Keng Leng, Tseung Kwan O New Town, New Territories in 2010.
Hong Kong Design Institute. Accessed 31 May 2023.
IVE. Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://www.ive.edu.hk/ivesite/html/en/index.html.
VTC. “Lee Wai Lee Technical Institute.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://vpet.vtc.edu.hk/wiki/index.php?title=Lee_Wai_Lee_Technical_Institute.
1980
Hong Kong Chingying Institute of Visual Arts established
Art education
Hong Kong Chingying Institute of Visual Arts 香港正形設計學校 was a private art school established in 1980. It offered courses in graphic design, fashion design, and photography, among others. It organized exhibitions, including “Crossings in New York: Works by Four Expatriate Chinese Artists” for which it also published a catalogue.
In 1989, sculptor Van Lau 文樓 was the chairman of the school’s board of directors. As of 1995, artists Wucius Wong 王無邪, Kan Tai-Keung 靳埭強, Hon Bing-Wah 韓秉華, Leung Kui-Ting 梁巨廷, and So Man-Yee 蘇敏儀 were part of the board.
The Institute had locations at Thomson Road, Wan Chai, and Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Island. It closed in 2010.
“Ching Ying Exhibition of Instructors,” 1995. Accessed 31 May 2023 via Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/45725.
Wikipedia. “Hong Kong Chingying Institute of Visual Arts.” Last modified 4 November 2023.
https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/.
[Hong Kong Chingying Institute of Visual Arts Graduation Show 1989 — Invitation]. The Hong Kong Chingying Institute of Visual Arts, 1989. Accessed 31 May 2023 via the Ha Bik Chuen Archive at Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/253669.
1981
Alisan Fine Arts Gallery opens
Galleries
Alisan Fine Arts was founded in 1981 by Alice King, sister of former Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, and American art dealer Sandra Walters. It was among the first commercial art galleries that opened in the city and aimed at advancing the representation of Hong Kong and Chinese contemporary art in Asia and overseas.
Its 1987 exhibition “A State of Transition: Contemporary Paintings from Shanghai” was one of the first to showcase Mainland Chinese artists in Hong Kong, while its 1993 exhibition of Zao Wou-ki 趙無極 was the artist’s first commercial exhibition in the city.
Alisan Fine Arts has organised more than 100 shows in the past four decades. Its premises have expanded from Central to Aberdeen.
Asia Tatler. “Alice King on Up and Coming Chinese Art Forms.” Tatler Asia, 17 Jun 2011.
https://www.tatlerasia.com/the-scene/people-parties/alice-king-on-up-and-coming-chinese-art-forms.
Greenberger, Alex. “Sandra Walters, Trailblazing Art Dealer and Consultant in Hong Kong, has Died at 76.” ARTnews, 3 February 2021.
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/sandra-walters-hong-kong-dealer-dead-1234582827/.
01.1982
Paroles begins publication
Publications
Paroles is a quarterly French-Chinese bilingual art magazine published by Alliance Française Hong Kong. It succeeded Le Journal de Hong Kong (1970–82) and includes articles on French culture, local events, and the Hong Kong art scene.
Paroles. Accessed 31 May 2023.
1982
Zuni Icosahedron established
Artist and cultural groups
Experimental theatre company Zuni Icosahedron was founded in 1982 by co-artistic directors Danny Yung and Mathias Woo. It has produced more than 200 original performances and organised innumerable events, including the first “Hong Kong International Video Art Exhibition” in 1983 and one of the earliest screenings of queer films in the city, “Cinema & Homosexuals,” in 1985.
[Hong Kong International Video Art Exhibition — Invitation]. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Arts Centre, 1983. Accessed 31 May 2023 via the Ha Bik Chuen Archive at Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/241129.
Zuni Icosahedron. Accessed 31 May 2023.
[Zuni Icosahedron Newsletter] “Cinema & Homosexuals (Jan 1985) | LGBT Hong Kong.” Archived from the original on 28 January 2013. Accessed 18 January 2024.
https://archive.ph/20130128003037/http://www.lgbthongkong.com/?p=4384.
11.1983
Hanart TZ Gallery opens
Galleries
Hanart TZ Gallery was established by independent curator Johnson Chang 張頌仁 in November 1983. From its inaugural location at Basement 28–30, Braga Circuit, Kadoorie Avenue, Kowloon, the gallery relocated to the China Club Hong Kong in the old Bank of China Building in Central, Hong Kong Island, in 1991.
Wanting to introduce Chinese contemporary art to a broader audience in Asia and beyond, the gallery exhibits and represents artists from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and their diasporas. It has organised numerous influential exhibitions, including “The Stars: 10 Years” (1989) and “China’s New Art Post-1989” (1993)—the first major presentation of Chinese experimental art in Hong Kong which also travelled to Australia and the United States.
In 2010, Hanart TZ opened Hanart Square in an industrial building in Kwai Chung, New Territories. Ten years later in 2020, the gallery relocated its entire operations to the Hanart Square space.
Hanart TZ Gallery. “About.” Accessed 18 January 2024.
https://www.hanart.com/about/hanart-tz-gallery/?lang=en.
Doran, Valerie C., ed. China's New Art, Post-1989. Hong Kong: Asia Art Archive, 2001.
Lee, Christie. “Johnson Chang and Hanart Tz: Hunting for a Chinese Perspective on Art.” Zolima City Magazine, 15 February 2020.
https://zolimacitymag.com/johnson-chang-hanart-tz-hunting-chinese-perspective-on-art/.
12.1983
“Hong Kong International Video Art Exhibition”
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
The “Hong Kong International Video Art Exhibition” was Hong Kong’s first exhibition focused on video art. Organised by the Hong Kong Art Centre (HKAC), Goethe-Institut, and Zuni Icosahedron, the show was held at HKAC from 9 to 13 December 1983. The invitation to the exhibition did not list specific artists or artworks but noted that it would feature “examples of video art from Canada, Federal Republic of Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, United Kingdom and United States of America.”
[Hong Kong International Video Art Exhibition — Invitation]. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Arts Centre, 1983. Accessed via the Ha Bik Chuen Archive at Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/241129.
1983
Fringe Club opens, hosts first Fringe Festival (1983–97)
Non-collecting institutions
The Fringe Club is a contemporary art space that opened in 1983 in the former Dairy Farm cold storage depot in Central, Hong Kong Island. It organises exhibitions and festivals, produces original performances and site-specific works, and hosts residences, live shows, and community outreach events.
In its first year, the Fringe Club held its first annual Fringe Festival, which featured various local and international acts until it was discontinued in 1997. In 1998, City Festival was launched to succeed the Fringe Festival before it was finally renamed to Festival Without Walls in 2011.
Hong Kong Fringe Club. Accessed 31 May 2023.
1984
Association for the Advancement of Feminism established
Artist and cultural groups
The Association for the Advancement of Feminism 新婦女協進會 is a nonprofit organization established in 1984. Its objectives are “to eliminate discrimination against women,” “to advance women’s rights and welfare,” and “to help bring about equality for all sexes.” It provides free legal advice services and houses a public resource center. The Association is located at Lei Cheng Uk Estate, Kowloon.
Association for the Advancement of Feminism. “Objectives and Services.” Accessed 16 August 2023.
1984
Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts established
Art education
Established under the 1984 Government Ordinance, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) opened at 1 Gloucester Road in Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island. It provides undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Chinese Opera, dance, drama, theatre and entertainment arts, film and television, and music.
Since 2006, the Academy has housed training facilities for the School of Film and Television at its Landmark Heritage Campus in Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong Island.
Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. “About HKAPA.” Accessed 12 August 2023.
1985
Hong Kong Act 1985
Policies and socio-political events
In light of the impending Handover, the United Kingdom passes the Hong Kong Act of 1985 and establishes British Nationality (Overseas). This status was only available to Hong Kong British Dependent Territories Citizens through application on or before 30 June 1997. It does not entitle the BNO holders to the right of abode in the UK.
“Hong Kong Act 1985.” The Official Home of UK Legislation. Accessed 28 November 2023.
12.1986
Alternative Film & Video Festival
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Held in December 1986, the Alternative Film & Video Festival was co-organised by Phoenix Cine Club and the Hong Kong Arts Centre. Its programme included British films (sponsored by the British Council); German modern and classic films; a selection by Hong Kong experimental theatre company Zuni Icosahedron; a section titled “Alternative MTV”; Hong Kong films and contemporary videos; Philippine independent cinema; and animations.
Its Chinese and English bilingual programme catalogue, which was published as a zine, featured essays on video artist Nam June Paik and on the lack of outlets for alternative and independent filmmakers in Hong Kong. For the latter, film producer Roger Garcia critiqued that “The Hong Kong cinema is dominated by commercial, mainstream narrative films and all theatres in Hong Kong are designed, built and equipped on this basis.”
Garcia, Roger, Lo Cheying, Comyn Mo, et. al. Alternative Film & Video Festival 1986. 1986. Accessed via Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/205907.
1986
Asian Cultural Council Hong Kong Programme launched
Awards, grants, residencies
The Asian Cultural Council (ACC) was established by John D. Rockefeller III in 1963. The Foundation had awarded fellowships to local artists since the 1970s, including Hon Chi Fun 韓志勳 (1969), Oscar Ho 何慶基 (1992), and Leung Mee Ping 梁美萍 (2002).
In 1986, the ACC launched its Hong Kong programme with help from Kenneth H.C. Fung and J. S. Lee. ACC Hong Kong offers fellowships in the arts and supports cultural exchange within Asia and between Asia and the United States. The Asian Cultural Council Hong Kong Foundation Limited, partner foundation of ACC, was formally registered as a nonprofit in Hong Kong in 2015.
Asian Cultural Council Hong Kong. Accessed 31 May 2023.
1986
Videotage opens
Artist-run spaces
Videotage is the earliest organisation in Hong Kong to focus on video art and new media. It began as an artist collective founded by Comyn Mo 毛文羽, Ellen Pau 鮑藹倫, May Fung 馮美華, and Wong Chi-fai in 1986. They operated from a borrowed space in Zuni Icosahedron’s headquarters in Happy Valley, Hong Kong Island.
In 1987, Videotage co-launched the Super 8 Workshop, Hong Kong’s first video art training programme, alongside Goethe-Institut and, in 1996, it organised the first annual Microwave International New Media Arts Festival as a platform for local artists to connect with an international network. Microwave became an organisation independent from Videotage on its 10th anniversary in 2006.
Videotage opened its own space at Oil Street Artist Village in North Point, Hong Kong Island, in 1998. It has since started many initiatives, including the FUSE Art Residency programme in 2004; the international collective Dorkbot-hk, which hosts annual events globally with a focus on robotics, electronics, technology, and art, in 2009; and Both Sides Now, an annual film and video programme co-organised by Videoclub UK, in 2014. The Videotage Media Art Collection (VMAC), an online video art archive, went live in 2008 and became available for public viewing in 2011.
Today, Videotage continues to collaborate with different organisations to enable local new media artists to gain international exposure.
Asia Art Archive. [Independent Initiative File (Hong Kong): Videotage.] Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://aaa.org.hk/archive/48997.
Ellen Pau Archive. Asia Art Archive. Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://aaa.org.hk/en/collections/search/archive/ellen-pau-archive.
Videotage. Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://www.videotage.org.hk/.
1986
Art Currents begins publication (1986–87)
Publications
Fung Manyee 馮敏兒 began publishing Art Currents 外邊, an art periodical that focused on art critique, in 1986. The ten-issue periodical ran until 1987.
Art Currents (All Holdings). Hong Kong: Fung Man Yee, 1986. Accessed 31 May 2023 via Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/69095.
13.01.1986
Christie’s first sale in Hong Kong
Auction houses
Christie’s Hong Kong held its inaugural sale on 13 January 1986 at Mandarin Hotel (now the Mandarin Oriental Hotel) in Central, Hong Kong Island. Titled “Fine Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Chinese Paintings,” the auction featured 19th- and 20th-century Chinese paintings and jadeite jewellery. It presented a total of 230 lots and raked in more than HKD 14 million or USD 1.79 million. Christie’s Hong Kong added Chinese ceramics to its sales calendar the following year.
“Christie’s Hong Kong Celebrates 20 Years of Success.” Christie’s, 3 April 2006. Accessed 23 August 2023.
https://www.christies.com/presscenter/pdf/04252006/125212.pdf.
Fine nineteenth and twentieth century Chinese paintings. Hong Kong: Christie’s Hong Kong, 1986.
Christie’s. Accessed 16 August 2023.
10.1987
“Out of Context 外圍”
Performances, screenings, exhibitions
“Out of Context 外圍” was a self-organised group exhibition by Christine Loh 陸恭蕙 in collaboration with 21 artists and art collectives as a response to the lack of institutional support for art practices in Hong Kong. It was held in a now-demolished building at 15 Kennedy Road in Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island, from 9 to 10 October 1987. The exhibition, groundbreaking for its time, featured performance art, paintings, sculptures, and installations. Following the success of “Out of Context,” a mobile art show was organised with the support of art dealer Sandra Walters among others.
The artists exhibited were Adevor, Antonio Mak 麥顯揚, Choi Ronald Yeekie, Choi Yanchi 蔡仞姿, Epoxy Art Group, Fung Manyee 馮敏兒, Oscar Ho 何慶基, Holly Lee 黃楚喬, Jim Shum 沈聖德, Josh Hon 韓偉康, Larry Deming, Lau Gukzik 劉掬色, Lee Kasing Wingo 李家昇, Ming Fay 費明杰, Robert Fung 馮萬剛, Robert O’Brien 白禮仁, Sunny Pang 彭錦耀, Susi Kramer, Tommy Wong 王志強, Wong Yankwai Yank 黃仁逵, and Yeung Sauchurk Ricky 楊秀卓.
Loh, Christine. Out of Context. Hong Kong: 1987. Accessed via Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/211793.
1987
Super 8 Workshop launched
Art education
Super 8 Workshop, the first video art training programme in Hong Kong, was launched by Goethe-Institut and Videotage in 1987.
Lai, Chiu-han Linda. “Attempting a history of (new) media arts for Hong Kong : archaeology, literacy and education for artists.” In the Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook 2007, edited by Kurt Chan and Maggie Wan, 97–183. Hong Kong: Department of Fine Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008.
04.06.1989
June Fourth
Policies and socio-political events
In the spring of 1989, the student-led Beijing Democracy Movement ended in a violent crackdown by the Chinese government on 4 June, which resulted in thousands of civilian casualties. In solidarity, Art Support 藝援 and the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China 香港市民支援愛國民主運動聯合會 organised Art Fair for Democracy in collaboration with more than 30 local artists and art collectives. It took place on 16 July 1989 in Victoria Park on Hong Kong Island. That same month, the Hong Kong Institution for the Promotion of Chinese Culture (HKIPCC) held Object-act-ivities, a performance in response to June Fourth.
Chan, Alan. “Performance Art History of Hong Kong: Moments Between the 1960s to Today from Asia Art Archive’s Collection.” Asia Art Archive, 19 February 2020.
“Art Fair for Democracy.” Asia Art Archive. Accessed 18 January 2024.
https://aaa.org.hk/en/collections/event-database/art-fair-for-democracy.
08.11.1989
Hong Kong Cultural Centre opens
Government bodies
The Hong Kong Cultural Centre opened at 10 Salisbury Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, on 8 November 1989. It comprises a grand theatre, a studio theatre, an exhibition gallery, rehearsal rooms, and more. Its roster often includes the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Chinese Orchestras, Opera Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Dance Company.
Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department. “HK icon celebrates 25th birthday.” Accessed 15 November 2023.
https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/hkcc/25A/hkicon_video.html.
news.gov.hk. “HK icon celebrates 25th birthday.” Last modified 2 November 2014.
https://www.news.gov.hk/en/city_life/html/2014/10/20141031_151228.shtml#content.
1989
First Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
The first and longest-running queer film festival in East Asia, the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (HKLGFF) was first founded as the Gay and Lesbian Films Season by Hong Kong film director and gay activist Edward Lam in 1989. Between 1989 and 1998, Lam and the Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) co-organised the festival as “an experimental, politically-oriented cultural event.”
In 1999, Lam left the Gay and Lesbian Films Season due to financial factors involving the festival’s unsatisfactory box office results and lack of funding. The festival was not held that year. Film director Raymond Yeung and Fortissimo Films founder Wouter Barendrecht took over the festival in 2000 with a more commercial approach. They renamed it the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. The role of the HKAC shifted from organiser to venue partner from 2000 to 2002 before ultimately withdrawing from the festival completely.
In 2001, Yeung and Barendrecht founded the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival Society (HKLGFFS), “a nonprofit organisation that aims to promote equal opportunities and eliminate discrimination against sexual minority groups in Hong Kong through screening cinematic works and fostering a regular and stable audience base.” The nonprofit has been HKLGFF’s official organiser since 2002. The HKLGFF has been a self-sustained commercial queer film festival since then. Its films have been shown in cinemas run by Edko Films Ltd.
Criticisms of the festival often address its overrepresentation of White middle-class gay films. In his book, sociologist Travis S.K. Kong notes that “The festival has been caught in the dilemmas of balancing mainstream commercial blockbusters with alternative, independent, experimental films; and of overrepresenting Western middle-class gay films and underrepresenting local, lesbian and transgendered films.” Similarly artist and writer Yau Ching observed that “Hong Kong’s film festivals and their audiences, including the HKLGFF, have been ‘programmed’ to take the white, mainly gay—with a little bit of lesbian recently—culture as ‘natural,’ ‘desirable,’ and ‘progressive,’ contributing to further suppression and marginalization of a localized and regional queer culture.”
Kong, Travis S.K. Chinese Male Homosexualities: Memba, Tongzhi and Golden Boy. Hong Kong: Routledge, 2010. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203849200.
Qin, Qin. “A Waning Queerscape: The Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.” Journal of Film and Video 71, no. 3 (2019): 35–49.
Xie, Heshen. “Commercialisation as a Tool: The Commercial Transformation of the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.” Frames Cinema Journal. Accessed 12 August 2023. https://framescinemajournal.com/article/commercialisation-as-a-tool-the-commercial-transformation-of-the-hong-kong-lesbian-and-gay-film-festival/.
Xie, Heshen. “Western-Centrism and the Global Queer Film Festival Circuit: Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival As a Case.” Journal of Festive Studies 4, no. 1 (2023):83–100. https://doi.org/10.33823/jfs.2022.4.1.105.
Yau, Ching. “Bridges and Battles.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 12, no. 4 (2006): 605–607. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/202852.
1990
British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990
Policies and socio-political events
Following the Tiananmen Square protests in China in 1989, the British government passed the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990 and granted 50,000 families with full British citizenship.
The Official Home of UK Legislation. “British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990 (1991).” Accessed 28 November 2023. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/34/contents.
04.04.1990
Hong Kong Basic Law
Policies and socio-political events
The Basic Law was promulgated by the PRC’s National People's Congress on 4 April 1990.
Refer to basiclaw.gov.hk.
05.10.1990
Crossover begins publication (1990–93)
Publications
Crossover 越界, the first periodical in Hong Kong to dedicate itself to performance art, published its inaugural issue on 5 October 1990. While issues were initially released monthly, the publication made the switch to a weekly release from June 1992 onwards. It featured a wide range of content related to the world of performing arts, including but not limited to debuts, reviews, upcoming events, and international and local happenings. In December 1993, it ceased publication.
Asia Art Archive. “Crossover Magazine (All Holdings), 越界.” Accessed 18 September 2023.
1990
Asia Society Hong Kong Centre established
Non-collecting institutions
American oil tycoon and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller III founded the nonprofit Asia Society in New York in 1956 to “contribute to a broader and deeper understanding between the peoples of the United States and Asia” through “a wide range of cross-disciplinary programming.” It has since opened centres and public buildings worldwide, from New York to Hong Kong, Mumbai to Melbourne.
Asia Society Hong Kong Center was established in 1990 by businessman and former Hang Seng Bank Chairman Lee Quo-wei 利國偉. It organises talks, workshops, and exhibitions. ASHK has been situated at the Former Explosives Magazine of the Victoria Barracks in Admiralty, Hong Kong Island, since 2012.
Asia Society. Accessed 18 September 2023.
“About Us.” Asia Society. Hong Kong. Accessed 18 September 2023.
www.asiasociety.org/hong-kong/about-us.
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “John D. Rockefeller III.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 October 2023.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-D-Rockefeller-III.
1990
The Quart Society established (1990)
Artist and cultural groups
The Quart Society was established in 1990 in Central, Hong Kong Island. In the exhibition publication Inside Out: New Chinese Art (1998), it was described as the first “independent, artist-run co-op” in Hong Kong and functioned as a space for exhibitions and dialogue between the various bodies in the local art community. Though it was active for less than a year, the society hosted more than 20 events and additionally exhibited art forms that local museums and galleries rarely showed. In his translated essay about Hong Kong art spaces in the 50th Venice Biennale: Navigating the dot (2003) catalogue, artist Leung Chi Wo 梁志和 described the opening of the Quart Society as “exciting news”: “They had an open and artist-friendly attitude, and exhibited art forms rarely seen in local art museums and commercial galleries. They were a source of vitality, as well as a place where people could meet artists ‘in the flesh.’ It was therefore a pity it survived for less than a year.”
Huang, Renkui, and Yang Donglong. Archival materials from the Quart Society, c. 1990. Hkulebooks_11931. Digital Repository, The University of Hong Kong Library. Accessed 15 January 2024.
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/p554f265k#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-1845%2C-142%2C5489%2C2836.
Lau, Kin-wah, Chi-wo Leung, Marsha Lui, and Yang Yeung. 50th Venice Biennale: Navigating the dot. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Arts Development Council, 2003.
Bryson, Norman, Johnson Chang, David Clarke, Gao Minglu, Hou Hanru, Lee Oufan, Victoria Lu, and Wu Hung. Inside Out: New Chinese Art. New York, San Francisco, Berkeley: Asia Society Galleries, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The University of California Press, 1998.
Cheung, Mei and Crystal La., “The Two Phases of Independent Art Space Development in Hong Kong,” Arts Factory. Accessed 6 January 2024.
https://www.artfactories.net/The-Two-Phases-of-Independent-Art-Space-Development-in-Hong-Kong.html.
11.1991
Hong Kong Museum of Art relocates to Tsim Sha Tsui, inaugural exhibition faces criticism
Museums
In 1991, the Hong Kong Museum of Art relocated from its 11,000-square-meter exhibition space at the top floor of City Hall’s High Block on Hong Kong Island to its own 17,530-square-meter premises in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, allowing it to house its permanent collections and host special exhibitions.
Its inaugural exhibition of contemporary French art at the new building, “Too French” (1991), was met with criticism for its exclusion of the local avant-garde. This prompted the museum to quickly organise “City Vibrance: Recent Works in Western Media By Hong Kong Artists,” which showed 49 Hong Kong artists working in painting, photography, ceramics, and sculpture to express their ideas on Hong Kong. Though some questioned the necessity of distinguishing the artworks displayed as using “Western Media,” City Vibrance was considered a benchmark exhibition that “still defines the museum’s approach to contemporary art.”
info.gov.hk. “50 stories tell the tale of Hong Kong Museum of Art over the past 50 years (with photos).” Press Releases. Last modified 11 October 2012.
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201210/11/P201210110304.htm.
ArtAsiaPacific and Asia Art Archive. “A Better Tomorrow for Art Museums in Hong Kong: Looking Back at the 1990s.” ArtAsiaPacific, 20 March 2023.
City Vibrance: Recent Works in Western Media by Hong Kong Artists. Hong Kong: Urban Council, 1992. Catalog accessed via Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/45969.
1992
NuNaHeDuo (Dislocation) begins publication (1992–95)
Publications
In 1992, Hong Kong photographer Lee Ka-sing 李家昇 founded NuNaHeDuo (Dislocation) 女那禾多, a monthly experimental periodical on contemporary photography. It was published physically as a supplement to the Photo Pictorial magazine—one of the few publications at the time to circulate in Hong Kong, South East Asia, and Mainland China—but existed independently with its own conceptual and artistic direction. At a time when the city’s media was dominated by documentary and commercial photography, Lee was credited for bringing in conceptual photography and for his insightful writings on photography.
From 1998 to 1999, the publication was funded by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC). The periodical ceased publication in 1999, citing HKADC’s change in funding policy as one of the reasons for their decision.
“攝影雜誌訪問關於「女那禾多」” Lee Ka-sing’s Personal Blog. Accessed 29 November 2023.
https://leekasing3blog.wordpress.com/2009/12/31/09-20-攝影雜誌訪問關於「女那禾多」/.
Asia Art Archive. “NuNaHeDuo (Dislocation) (All Holdings).” Accessed 18 September 2023.
https://aaa.org.hk/archive/70648.
Chan, Kwan Yee. “Beyond Photography: The Art of Conceptual Photography Pioneers Lee Ka-sing and Holly Lee.” M+ Magazine, 13 April 2023.
https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/magazine/conceptual-photography-of-lee-ka-sing-and-holly-lee/.
Wong, Michelle. “Art Writing and Its Circulation: Three Moments in Hong Kong.” Asia Art Archive, 1 January 2014.
1992
Hong Kong Society for Education in Art established
Art education
Established in 1992, the nonprofit Hong Kong Society for Education in Art provides training and support to kindergarten, primary, and secondary school art teachers. It also publishes books and periodicals, including the Hong Kong Art Education Journal, which includes news and resources from teachers in Hong Kong and overseas; organises events such as the annual Hong Kong Visual Arts Education Festival, comprised of exhibitions, talks, and workshops; and presents awards like the Grantham Visual Arts Awards and the Creative Students Award.
Hong Kong Society for Education in Art. “About Us.” Accessed 22 September 2023.
1992
Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre opens
Government bodies
Operated by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre—also known as vA!—opened at Cassels Block of the former Victoria Barracks at Hong Kong Park in 1992. Equipped with an exhibition hall, a lecture theatre, as well as studios for ceramics, sculpture, and printmaking, vA! hosts screenings, workshops, talks, and exhibitions, among other programmes.
Art Promotion Office. “vA!” Accessed 22 September 2023.
03.1992
“City Vibrance: Recent Works in Western Media by Hong Kong Artists”
Performances, screenings, exhibitions
In 1991, the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) relocated from the top floors of City Hall’s High Block on Hong Kong Island to its own premises at 10 Salisbury Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. The museum was quickly met with the disappointment of local artists for its exclusion of the local avant-garde in its opening programme; its inaugural exhibition at its new space was a presentation of French art titled “Too French” (1991), which had no direct ties to the local art scene.
Following this public response, the museum quickly organized “City Vibrance: Recent Works in Western Media By Hong Kong Artists,” an exhibition of 49 Hong Kong-based artists working in painting, photography, ceramics, and sculpture. Opened on 27 March 1992, the exhibition’s thematic tether is the experience of living in a cosmopolitan city such as Hong Kong. Though some questioned the necessity and implication of the distinction “Western Media” in its title, ”City Vibrance” has been considered a benchmark exhibition that “still defines the museum’s approach to contemporary art.”
Participating artists include Antonio Mak 麥顯揚, Chan Yuk-keung Kurt 陳育強, Choi Yan-chi 蔡仞姿, May Fung 馮美華, Gaylord Chan 陳餘生, Oscar Ho 何慶基, Rosamond Brown 白朗露, Van Lau 文樓, Yeung Sau-churk Ricky 楊秀卓, and more.
City Vibrance: Recent Works in Western Media by Hong Kong Artists. Hong Kong: Urban Council, 1992. Catalog accessed via Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/45969.
1993
First The French May Arts Festival
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
The Consulate General of France and the Alliance Française de Hong Kong launched the first edition of the French May Arts Festival in 1993. Held annually, the Festival hosts over 100 cultural activities spanning cinema, music, contemporary art, and more across its two-month run.
French May Arts Fest. “About French May Arts Festival.” Accessed 15 January 2024.
1993
Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation established
Non-collecting institutions
Established in 1993 by theatre producer Lindsey McAlister, Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation is a nonprofit that provides people from the ages 5 to 25 with non-competitive, free-of-charge arts experiences.
Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation. “About HKYAF.” Accessed 15 January 2024.
1993
Arts Policy Review Report published
Policies and socio-political events
The Government published its Arts Policy Review Report, which recommended that the Council for Performing Arts be reorganised into a non-statutory Arts Council with representatives from both the Urban and Regional Councils.
The Report received heavy criticism from Zuni Icosahedron’s Hong Kong Cultural Policy Study Group for neglecting the main concerns of local art practitioners at that time. Following the release of the Report, the Study Group conducted a survey of 1,583 arts educators and carried out group discussions on the status of Hong Kong art and its arts education policy. The Study Group criticised the Arts Policy Review Report for failing to address issues such as the “freedom of artistic expression, funding for artistic exploration and cultural imagination, and the process of decentralisation in cultural (including educational) administration.” The Study Group went on to publish their own report, Vision for an Arts Policy of Hong Kong, in the 1990s. In response, the government claimed that it had no intention of developing a comprehensive cultural policy as most of the resources were controlled by the municipal councils.
Whitbread, Richard Guy. “Cultural and Arts Education Policies in Hong Kong: Two Wings of the Same Bird?” PhD diss., The Education University of Hong Kong, 2016. Information on pages 39–40. Accessible online via https://educoll.lib.eduhk.hk/records/j0awSYyM.
1993
Hong Kong Female Contemporary Art Association established
Artist and cultural groups
Gender-themed exhibitions emerged in Hong Kong in the 1980s before booming in quantity in the 1990s to early 2000s. Established in 1993, the Hong Kong Female Contemporary Art Association, alongside other gender-focused artist groups such as the International Woman Artists (Hong Kong) Association, curated a series of woman-themed exhibitions to critique the invisibility of women artists in the contemporary art world. These associations are contemporaneous with other woman-specific groups that emerged in Southeast Asia, including Womanifesto (Bangkok, 1997) and Nuansa (Indonesia, 1985).
Andrews, Julia F., and Kuiyi Shen. “Traditionalism as a Modern Stance: The Chinese Women’s Calligraphy and Painting Society.” Modern Chinese Literature and Culture 11, no. 1 (1999): 1–29.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41490789.
Chung, Christina Yuen Zi. “Gendering Her Art: The Category of ‘Woman’ in the Art History of Hong Kong.” Asia Art Archive, 3 May 2018.
1993
International Woman Artists (Hong Kong) Association established
Artist and cultural groups
The International Woman Artists (Hong Kong) Association was established in 1993 alongside other gender-focused artist groups such as the Hong Kong Female Contemporary Art Association. These associations, in collaboration with government-run museums and other art groups, curated a series of woman-themed exhibitions to critique the invisibility of women artists in the contemporary art world.
Gender-themed exhibitions emerged in Hong Kong in the 1980s before booming in quantity in the 1990s to early 2000s. These associations are contemporaneous with other woman-specific groups that emerged in Southeast Asia, including Womanifesto (Thailand, 1997) and Nuansa (Indonesia, 1985).
Chung, Christina Yuen Zi. “Gendering Her Art: The Category of ‘Woman’ in the Art History of Hong Kong.” Asia Art Archive, 3 May 2018.
Asia Art Archive. “Exhibitions of Women Artists.” Themes. Accessed 23 September 2023.
https://aaa.org.hk/en/collections/themes/exhibitions-of-women-artists.
1994
The Original Photograph Club opens
Artist and cultural groups
The Original Photograph Club was established in 1994, based on the foundation of NuNaHeDuo (Dislocation) 女那禾多 magazine two years prior. Its mission statement was to “encourage and to promote the practice of collecting photographs to the general public”, and it did so in part through its OP Editions publication, which ran from 1995–98.
Asia Art Archive. “[Organisation File (Hong Kong): The Original Photograph Club].” Accessed 18 September 2023.
https://aaa.org.hk/archive/83802.
Chan, Winghoi Leo, Tak Wah Almond Chu, Joseph Fung, Mamoru Horiguchi, Holly Lee, Patrick Lee, Mary G. Padua, and Carsten Schael. OP editions 9603. Hong Kong: Original Photograph Club (OP Club), 1996. Accessed through Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/67818.
25.11.1994
Hong Kong Polytechnic University acquires university status
Art education
Established as the Government Trade School in 1937, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University began as the first publicly funded, post-secondary technical school in the city. After the Second World War, the school was renamed the Hong Kong Technical College in 1947 and relocated from its original premises in Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island, to its current campus in Hung Hom, Kowloon in 1957. More than 20 years later, in 1972, the school was formally established as the Hong Kong Polytechnic before receiving full university status as The Hong Kong Polytechnic University on 25 November 1994.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “History.” Accessed 23 September 2023.
06.1995
Hong Kong Arts Development Council established
Government bodies
The Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) was established by the government in 1995 under the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Ordinance as a statutory body aimed at supporting the development of arts in Hong Kong through grant allocation, policy and planning, advocacy, and promotion and development.
Most cultural projects, from one-off exhibitions and performances to permanent art institutions, have since been supported either partially or in full by the HKADC. Such projects include Hong Kong’s pavilion exhibitions at the Venice Biennale.
Hong Kong Arts Development Council. Accessed 31 May 2023.
06.06.1995
New Man sculpture ruled as indecent
Policies and socio-political events
On 6 June 1995, the Obscenes Article Tribunal ruled British artist Elisabeth Frink’s bronze sculpture New Man (1984) as an “indecent article.” The life-sized male nude sculpture was originally on display at Kailey Tower in Central, Hong Kong Island. Alerted by an anonymous complaint, the Tribunal—then comprised of an all-male panel—deemed the sculpture inappropriate for children. “A ‘partially erect’ penis was not ‘the kind of thing that should be seen by juveniles’ . . . children had been seen playing with the genitals,” head of the Tribunal Gregory Chan Kok-cheong shared with the South China Morning Post on 7 July 1995. A cardboard leaf was then placed between the sculpture’s legs.
The Hong Kong Arts Development Council and legislator Christine Loh Kung-wai 陸恭蕙 criticised the ruling as censorship of artistic freedom. The sculpture’s owner, entrepreneur and lawyer Woo Po-sing, challenged the tribunal’s decision in the High Court, which ultimately dismissed the “indecent article” verdict. The cardboard leaf was reported to be removed from the sculpture by the Post in August 1995.
In response to the initial ruling, the Hong Kong Young Artists Association organised the “Penis Exhibition” (1995), and the Hong Kong Arts Centre held an exhibition of the sculpture and a forum on the freedom of artistic expression. In its November 1999 Issue, Para Site’s P/S Magazine published five articles “deliberating on the debate generated by Jack Lee . . . concerning [the] exhibition [of the] New Man Incident held [at the] Hong Kong Arts Centre.”
Minglu, Gao, Norman Bryson, Chang Tsong-Zung, David Clarke, Hou Hanru, Leo Ou-Fan Lee, Victoria Y. Lu, and Wu Hung. Inside out: New Chinese Art. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.
Hutton, Mercedes. “Elisabeth Frink’s Nude New Man Sculpture Was ‘Too Much to Bare’ – Hong Kong Covered It Up.” South China Morning Post, 19 June 2020.
Para Site. “Art Spaces in Hong Kong | PS (No. 8; Nov 1999).” Accessed 22 September 2023.
https://www.para-site.art/publications/ps-no-8-art-spaces-in-hong-kong/.
United Press International. “Nude male statue gets covered in HK.” Last modified 6 June 1995.
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/06/06/Nude-male-statue-gets-covered-in-HK/3614802411200/.
1995
First Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video (ifva) Awards
Awards, grants, residencies
Founded by the Hong Kong Arts Centre, the first Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards—now known as ifva—was held in 1995 to recognise independent filmmakers and video artists in the city.
Open to Hong Kong and Asian practitioners, the ifva Awards have since become an annual staple in the Asian film and moving image circuit. Participants can compete under five categories—Open, Youth, Animation, Media Art, and Asian New Force—for the chance to win Gold, Silver, and Special Mention. Cash prizes are given to Gold and Silver award winners. Finalists of the ifva Awards will screen their works at the concurrent ifva Festival.
ifva. Accessed 22 September 2023.
09.1996
The Pan Xinglei Incident in Victoria Park
Performances, screenings, exhibitions
On 16 September 1996, coinciding with the opening of the Contemporary Hong Kong Biennial, artist Pan Xinglei 潘星磊 disfigured the nose on the Statue of Queen Victoria, splashed red paint over the statue, covered himself in the same paint, and waited to be arrested. This occurred in Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Island. Following the incident, Pan served a one-month jail sentence for criminal vandalism. The controversial incident received wide coverage in the media.
Pan, Xinglei. Pan Xinglei Incident 16 September 1996 Hong Kong. 2007. Accessed at Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/62558.
Louie Kam, ed. Hong Kong Culture: Word and Image. Hong Kong University Press, 2010.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1xcrv0.
Information about the Incident is on page 32.
1996
“23rd International Biennial of São Paulo Official Hong Kong Exhibition: Ho Siu Kee”
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Hong Kong’s first participation in the International Biennial of São Paulo was a solo exhibition of artist-educator Ho Siu Kee 何兆基, curated by HanartTZ Gallery founder Johnson Chang 張頌仁. In a foreword to the exhibition, Chang labels the show “The Inverted Laboratory of Ho Siu-kee,” in reference to the curious “dream machines” devised by the artist. In keeping with the biennial’s theme of “dematerialization of art at the end of the millennium,” Ho’s show played with intangible ideas accessed by impossible contraptions and the artwork shown included mixed media, sculptures, videos, and xerox prints. The 23rd edition of the biennial took place from 5 October to 8 December 1996.
Ho, Siu-kee 何 兆 基. Accessed 15 January 2024.
Balsa, Josette, Caroline Chiu, Benedicte De Roquefeuil, Melanie Pong, and Sumsum Tse, eds. 23rd International Biennial of Sao Paulo Official Hong Kong Exhibition: Ho Siu-kee. Hong Kong: Hanart TZ Gallery, 1996. Accessed through Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/45819.
Bryson, Norman, Johnson Chang, David Clarke, Gao Minglu, Hou Hanru, Lee Oufan, Victoria Lu, and Wu Hung. Inside Out: New Chinese Art. New York, San Francisco, Berkeley: Asia Society Galleries, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The University of California Press, 1998.
06.1996
Pillar of Shame
Policies and socio-political events
The Pillar of Shame (1996) is a bronze sculpture by Danish artist Jens Galschiøt that was displayed at the annual June Fourth vigil at Victoria Park, Hong Kong Island, in June 1997. The Urban Council denied requests for a longer display period, which led to criticism of political censorship. Students from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) moved the statue to the HKU campus. The Pillar of Shame then toured universities in Hong Kong until 1998. HKU students then moved the work to their campus where it stayed until its forced removal by the government in December 2021.
Cheng, Kris. “The Pillar of Shame: The history of Hong Kong’s harrowing tribute to the Tiananmen massacre victims.” Hong Kong Free Press, 5 May 2018.
Nepomuceno, Nicole M. “University of Hong Kong Removes Tiananmen Monument.” ArtAsiaPacific, 24 December 2021.
https://artasiapacific.com/news/university-of-hong-kong-removes-tiananmen-monument.
1996
Para Site opens
Artist-run spaces
One of the first exhibition-making institutions and artist-run spaces in Hong Kong, Para Site was founded in 1996 by Patrick Lee 李志芳, Leung Chi-wo 梁志和, Phoebe Man Ching-ying 文晶瑩, Sara Wong Chi-hang 黃志恒, Leung Mee-ping 梁美萍, Tsang Tak-ping 曾德平, and Lisa Cheung 張思敏 with a grant from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.
Para Site has hosted many important arts and educational programmes since its inception, including the P/S bilingual art magazine (1997–2006), a Curatorial Training Programme (2007–10), and an International Art Residency Programme (2012– ). It represented Hong Kong at the Venice Biennale in 2003 with the exhibition “navigating the dot.”
The nonprofit was located in Sheung Wan in 1997 before moving to a larger venue in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong Island, in 2015.
Para Site. “About.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
1996
The International Association of Art Critics, Hong Kong, established
Artist and cultural groups
Established as the Hong Kong branch of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) in 1996, AICAHK aims to promote art criticism, protect the freedom of critical expression, and maintain an active international network for its members, among other objectives. The body of the Association is comprised of art critics, professors, curators, and other art professionals. To become a member, candidates are asked to “produce evidence of sustained activity over the previous three years” in media and publishing, teaching, and curation.
International Association of Art Critics Hong Kong. Accessed 23 September 2023.
1996
First Microwave International New Media Arts Festival
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Video art and new media organisation Videotage launched the first edition of the Microwave International New Media Arts Festival (Microwave). The event was envisioned as a platform for local new media artists to connect with an international network. Though the festival started as a means of showcasing video art by members of Videotage, it eventually expanded to include diverse forms of new media. In 2006, on its tenth anniversary, Microwave became independent from Videotage and rebranded itself with the help of its design partner Milkxhake. As of 2023, Microwave continues to support emerging new media artists in Hong Kong through its annual festival, workshops, seminars, forums, and exhibitions.
Microwave International New Media Arts Festival. “About Microwave.” Accessed 12 September 2023.
http://www.microwavefest.net/festival2019/AboutMicrowave.html.
1997
“Being Minorities: Contemporary Asian Art”
Performances, screenings, exhibitions
Curated by Oscar Ho 何慶基, “Being Minorities – Contemporary Asian Art” was the first exhibition that critically reflected on the cultural dislocation of non-Han Chinese people of Hong Kong amidst the rise of Chinese ethno-nationalism surrounding the Handover.
Through the works of nine artists based in Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Pakistan, India, Hong Kong, and Russia, “Being Minorities” aimed “to discuss the issues of minority and cultural dislocation.” In the invitation to the exhibition, Ho wrote: “The idea of minority and dislocation can be interpreted at two levels. On the one hand, it refers to Asian art as a minority culture within the global art world dominated by the Western World. On the other hand, it is specifically about the minorities in Hong Kong, and their cultural dislocation within an increasingly Sino-centric culture.”
Held at the Hong Kong Arts Centre from 26 February to 16 March 1997, “Being Minorities” posed a crucial question: “In our recent patriotic zeal to rebuild our ‘Chineseness,’ have we forgotten the many people of different cultural backgrounds who have helped build Hong Kong?”
Participating artists include Vu Dan Tan, Chatchai Puipia, Sid Gomez Hildawa, Montien Boonma, Robert O’Brien, Talha Rathore, Konstantin Bessmertny, Vivan Sundaram, and Imelda Cajipe-Endaya.
Asia Art Archive. “Being Minorities — Contemporary Asian Art — Invitation, 1997.”
01.07.1997
The Handover
Policies and socio-political events
At midnight on 1 July 1997, China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong, thereby ending 156 years of British colonial rule. Hong Kong acquired the status of a Special Administrative Region, enabling it to retain its own economic and legislative systems until 2047.
The United Kingdom passed the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997. Under the policy, eligible Hong Kong residents without Chinese ancestry were entitled to full British citizenship upon application after 1 July 1997.
British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1997/20/contents.
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “handover of Hong Kong.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 June 2023.
1997
P/S Magazine begins publication (1997–2006)
Publications
P/S Magazine was a bilingual periodical on visual arts published by Para Site, an exhibition-making institution and artist-run space, from 1997 to 2006. It featured exhibition and book reviews, essays, open letters, artist reflections, critiques, and debates on issues such as censorship, public art, and digital art.
Its fourth issue, published in August 1998, was its first Chinese and English bilingual issue.
Para Site. “Publications.” Accessed 21 September 2023.
https://www.para-site.art/publications/categories/ps-magazine/.
07.1997
Artist Commune established
Artist and cultural groups
Artist Commune was a nonprofit art group established by local artists in July 1997. Their initial premises was at Oil Street, but in the ensuing years they moved to the Cheung Sha Wan Cattle Slaughterhouse, and then to the Cattle Depot Artist Village in To Kwa Wan. It ceased operations in 2012.
As a collective, they had several key projects spanning across a multitude of objectives. The first of these objectives focused on merging traditional ink painting with contemporary ink art, another facilitated socio-politically aware artistic creation. They ran an artist-in-residency programme that aimed to exchange ideas between international and local artists and their audience and additionally co-organized activities with local tertiary education institutions to further the development of art in Hong Kong.
Asia Art Archive. “Post 97 Art: HKSAR/Artist Commune 10th Anniversary.” Event Database. Accessed 21 September 2023.
Lee Chung Fung, ed. “Play Stadium in 2008.” 2008. Leaflet accessed through Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/66181.
Chan Kwong Wah, Puileng Chan, Hingshing Chang, et. al. Post 97 Art: HKSAR/Artist Commune 10th Anniversary - Image Edition. Hong Kong: Artist Commune, 2007. Accessed through Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/73150.
1997
Asian Financial Crisis
Policies and socio-political events
The Asian Financial Crisis began when the Thai baht was unpegged from the US dollar on 2 July 1997, which destabilized Asian economies and spread to Eastern Europe and Latin America.
According to Michael Carson and John Clark of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, “Hong Kong faced several large but unsuccessful speculative attacks on its currency peg to the dollar, the first of which triggered short-term stock market sell-offs across the globe.”
Ba, Alice D. “Asian financial crisis.” Britannica Money, 23 February 2024.
https://www.britannica.com/money/Asian-financial-crisis.
Carson, Michael, and John Clark. “Asian Financial Crisis: July 1997–December 1998.” Federal Reserve History. Accessed 21 September 2023.
https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/asian_financial_crisis.
1997
Museum of Site opens
Artist-run spaces
With support from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC), the Museum of Site (MOST) opened in 1997 at a village house in Kat Hing Wai Village, New Territories. The museum’s primary goal was to act as an educational venue that could cater to the needs of the schools in the northwest of Hong Kong, where art education was underdeveloped.
Beyond that primary motivator, the museum was created with the intention of providing an alternative venue that would foster experimentation and research in local contemporary art and enhance public participation. MOST emphasises on artistic exploration into the culture and heritage of the New Territories.
Lam, Honkin Andrew. Museum of Site (MOST). Museum of Site, 1999. Accessed via Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/50129.
1998
Arts and culture development is part of the Chief Executive’s Policy Address
Policies and socio-political events
In his 1998 Policy Address, Hong Kong’s first Chief Executive, Tung Chee Hwa 董建華, introduced the government’s vision “to cultivate Hong Kong’s image as the Asian centre of arts and culture, and of entertainment and sporting events” by building “proper venues for world-class events.”
Tung elaborated that “The Government is committed to providing more support in this area, and as a catalyst for upgrading our image as Asia's entertainment capital we are planning for a new, state-of-the-art performance venue on the West Kowloon reclamation” This reclaimed area at West Kowloon would culminate into the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD), comprising venues such as the Xiqu Centre for Chinese opera, the Freespace centre for contemporary performance, M+ Museum of visual culture, and Hong Kong Palace Museum.
While Tung’s 1998 Policy Address introduced the WKCD project to the public, the concept of the cultural district was first brought to the fore in a 1996 survey conducted by the Hong Kong Tourist Association, which resulted in a proposal to build “a new cultural venue” being sent to the Legislative Council.
policyaddress.gov.hk. “The 1998 Policy Address.” Accessed 21 September 2023.
https://www.policyaddress.gov.hk/pa98/english/econ2.htm.
info.gov.hk. “Legislative Council: Statement on West Kowloon Cultural District project.” Press Release, 10 November 2004.
1998
Oil Street Artist Village opens (1998–99)
Artist-run spaces
In 1998, artists began moving into the former Government Supplies Department on Oil Street in North Point, Hong Kong Island. Rented out on a short-term lease at HKD 2.50 per square foot, the cheap rent and large premises attracted many practitioners and soon became Hong Kong’s first artist village. Some of the tenants of the Oil Street complex included Almond Chu 朱德華, Ringo Tang 鄧鉅榮, Artist Commune, Frog King 郭孟浩/ 蛙王, Tsui Puiwan 徐佩環, 1a space, On and On Theatre 前進進戲劇工作坊, and Z+.
However, in October 1999, the government reacquired Oil Street for commercial redevelopment and gave tenants the notice of termination. Thirty artists and art groups in the village initiated the Save Oil Street Campaign, which included the official registration of the Oil Street Artist Village as a nonprofit art organisation. The campaign received widespread media coverage but failed to save the site. Instead, the government agreed to reassign another dedicated space for artists at the renovated Cattle Depot complex in Kowloon. Tenants moved out of Oil Street and temporarily resettled in Kai Tak and Cheung Sha Wan before moving into Cattle Depot between 2001 to 2002. During its 14-month existence, more than 100 public events were held with an attendance record of over 20,000 at Oil Street Artist Village.
On 21 May 2013, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department opened Oi! art space at 12 Oil Street, next to the then-demolished Government Supplies Department Complex, which housed the Oil Street Artist Village.
info.gov.hk. “Oi! opens today to provide new art space for community (with photos).” Press Release, 21 May 2013.
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201305/21/P201305210472.htm.
Asia Art Archive. “Oil Street Archive.” Collections. Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://aaa.org.hk/en/collections/search/archive/oil-street-archive.
Dewolf, Christopher. “Fuel for Thought in the History of Oil Street, Hong Kong.” South China Morning Post, 1 March 2020.
1998
NuNaHeDuo Centre of Photography opens (1997–99)
Artist-run spaces
NuNaHeDuo Centre of Photography was founded in 1997 by Lee Ka-Shing 李嘉誠 and Patrick Lee. In April 1998, it opened its physical premises at Prince's Terrace in Central, Hong Kong Island. The Centre was dedicated to the promotion and development of contemporary photography and closed in 1999.
Asia Art Archive. [Independent Initiative File (Hong Kong): NuNaHeDuo Centre of Photography.] Accessed 18 January 2024.
https://aaa.org.hk/archive/83795.
Lee, Wing Ki. “Locating Photographic Practice in Hong Kong since the 1960s: A Final Report for Asia Art Archive Research Grant 2011.” Asia Art Archive, 2011.
1998
1a space opens
Artist-run spaces
1a space is an experimental art space that welcomes new media, giving artists an alternative to established institutional spaces. This was exemplified by their inaugural exhibition “National Museum or Gallery?,” which invited visitors to question the local art system and its proclivity towards Chinese ink art. As of 2023, 1a space has presented over 170 exhibitions and activities since its opening and continues to organise community art and education programmes, cultural festivals, and international exchanges. The contemporary art organisation’s founding members are Choi Yan Chi 蔡仞姿, Howard Chan 陳沛浩, Hiram To 杜子卿, May Fung馮美華, Kary Kwok郭家賜, Irene Ngan顏淑芬, and Mandy Chow 周喻君. 1a space had its start at Oil Street Artist Village in North Point, Hong Kong Island. In 2002, due to the closure of Oil Street, the organisation moved to Cattle Depot Artist Village in To Kwa Wan, where it has remained since.
1a Space. Accessed 21 September 2023.
https://www.oneaspace.org.hk/.
Lee, Christie. “Local Art: Like its Namesake Bus Line, 1A Space is Quintessentially Hong Kong,” ZolimaCityMag, 28 January 2019.
https://zolimacitymag.com/artist-choi-yan-chi-turned-1a-space-into-quintessential-hong-kong-gallery/.
Asia Art Archive. [Independent Initiative File (Hong Kong): 1a Space.] Accessed 21 September 2023.
1998
City University of Hong Kong’s School of Creative Media established
Art education
City University of Hong Kong’s School of Creative Media was established in 1998 at 18 Tat Tong Avenue in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, to provide interdisciplinary education to practising and aspiring interdisciplinary artists and creative media professionals. Self-described as the first institution of its kind in the region, the School of Creative Media’s programmes combine computer science, fine arts, visual design, creative writing, cultural studies, and digital technology.
School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. “Milestones.” Accessed 20 September 2023.
https://www.scm.cityu.edu.hk/about-scm/milestones.
School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. Accessed 20 September 2023.
1999
Government launches a comprehensive review of Hong Kong’s education system
Policies and socio-political events
Led by Hong Kong’s first Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa 董建華, the Hong Kong government launched a comprehensive review of the city’s education system in 1999 to reassess its academic structures post-Handover and to better equip the city in its transition to a knowledge-based economy.
In Tung’s 1999 Policy Address, he stated: “If Hong Kong wishes to become a knowledge-based economy in the information age, we must continue to innovate and change. This is why we must embrace ‘life-long learning.’ School education should aim at fostering in students an interest and an ability in learning so that they are able to acquire knowledge throughout their lives and respond effectively to changing circumstances.” He also noted the introduction of mother-tongue (i.e. Cantonese) teaching in September 1998 has enabled students to achieve “better results in all subjects, including English.”
The review was implemented in three stages between January 1999 to July 2000. It included three rounds of public consultations, which were open to students, teachers, parents, and other members of the community. Among the topics discussed were the implementation of a standardised medium of instruction, the application of Information Technology education, and the examination-based structure of the academic curriculum.
Findings from the second round of public consultations revealed that “Almost all respondents, including employers, teachers, parents, students, political parties express that the present education system is too examination-oriented,” while “Many respondents consider that the banding system should be abolished as soon as possible to avoid labelling effects on low academic achievers.” As of 2023, Hong Kong still categorises its secondary schools in examination results-based bands.
The review ushered in the replacement of two colonial university entrance examinations, the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination, into the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE).
Education Commission. “Consultation Documents.” Accessed 21 September 2023.
https://www.e-c.edu.hk/en/publications_and_related_documents/consultation_documents.html.
policyaddress.gov.hk. “The 1999 Policy Address.” Accessed 21 September 2023.
https://www.policyaddress.gov.hk/pa99/english/part4-1.htm.
The Education Commission of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, The People’s Republic of China. “Review of Education System Reform Proposals: Consultation Document,” May 2000.
1999
HKADC rents out Shanghai Street Artspace (1999–2019)
Policies and socio-political events
Initiated by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) with the assistance of the Home Affairs Bureau and Lands Department, Shanghai Street Artspace was a for-lease exhibition space with an annual rate of HKD 1.
Located at 404 Shanghai Street in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, Shanghai Street Artspace was then rented out to art groups selected via open calls on a two-year lease. Its tenants included the alternative art space Woofer Ten 活化廳 (2009–15) and Centre for Community Cultural Development’s Green Wave Art space (2016–19).
In 2018, the HKADC announced that the Artspace had to close because they were unable to secure a Places of Public Entertainment Licence from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department through the Lands Department, which owns the premises.
Chan, Holmes. “The final days of Hong Kong’s Green Wave Art space – a community arts hub like no other.” Hong Kong Free Press, 28 April 2019.
Asia Art Archive. [Independent Initiative File (Hong Kong): Shanghai Street Artspace]. Accessed 18 September 2023.
30.07.1999
Lingnan University acquires university status
Art education
Initially established in Guangzhou as Christian College in China in 1889, Lingnan College moved to Hong Kong in 1938 following the fall of Guangzhou during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It returned to mainland China after the Second World War but was ultimately re-established in Hong Kong as Lingnan School in 1967, where it provided preparatory form education and non-degree programmes. Later on, the school began to offer diploma programmes. It changed its name to Lingnan College in 1978.
In 1995, the college moved to Tuen Mun, New Territories, and positioned itself as a Liberal Arts school. It acquired university status from the Hong Kong government four years later in 1998 and changed its name to Lingnan University on 30 July 1999. Lingnan University comprises Faculties of Arts, Business, and Social Sciences, as well as the School of Graduate Studies.
Lingnan University. Accessed 20 September 2023.
Lingnan University. “Milestones.” Accessed 18 January 2024.
01.2000
Hong Kong Art School established
Art education
The education department of the Hong Kong Arts Centre was established as the Hong Kong Art School in January 2000. It offers self-funded Higher Diplomas and Bachelors of Fine Art (BFA) in Ceramics, Painting, Photography, and Sculptures. The BFA. programme is co-presented by RMIT University.
The Hong Kong Art School’s campus is located at Youth Square in Chai Wan, Hong Kong Island.
Hong Kong Art School. Accessed 23 September 2023.
2000
Hong Kong Open Printshop opens
Artist-run spaces
Hong Kong Open Printshop (HKOP) opened as the city’s first nonprofit, artist-run print shop at Shanghai Street in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon. Founded by print artist Yung Sau-mui and photographer Fung Ho-yin, HKOP was founded with the goal of promoting graphic art, preserving local print culture, and facilitating international exchange. In 2008, it found a permanent space in Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC) in Shek Kip Mei and was registered as a charitable organisation in 2012. HKOP hosted the global printmaking conference IMPACT11 in 2021 and established the Hong Kong Open Press in 2022.
DeWolf, Christopher. “The Revolution Will Be Printed: Hong Kong’s Pop Up Press.” Zolima City Mag, December 9, 2015. https://zolimacitymag.com/the-revolution-will-be-printed-hong-kongs-pop-up-press/
Hong Kong Open Printshop. “Our Story.” Accessed 21 September 2023.
12.2000
Hong Kong Heritage Museum opens
Museums
In December 2000, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum opened at 1 Man Lam Road in Sha Tin, New Territories. Operated by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the museum aims to “[preserve] and [interpret] cultural heritage of Hong Kong as well as to [collect] a wide range of artifacts and works of art from the territory and neighbouring regions.” It comprises 7,500 square meters of exhibition space that is divided into five permanent and six thematic galleries. The museum’s collection is divided into the history collection (Local History Relics, Performing Art Relics, Folk Art and Popular Culture artefacts) and the art collection (Contemporary Art, Design and Chinese Fine Art).
The museum also publishes a quarterly newsletter, produces teaching kits and worksheets, as well as organises seminars, school and theatre programmes, and guided tours.
Hong Kong Heritage Museum. “Highlights.” Accessed 23 September 2023.
12.2000
Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook begins publication
Publications
The Chinese University of Hong Kong’s (CUHK) Department of Fine Arts published the first edition of the Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook in December 2000. While it began as a Chinese-language publication, the Yearbook became a Chinese and English bilingual periodical in 2004.
The annual publication is organised into two sections: critical “Essays” by academics that focus on local visual arts events and “Chronicles,” which gather and catalogue all visual arts events of the year, from exhibitions and symposiums to auctions, publications, awards, educational programmes, and public issues; “One is subjective observation and analysis on a broad scope, while the other is a microscopic listing of objective data; both are interdependent on as well as complementary to each other.”
In 2021, CUHK’s Department of Fine Arts authorised the CUHK Library to host the Yearbook in the university’s Digital Repository, which was officially launched in March 2022.
Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook. “About the Yearbook.” Accessed 23 September 2023.
2000
Leisure and Cultural Services Department established
Government bodies
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) was established under the Home Affairs Bureau to support the provision of recreational and cultural programmes. LCSD was to take over the roles of the autonomous Urban Council and Regional Council as part of former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa’s 董建華 plan to streamline and centralise the delivery of municipal services. The structural changes were opposed by the local Democratic Party.
LCSD oversees all of Hong Kong’s public museums, including the Hong Kong Museum of Art.
info.gov.hk. “1999 Policy Address by Chief Executive.” Press Release. Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/199910/06/address1j.htm.
Hong Kong 2000. “New Framework for Delivery of Municipal Services.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://www.yearbook.gov.hk/2000/eng/02/c02-05.htm.
Legislative Council, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. “Report of the Bills Committee on Provision of Municipal Services (Reorganization) Bill.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr98-99/english/bc/bc73/report/b462e.pdf.
2000
Asia Art Archive opens
Libraries and archives
Asia Art Archive opened at 233 Hollywood Road in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Island in 2000. The archive was co-founded by Claire Hsu 徐文玠 and Johnson Chang 張頌仁 to document and make accessible the recent history of arts in Asia. The organisation houses a growing collection of materials, has a physical and online library, conducts research, runs residencies, and organises education programmes. The Archive has since expanded with Asia Art Archive in America (New York) and Asia Art Archive in India (New Delhi).
Asia Art Archive. “About.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
2001
Venice Biennale: “Magic at Street Level”
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Hong Kong’s first participation in the Venice Biennale was an exhibition titled “China – Hong Kong Exhibition: Magic at Street Level” curated by Asia Art Archive co-founder and HanartTZ Gallery founding director Johnson Chang 張頌仁, with support from curator Oscar Ho 何慶基. Artists Ellen Pau 鮑藹倫, Ho Siukee 何兆基, and Warren Leung 梁志和 were selected to showcase their works under the curatorial framework of transformation and the changing experience of living in the metropolis city. The exhibition was presented by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. As a Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong’s pavilion was placed in a peripheral venue instead of the main Giardini site of the Biennale, which are allocated to national pavilions.
“The 49th Venice Biennial - Venice-Hong Kong: Magic at Street Level 2001.” Hong Kong, 2001. Accessed at Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/44910.
11.2001
Arts Development Fund (Cultural Exchange Project) launched
Awards, grants, residencies
Launched by the Home Affairs Bureau in November 2001, the Arts Development Fund (Cultural Exchange Project) is a government sub-fund under the Sir David Trench Fund for Recreation that aims to support local artists and art groups in outbound cultural exchange. In April 2020, the administration of the fund was taken up by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC).
info.gov.hk. “Guidelines of the Arts Development Fund (Cultural Exchange Project) revised.” Press Release, 30 September 2010.
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201009/30/P201009300316_print.htm.
2001
Art Promotion Office opens
Government bodies
Operated under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the Art Promotion Office (APO) opened at the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre in 2001 to provide art activities, services, and training for the public. APO also oversees the operations of vA! at Kennedy Road in Central, Hong Kong Island, and Oi! at the old premises of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, next to the former site of the evicted Oil Street Artist Village in North Point, Hong Kong Island. Both art spaces were established to facilitate art-making, education, and exchange.
APO. Accessed 23 September 2023.
https://www.apo.hk/en/web/apo/home.html.
Chow, Vivienne. “A contemporary art space with attitude and ambition.” South China Morning Post, 10 May 2013.
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1233970/contemporary-art-space-attitude-and-ambition.
info.gov.hk. “Oi! opens today to provide new art space for community (with photos).” Press Release, 21 May 2013.
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201305/21/P201305210472.htm.
2001
Ngau Pang Sue Yuen opens (2001–03)
Artist-run spaces
Ngau Pang Sue Yuen 牛棚書院, also known as Cattle Depot College, was an art collective that opened at the Cattle Depot Artist Village in To Kwa Wan, Kowloon, in 2001. It was run by Zuni Icosahedron with the aim of offering an avant-grade education on art and other topics to the wider public. In addition to its courses and talks, it also published the quarterly cultural magazine E+E. It has been inactive since 2003.
Penelope Yau. “Promotion of alternative art.” Culture & Leisure, 2003.
https://varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk/varsity/0305/culture_leisure_b.htm.
陳嘉儀：〈牛棚不是藝術村! 〉。大學線 月刊。
2001
Studio 318 opens in Fo Tan (Fotanian)
Artist-run spaces
The residential and industrial Fo Tan district in the New Territories developed an artist community among students and graduates of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s (CUHK) Fine Arts Department when Gordon Lo, Lam Tung-pang, Tony Ma, Tozer Pak, Sam Tang, Castaly Leung, Amy Lee, and Joey Wong held their first open studio exhibitions at Studio 318 in Fo Tan in 2001. This was the precursor to the annual Fotanian Open Studios held in 2003. That same year, the Hong Kong Museum of Art invited artist studios in Fo Tan to participate in the Hong Kong Art Biennial.
Fotanian continued to expand as more graduates from CUHK and the Hong Kong Art School moved in, attracted by cheaper rents and the location’s proximity to CUHK. By 2007, Fotanian comprised over 100 artists and 28 studios. Fotanian became a limited company in 2010.
In 2002, the original eight members of Studio 318 split into two groups: Gordon Lo, Lam Tung-pang, Tony Ma, Tozer Pak, and Sam Tang established their own studio named Mr. 221, and Castaly Leung, Amy Lee, and Joey Wong set up a separate studio in the same building. The first official Fotanian Open Studios took place in 2003.
Lam Tung Pang. “From Fo Tan to Fotanian.” Accessed 30 March 2020.
http://www.lamtungpang.com/writings/files/.
2002
SARS Epidemic (2002–03)
Policies and socio-political events
First identified in Foshan, Guangdong, on 16 November 2002, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) had its first confirmed case in Hong Kong in March 2003. In Hong Kong, a total of 1,750 people were infected and 286 died from the outbreak, while more than 8,000 people were infected globally. The World Health Organisation declared SARS contained on 5 July 2003.
Lee, Shiu Hung. “The SARS epidemic in Hong Kong: what lessons have we learned?” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 2003.
2002
First Hong Kong International Antiques Fair
Art fairs
Founded by antique dealers William and Priscilla Chak, the International Antiques Fair (IAF) was launched in 2002 as an annual event that brought together dealers in Chinese and Asian antiques from all over the world. The fair, which in recent years has started to include western antiques, offers lectures, exhibitions, guided tours, and antique appraisal services to encourage more people to learn about antiques.
International Antiques Fair. “Introduction” and “History.” Accessed 29 November 2023. http://www.iaf.com.hk/eng/p1.asp; http://www.iaf.com.hk/eng/p1_02.asp.
2002
Arts Education Expo 2002
Art education
In 2002, the Arts Education Expo 2002 was organised by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in association with the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. A total of 41 primary and secondary schools, arts groups and organisations were invited to demonstrate their success in arts education in the form of exhibitions, workshops, games and performances.
Hong Kong Arts Development Council. “Promoting Arts Education.” In the 20th Anniversary Souvenir Book, 42–47. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Arts Development Council, 2016. Accessed via https://www.hkadc.org.hk/en/about-us/hkadc-publications.
01.07.2003
July 1 protest against Article 23
Policies and socio-political events
Held annually since the Handover of Hong Kong on 1 July 1997, the Hong Kong July 1 protest was organised by the now-defunct Civil Human Rights Front and first gained broader public attention in 2003 with an estimated record turnout of more than half a million marchers.
The 2003 protest opposed the legislation of a Hong Kong national security law, the Basic Law Article 23:
“The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People’s Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies.”
On 30 June 2020, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was passed by the national legislature of the People’s Republic of China.
Read more about the Basic Law at https://www.basiclaw.gov.hk/en/basiclaw/index.html.
Read more about the National Security Law at https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/doc/hk/a406/eng_translation_(a406)_en.pdf.
Kleeman, C. George. “The Proposal to Implement Article 23 of the Basic Law in Hong Kong: A Missed Opportunity for Reconciliation and Reunification Between China and Taiwan.” Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law 33 (2005): 705–20.
“Huge protest fills HK streets.” CNN, 2 July 2003.
https://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/07/01/hk.protest/.
“July 1, 2003: 500,000 take to Hong Kong’s streets in protest against proposed national security legislation.” South China Morning Post, 14 June 2022.
Leung, Hillary. “Explainer: What is Article 23? Hong Kong’s homegrown security law finds itself back in the spotlight.” Hong Kong Free Press, 29 July 2023.
“Timeline: Hong Kong’s July 1 carnival of dissent – how 17 years of protest demands fell silent.” Hong Kong Free Press, 2 July 2022.
12.2003
First Fotan Open Studios
Artist-run spaces
Artist studios in Fo Tan, New Territories opened their doors to the public for the first Fotan Open Studios in 2003. More than 30 artists and 10 workshops were involved in the event. It took place on the 6th, 7th, 13th and 14th of December, spanning the course of two consecutive weekends.
HKU Fine Arts Alumni Association. “HKU Fine Arts in 40 Years.” Accessed 21 September 2023. https://hkufaaa.hk/theme/.
Asia Art Archive. [Independent Initiative File (Hong Kong): Fotanian Open Studios.] Accessed 21 September 2023. https://aaa.org.hk/en/archive-collection/26855.
2003
The Ink Society established
Artist and cultural groups
The Ink Society was established in 2003 by Alisan Fine Arts founder Alice King “to foster a broader understanding and appreciation of modern and contemporary art that is based on or inspired by the ink tradition.” The nonprofit collaborates with other institutions, such as the Fine Art Asia and Ink Asia fairs, to present exhibitions, screenings, and other programmes. It also publishes catalogues for individual artists, including Liu Kuo-sung 劉國松, Lui Shou-Kwan 呂壽琨, Irene Chou 周綠雲, and Luis Chan 陳福善. Since 2019, The Ink Society and the Liu Kuo-sung Archives have been co-presenting the Liu Kuo-sung Ink Art Award, which presents an HKD 100,000 cash prize to one winner each year.
The Ink Society. Accessed 29 May 2023.
2003
Art and Culture Outreach established
Artist-run spaces
Art and Culture Outreach (ACO) was established as a project to turn residential spaces at Foo Tak Building in Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island, into art spaces for the Dawei Charitable Foundation. ACO supports artists by offering them affordable spaces in Foo Tak Building to work and host events. It works to develop the local art and cultural scene with initiatives on art education, sound, green living, reading, and publication.
From 2005 to 2010, ACO ran an artist residency programme, which made a unit on the 14th floor of Foo Tak Building available to overseas practitioners at a low rent. ACO Books, an independent bookstore that hosts art and cultural events, opened in 2008.
Art and Culture Outreach. Accessed 31 May 2023.
2003
First Sovereign Asian Art Prize
Awards, grants, residencies
Co-founded by art collector Howard Bilton and Tiffany Pinkstone, the Sovereign Art Foundation launched the Sovereign Asian Art Prize, in 2003 to “[increase] the international exposure of artists in the region while raising funds for programmes that support disadvantaged children using expressive arts.” All shortlisted artworks, except for the Grand Prize winner, are made available for the charity auction, with the proceeds split equally between the artists and the foundation.
Entry to the Prize is on a nomination-only basis. Artists are nominated by a group of independent art professionals, and nominees are invited to enter up to three artworks for consideration. A cash prize of USD 30,000 is awarded to the Grand Prize winner. Previous winners of the Sovereign Asian Art Prize include Parul Gupta (2023), Azin Zolfaghari (2022), and Li Binyuan 厲檳源 (2021).
Sovereign Art Foundation. Accessed 23 September 2023.
2003
First Hong Kong Arts Development Awards
Awards, grants, residencies
The Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) hosted the first Hong Kong Arts Development Awards in 2003. The annual flagship award operates on a nomination-based system and aims to give formal recognition to distinguished arts practitioners, groups, and organisations that have made significant contributions to the arts in Hong Kong.
It has a total of seven award categories: Life Achievement Award, Award for Outstanding Contribution in Arts, Artist of the Year, Award for Young Artist, Award for Arts Education in Schools, Award for Arts Promotion and Education, and Award for Arts Sponsorship. The Artist of the Year and Award for Young Artist prizes are both divided into the categories of Arts Criticism, Dance, Drama, Film, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Music, Visual Arts, and Xiqu.
Hong Kong Arts Development Council. “Hong Kong Arts Development Awards.” Accessed 29 May 2023.
2003
Venice Biennale: “Para/Site: navigating the dot”
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
For Hong Kong’s participation at the 2003 Venice Biennale, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council selected Para/Site (now Para Site) Art Space to curate an exhibition and create works for the Pavilion. Members of Para/Site then formed an 11-person collective, composed of artists, architects, curators, critics, designers, educators, and researchers, specifically for the Biennale project.
Titled “navigating the dot,” the exhibition reflected on Hong Kong’s position on the world map and in the art world: “The size of Hong Kong on a world atlas is no more than a dot, only visible to those who care. On the map of world art, the dot hardly exists. Whenever Hong Kong participates in international arts events, the issues of visibility, orientation and positioning in relation to her counterparts emerge.” Playing the role of a “facilitator,” Para/Site built cylindrical compartments in the Pavilion “to interrupt the Venice Biennale sight and site.” The compartments provided resting places for Biennale visitors while transforming the site into a space where each individual could carve their own path and way of navigation.
Participating artists included Chan Kai-yin 陳啟賢, Lau Kin-wah Jaspar 劉建華, Leung Chin-fung Jeff 梁展峯, Leung Wan-yee Janice 梁允怡, Li Man-wai Tim 李民偉, Liang Kan Yee-woo Evelyna 梁以瑚, Man Ching-ying Phoebe 文晶瑩, tamshui 淡水, Tsang Tak-ping 曾德平, Wong Chi Hang Sara 黃志恆, and Yeung Yang 楊陽.
50th Venice Biennale: Navigating the Dot - Artists from Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Arts Development Council, 2003. Published following the exhibition “50th Venice Biennale — Navigating the dot” at the 50th Venice Biennale.
Para Site. “50th Venice Biennale — Navigating the dot.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.para-site.art/exhibitions/50th-venice-biennale-navigating-the-dot/.
2004
Mere Independent Artist Group established
Artist and cultural groups
Founded in 2004, Mere Independent Artist Group (MIA) is an artist-led nonprofit focused on developing the careers of its members and promoting Hong Kong Contemporary Art. MIA organises exhibitions, talks, education programmes, and projects, such as the Art Container Project (2008–14), which invited Hong Kong artists to paint on shipping containers.
Asia Art Archive. [Independent Initiative File (Hong Kong): Mere Independent Artist.] Accessed 23 September 2023.
01.07.2004
July 1 Project 226 protest performance
Art events with a social cause
Project 226 artists Clara Cheung and Gum Cheng conducted their performance piece Marching Engagement during an anti-government protest on 1 July 2004. Hong Kong’s 1st of July marches had been an annual event organised by the Civil Human Rights Front since the Handover in 1997, but it was in 2003, when the Government sought to introduce national security legislation under the Basic Law’s Article 23, that the march began attracting greater public interest. For the 2004 rally, the artist-couple donned traditional wedding outfits to mark their engagement as they marched alongside 500,000 others, bringing “joy” and “luck” in their performance to an otherwise downcast economic situation. They later founded C&G Artpartment, a space in Prince Edward, Kowloon, dedicated to art that tackled socio-political issues.
Cheng, Gum. “What is not performance art?” In “The Ten Practices” Documentation of Performance Art Internships and Graduation Ceremony, 3-6. C&G Artpartment: 2011.
www.project226.org/images/226_internship_book.pdf.
Wen, Yau. “Hong Kong Performance Art Research Project.” Asia Art Archive, 2005. Accessed 21 September 2023.
https://aaa.org.hk/en/ideas/ideas/hong-kong-performance-art-research-project.
Cheng, Enoch. “Interview with Cheng Yee-man and Clara Cheung of C&G Artpartment.” Asia Art Archive, 1 April 2010.
Kwong, Kevin. “Political survivors.” South China Morning Post, 14 December 2010. https://www.scmp.com/article/733357/political-survivors.
11.2004
HKBU establishes its Academy of Visual Arts
Art education
Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) established its Academy of Visual Arts (AVA) in November 2004 to provide visual arts undergraduate, postgraduate, and research degree programmes.
Located in the former Royal Air Force Officers’ Mess at the university’s Kai Tak campus, AVA launched its Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts programme in September 2005. The programme offers two concentrations: 1) Studio and Media Arts and 2) Craft and Design, with courses on drawing, painting, Chinese arts, media arts, graphic arts, sculpture, glass, ceramics, object design, experience design, art history and theory, and visual and material culture.
In 2011, AVA expanded into the Lee Shau Kee Communication and Visual Arts Building in Kowloon Tong. Shortly after the expansion, in March 2012, news regarding the Kai Tak Campus’ upcoming lease expiration and the government’s decision to hike AVA’s monthly rent from HK$50,000 to HK$300,000 began to circulate. This was followed by HKBU’s announcement that it will cease tenancy in Kai Tak and relocate the entirety of AVA’s operations to the University’s newly opened Lee Shau Kee Communication and Visual Arts Building in Kowloon Tong. In response, AVA students and alumni formed the HKBU AVA Campus Development Concern Group to protest against leaving Kai Tak Campus. On 18 October 2013, South China Morning Post reported that “Baptist University’s visual arts academy will be able to extend the government lease of its heritage campus in Kai Tak for 10 years at a nominal monthly rent of HK$1, down from the HK$50,000 it paid for six years.”
AVA continues to run two campuses. Its Kai Tak campus features studios for painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and ceramics; a metal foundry; and an exhibition space. The Kowloon Tong campus also comprises studios, exhibition spaces, and a darkroom.
Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University. “AVA.” Accessed 23 September 2023.
Chow, Vivienne. “Visual Arts Academy to Stay at Kai Tak Campus - for HK$1 A Month.” South China Morning Post, October 18, 2013.
Wong Ying-kai Ada. Translated by Roberta Freya. “Visual Arts Education in Face of Hong Kong's Cultural Policy (or its lack of) - A Revelation from the HKBU Kai Tak Campus Incident.” In the Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook 2012, edited by Tong Kam-tang, 94–101. Hong Kong: Department of Fine Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012.
http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~fadept/Yearbook/YearbookEssays/2012/2012adawong_eng.pdf.
李海燕：〈香港浸會大學啟德校園續租事件〉。CUHK
http://hkvisualartsyearbook.org/lib/img/cuhkvayb/pdf/2012_PI_Kaitak_CHI.pdf.
2004
Hong Kong International Film Festival Society Ltd. is established
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society Ltd. was established in 2004 as an independent, charitable organisation responsible for managing the subsequent development of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, which was previously overseen by various government departments.
Hong Kong International Film Festival. “About Us.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
2005
Venice Biennale: “Investigation of a Journey to the West by Micro + Polo”
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Hong Kong’s participation at the 51st Venice Biennale was titled “Investigation of a Journey to the West by Micro + Polo” and explored the social function of art in an era of rapidly developing technology. Curated by Sabrina Fung 馮美瑩 and presented by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC), the exhibition featured two artists, anothermountainman 又一山人 and Kurt Chan Yuk-Leung 陳育強.
Investigation of a Journey to the West by Micro + Polo - Artists from Hong Kong China (at the 51st Venice Biennale). Hong Kong: Hong Kong Arts Development Council, 2005. Accessed through Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/56278.
2005
Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation established
Awards, grants, residencies
Established in 2005 by Robert H. N. Ho, the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation focuses on heightening the appreciation of Buddhism and Chinese arts and culture. The Foundation in Hong Kong offers grants to non-governmental organisations under two categories, “Arts and Culture” and “Quality of Life.”
The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global. Accessed 23 September 2023.
https://www.rhfamilyfoundationglobal.org/.
The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Hong Kong. Accessed 23 September 2023.
2005
Public Art Hong Kong established
Non-collecting institutions
Incorporated in 2005 with the Hong Kong Arts Centre, Public Art Hong Kong is a nonprofit funded by the Y.K.Pao Foundation and connects private and public organizations with artists to create site-specific works.
Public Art Hong Kong. Accessed 23 September 2023.
2006
First Fine Art Asia
Art fairs
First held in 2006, Fine Art Asia “is the only fair in Asia to showcase a wide range of collectible fine art from Asia and the West,” including antiques, ink art, and photography. The fair takes place every October.
Fine Art Asia. Accessed 23 September 2023.
Orientations. “Fine Art Asia.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
04.2007
Bonhams Hong Kong opens
Auction houses
International auction house Bonhams opened its Hong Kong office in 2007 at Two Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Central, Hong Kong Island.
In 2014, the auction house opened its Southeast Asian headquarters and salesroom in Hong Kong, which they describe to be “the first dedicated salesroom established by any auction house” in the city.
Bonhams. Accessed 29 May 2023.
10.2007
First October Contemporary
Performances, screenings, exhibitions
The inaugural October Contemporary was launched by 1a Space, Artist Commune, Asia Art Archive (AAA), Goethe-Institut, the Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC), Osage Art Foundation, Para Site, and Videotage in October 2007. It was to be an annual event dedicated to the promotion of contemporary art and artists in Hong Kong and featured a month-long programme of talks, workshops, and exhibitions that would facilitate discourse. The theme for the first year was “AGAIN” and tackled the bridge between the traditional and the modern.
Asia Art Archive. [Event File (Hong Kong): October Contemporary 2007.] Accessed 21 September 2023.
11.2007
First Hong Kong Graphic Art Fiesta
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Organised by Hong Kong Open Printshop, the Hong Kong Graphic Art Fiesta was intended to be an annual printmaking festival and was first held at Tsuen Wan Town Hall, New Territories, in November of 2007. The festival lasted for two months and invited print-makers from around the world to showcase their work in the exhibition “Crossing Boundaries: An International Print Exchange Exhibition.” A second exhibition, “Hot Off the Press,” was dedicated to emerging print-makers from local universities and colleges. The festival also ran a series of activities and events dedicated to the promotion of print-making. The Fiesta would see a second and third edition in 2010 and 2013 respectively.
news.gov.hk. “Graphic Art Fiesta opens.” Accessed 15 January 2024. https://www.news.gov.hk/isd/ebulletin/en/citylife/071102/html/071102en20004.htm.
Hong Kong Graphic Art Fiesta 2007: Crossing Boundaries : An International Print Exchange Exhibition. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Open Printshop, 2007. Accessed through Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/70403.
Aberystwyth University. “Double Impression at Hong Kong Graphic Arts Fiestas.” Accessed 18 October 2023. https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/art/news-events/graphic-arts-fiestas/.
2007
Hong Kong Design Institute established
Art education
The Hong Kong Design Institute (HKDI) was established by the Vocational Training Council (VTC) in 2007 with the aim of centralising the design programmes offered by different Institute of Vocational Education campuses in Hong Kong. It offers over 20 full-time higher diploma and bachelor’s programmes across departments of Architecture, Interior and Product Design; Communication Design; Digital Media; and Fashion and Image Design.
In 2010, HKDI relocated to a combined campus with the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) in Tiu Keng Leng, Tseung Kwan O New Town, New Territories. The campus features workshops, galleries, and fabrication facilities.
Hong Kong Design Institute. Accessed 23 September 2023.
Hong Kong Design Intitute. Online: Hong Kong Design Institute, 2023.
Vocational Training Centre. “Hong Kong Design Institute.” Accessed 23 September 2023.
https://vpet.vtc.edu.hk/wiki/index.php?title=Hong_Kong_Design_Institute.
SCMP Reporter. “Architects invited to submit designs.” South China Morning Post, 29 April 2006.
https://www.scmp.com/article/546704/architects-invited-submit-designs.
2007
C&G Artpartment opens (2007–21)
Artist-run spaces
C&G Artpartment is an independent art space founded by artist duo Clara Cheung and Gum Cheng in 2007. It opened at 222 Sai Yeung Choi Street South in Prince Edward, Kowloon. The space has hosted more than 100 art exhibition and numerous public programmes as well as producing several publications. According to C&G’s biography page on their website:
“C&G Artpartment has been one of the few artist-run space that proactively critiques social and political issues in Hong Kong and facilitates artists to make critical artworks in response. It believes that a healthy society needs freedom of expression and artistic creativity. The only way to defend such these values is to exercise them with the language of the arts.”
On June 30th, 2020, People’s Republic of China imposed National Security Law onto Hong Kong and, thereafter, started massive political persecution that destroyed the space for freedom of speech in Hong Kong. In August 2021, C&G Artpartment had to end its physical space in Hong Kong, and decided to move to the UK in the end of the year, in order to keep fighting for our artistic freedom and to encourage more to make critical art.”
C&G Artpartment. Accessed 5 January 2024.
2007
Lumenvisum established
Artist-run spaces
Lumenvisum is a nonprofit art organisation created with the aim of promoting photography. It was established by veteran photographers Chan Wai Man, Chan Kwong Yuen, Suen Shu Kwan, and Tse Ming Chong in 2007 and has since collaborated with more than 60 artists on over 50 exhibitions in Hong Kong. In 2008, it opened its permanent physical premises in Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC), Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon.
Lumenvisum. “Introduction.” About Us. Accessed November 22, 2023.
http://www.lumenvisum.org/site/en/.
Asia Art Archive. [Independent Initiative File (Hong Kong): Lumenvisum.] Accessed 19 November 2023.
2007
Muse Magazine begins publication (2007–10)
Publications
Muse Magazine was a monthly periodical on Hong Kong art and culture first published by East Slope Publishing Limited in 2007 and founded by Frank Proctor. The magazine was intended as an English-language publication directed towards both English- and Cantonese-speaking audiences. This resulted in a unique structure that took English as its primary language and supplemented it with quotes and paragraphs in Chinese. It became well-known for its long-form journalism with a niche readership. It ceased publication in 2010.
Chan, Holmes. “‘Muse’ was Hong Kong’s answer to ‘The New Yorker’. Then it died.” Still/Loud, February 9, 2018.
https://still-loud.com/2018/02/09/muse-was-hong-kongs-answer-to-the-new-yorker-then-it-died/.
2007
Venice Biennale: “Star Fairy”
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
The 52nd Venice Biennale saw Hong Kong’s participation with the exhibition “Star Fairy,” which invited artists Amy Cheung 張韻雯, Hiram To 杜子卿, and MAP Office (Laurent Gutierrez and Valérie Portefaix) to explore the surreal and mundane elements of the city. The show was curated by Norman Jackson Ford 傅德明 and presented by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC).
Star Fairy: Hong Kong In Venice. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Arts Development Council, 2007. Accessed through Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/63441.
2008
West Kowloon Cultural District Authority established
Government bodies
West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA)—the statutory body that oversees the development of the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD)—was established in 2008 under the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority Ordinance with a HKD 21.6 billion upfront endowment by the Legislative Council.
First introduced to the public by Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa 董建華 during his 1998 Policy Address, the WKCD project is the government’s way of “cultivat[ing] Hong Kong’s image as the Asian centre of arts and culture” by building “proper venues for world-class events.” Prior to the establishment of WKCDA, the Consultative Committee on the Core Arts and Cultural Facilities of the District and its three advisory groups were formed in 2006 to consult with the local arts community.
WKCD spans 40 hectares of the southernmost part of the West Kowloon Reclamation Area and is designed to comprise an art park, theatres, and museums, as well as commercial facilities such as restaurants, hotels, and shopping centres. The development of WKCD has been conducted in phases, with the first including the construction of the Xiqu Centre for Chinese opera, the Freespace centre for contemporary performance, the M+ Museum of visual culture, and the Hong Kong Palace Museum.
In 2011, Lars Nittve, founding Director of the Tate Modern in London, became the inaugural Executive Director of M+. Two years later, on 24 September 2013, construction of the WKCD officially began with the groundbreaking for the Xiqu Centre. The M+ Pavilion opened in 2016 as a preliminary space for M+ exhibitions up until the opening of M+ on 12 November 2021.
West Kowloon. “About Us.” Accessed 15 January 2024.
https://www.westkowloon.hk/en/about-us.
Greenberger, Alex. “Lars Nittve Steps Down as Executive Director of M+.” Artnews, 5 October 2015.
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/lars-nittve-steps-down-as-executive-director-of-m-5078/.
West Kowloon. “Our Story.” Accessed 18 October 2023.
https://www.westkowloon.hk/en/our-story.
Tong, Valencia. “Doors After Years of Anticipation.” Artnews, 12 November 2021.
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/m-plus-museum-opening-hong-kong-2021-report-1234609957/.
03.2008
Protest performances outside Times Square
Art events with a social cause
A series of performances took place outside Times Square in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Island, in March 2008 in protest of the privatisation of public space. The series included such performances as Joao Vasco Paiva and Hector Rodriguez’s sound piece State Change, Leung Po Shan Anthony 梁寶山 and Tsang Tak Ping’s 曾德平 Walking Under the Greens, and Paul Ho and friends playing chess in When Time meets Flying Chess, among others.
Leung Po Shan Anthony and Seth Denizen. “Privatizing Public Space: Times Square Incidents in Hong Kong.” Asia Art Archive, 1 April 2015.
2008
First deTour design festival
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Organised by creative cultural complex PMQ, the annual deTour design festival was first held in 2008. The event provides a platform for emerging and established designers to engage with the latest in innovative design.
deTour. Accessed 18 October 2023.
HK Magazine. “A Tour of Detour.” South China Morning Post, 18 November 2010.
https://www.scmp.com/magazines/hk-magazine/article/2032892/tour-detour.
2008
Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre opens
Non-collecting institutions
The Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC) is a nine-storey artist village and arts centre that opened in a former factory in Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon, in 2008. Built through the support of the Government and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, JCCAC was established as a self-financing registered charity and a subsidiary of Hong Kong Baptist University with the aim of meeting the community’s need for affordable studios and exhibition facilities. Their tenants include Lumenvisum, Hong Kong Open Printshop, and Floating Projects. JCCAC also houses the Jockey Club Box Theatre, an exhibition gallery, and craft shops.
Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre. Accessed 31 May 2023.
2008
Wrongplace opens
Artist-run spaces
Wrongplace was a nonprofit research collective and experimental art space that opened its physical premises at the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC), Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon, in 2008. It ran a series of exhibition “experiments” that challenged conventional white-cube conceptions of curation, including the year-long project “Exhibiting Experiments, Experimenting Exhibitions.” It has been inactive since 2014.
Asia Art Archive. [Independent Initiative File (Hong Kong): Wrongplace.] Accessed 21 September 2023.
2008
First Hong Kong International Art Fair
Art fairs
The first edition of the Hong Kong International Art Fair (ART HK) was in 2008 organised by Asian Art Fairs Ltd. and directed by Magnus Renfrew and Stephanie Dieckvoss. Running from May 14 to 18, it showcased over 100 galleries from 20 countries, a series of talks organised by the Asia Art Archive, and a feature exhibition of work by emerging local artists called Mirage, curated by Sabrina Fung. In 2012, Art Basel’s parent company MCH Group bought ART HK, rebranding it as Art Basel Hong Kong.
“ART HK 08 -- Hong Kong's First International Art Fair in a Decade.” New York City: e-flux, 30 Mar 2008. Accessed 21 September 2023.
2008
Soundpocket established
Non-collecting institutions
Soundpocket is a nonprofit organisation established in 2008 that focuses on the promotion and research of sound art in Hong Kong. Since 2010, it has facilitated the Artist Support Programme, which “provides direct material, artistic and social support to young artists in Hong Kong who have shown commitment to becoming professional artists working with sound and listening.” Soundpocket also produces publications and runs an online library. The organisation had also hosted five editions of the Around Sound Art Festival from 2009 to 2015.
Asia Art Archive. [Independent Initiative File (Hong Kong): Soundpocket.] Accessed 21 September 2023. https://aaa.org.hk/archive/83719.
Soundpocket. “About us.” Accessed 21 September 2023. http://www.soundpocket.org.hk/v2/category/about-us/.
Soundpocket. “About artist support programme.” Accessed 21 September 2023.
https://www.soundpocket.org.hk/v2/category/support-for-artists/artist-support-programme/.
2008
Art Together established
Artist and cultural groups
Established by a group of Hong Kong artists in 2008, Art Together is a nonprofit that “aims to reach more diverse communities in a mobile fashion and facilitate the infusion of art into the community by curating art projects and exhibitions at outdoor areas or public space in Hong Kong.” The organisation is funded by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC). Their previous projects range from showcasing mobile art installations to holding discussions and parades.
Art Together. “About Us.” Accessed 18 January 2024.
2009
Venice Biennale: “Making (Perfect) World: Harbour, Hong Kong, Alienated Cities and Dreams”
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
“Making (Perfect) World: Harbour, Hong Kong, Alienated Cities and Dreams” was the title of Hong Kong's solo presentation of artist Tozer Pak Sheung Chuen 白雙全 at the 53rd Venice Biennale. Curated by Tobias Berger of Para Site and presented by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC), the show was conceptually divided into four segments—Harbour, Hong Kong, Alienated Cities, and Dreams, showcasing a mixture of sculpture, photography, and documentation of performances and texts.
Artist from Hong Kong: Making (Perfect) World. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Arts Development Council, 2009. Accessed through Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/68441.
Para Site. “Making (Perfect) World: Harbour, Hong Kong Alienated Cities and Dreams- A Solo Exhibition by Pak Sheung Chuen.” Accessed 5 January 2024.
2009
Wooferten opens (2009–15)
Artist-run spaces
Wooferten 活化廳opened at Shanghai Street Art Space in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, in 2009, and was funded by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) from 2009 to 2013. The nonprofit art organisation focused on artistic projects . Over the course of its existence, it ran a project-based programme of exhibitions, artist residencies, community events, and a plethora of other activities aimed at drawing the community closer to contemporary art. In November 2015, Wooferten closed its physical space and was discontinued.
Wang, Dan. “Wooferten.” Institute for Public Art. Accessed 15 January 2024. https://www.instituteforpublicart.org/case-studies/wooferten/.
Wooferten Blogspot. “About Wooferten.” Accessed 5 January 2024.
2009
New Academic Structure and Senior Secondary Curriculum implemented
Policies and socio-political events
Following the government-led comprehensive review of Hong Kong’s education system from January 1999 to July 2000, the city implemented the New Academic Structure (NAS) and Senior Secondary Curriculum in 2009, replacing two colonial university entrance examinations, the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination, into the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education.
Under NAS, “all students have the opportunity to study up to Secondary 6. They would take up four mandatory core subjects (Chinese Language, English Language, Mathematics, and Liberal Studies) and choose two to three electives from a list of more than 30 subjects, which included Design and Applied Technology, Visual Arts, and Creative Studies.
Liberal Studies was replaced by a subject titled Citizenship and Social Development in 2021. According to South China Morning Post, Liberal Studies “was seen by some as presenting biased views and accused of radicalising young people that participated in the anti-government protests in 2019” and the new subject has “more focus on national security and fostering patriotism.”
Education Bureau HKSAR. “Consultation Documents and Reports.” Senior Secondary Education and Higher Education New Academic Structure Web Bulletin. Accessed 23 September 2023. https://334.edb.hkedcity.net/new/en/consultationreport.php.
Education Bureau HKSAR. “Introduction of the NAS.” Senior Secondary Education and Higher Education New Academic Structure Web Bulletin, 2018. Accessed 23 September 2023. https://334.edb.hkedcity.net/new/en/introduction.php.
Wai, Doris. “DSE 2023: ‘Bittersweet’ farewell to controversial liberal studies subject with generally easier questions.” Young Post, South China Morning Post, 28 April 2023.
Further reading
Cheng, Kai-ming, Liz Jackson, and Wing-on Lee. “Advancing 21st Century Competencies in Hong Kong.” Asia Society Center for Global Education, 2017.
https://asiasociety.org/files/21st-century-competencies-hong-kong.pdf.
2009
Sangwoodgoon established
Artist and cultural groups
Sangwoodgoon 生活館 is an artist-run collective established in 2009 by Chow Sze-chung and Jenny Li Chun-nei as a response to the anti-Hong Kong Express Rail Link movement and Choi Yuen Village Movement. Farming and the creation of new forms of community are key to the collective, which employs permaculture principles to create a system of community-supported agriculture. Regular farming routines allow members to develop their own interests and research fields, ranging from photography to fermentation.
Sangwoodgoon. “About Us.” Accessed 5 January 2024.
https://sangwoodgoon.wordpress.com/about/.
"Sangwoodgoon 2013: Birth Certificate of Dragon Boat Festival Rice." Sangwoodgoon, 2013. Accessed 18 January 2024 via Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/192831.
The University of Hong Kong Museum Society. “Visits to Sangwoodgoon (生活館) and Oi Yuen Villa (愛園別墅).” Accessed 5 January 2024.
2010
Expo 2010 Shanghai China: “Hong Kong – Potential Unlimited”
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Themed “Better City – Better Life,” the 2010 Shanghai World Expo was held from 1 May to 31 October 2010 on both banks of Huangpu River. The Hong Kong Pavilion, developed and designed with the theme “Hong Kong – Potential Unlimited,” is a three-storey metal and glass building with a mirror-filled exhibition area. The structure was designed by Hong Kong architects Billy Chan Wai-ching and Ida Sze Ki-shan, whose proposal was picked from a government-initiated competition in 2008.
Exhibitions at the Hong Kong Pavilion included “Hong Kong‧City” by the Hong Kong Institute of Professional Photographers, “Green Living in Hong Kong,” and “One Country, Two Systems,” among many others. Programs by Hong Kong artists were also held, such as Zuni Icosahedron’s “Danny Yung Experimental Theatre – Flee by Night,” a concert by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and various performances by the Hong Kong Ballet, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and City Contemporary Dance Company.
info.gov.hk. “Hong Kong exhibitions at Shanghai Expo enjoy enduring popularity.” Press Release, 2 September 2010.
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201009/02/P201009020189.htm.
Hong Kong Institute of Professional Photographers. ““Hong Kong‧City” Photo Exhibition at Shanghai Expo 2010.” Accessed 12 November 2023.
http://www.hkipp.org/shanghai_expo_2010/en/about.html.
[Hong Kong’s participation in Shanghai Expo 2010–Events and Activities during the Expo period, 2010. – Schedule]. info.gov.hk. Accessed 12 November 2023.
https://gia.info.gov.hk/general/201003/21/P201003200101_0101_63180.pdf.
Leung, Paggie. “Hong Kong pavilion at Shanghai expo gets finishing touches.” South China Morning Post, 5 March 2010.
https://www.scmp.com/article/707658/hong-kong-pavilion-shanghai-expo-gets-finishing-touches.
Hong Kong Yearbook 2010. “World Exposition 2010 Shanghai China.” Photo Gallery. Accessed 12 November 2023.
https://www.yearbook.gov.hk/2010/photogallery/en/exposition.html.
2010
Floating Projects Collective opens
Artist-run spaces
Established in 2010 in an industrial building in Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong Island, the Floating Projects Collective was reinvented by artist and professor Linda C.H. Lai 黎肖嫻 alongside “a dozen of emerging artists” in 2015 into “an incubator for interdisciplinary arts.” They sought to explore the question: “What can artists do with an empty unit in an industrial building with institutionally and physically defined constraints, and how do artists survive beyond the commercial gallery system and a public funds-dependent charity model?”
In August 2018, the Floating Projects Collective relocated to a smaller space at the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC) in Kowloon and began a new phase in their development. The Collective grew from 12 to 17 members and focused more on providing mutual critique and approaching artworks as a constant work-in-progress “with generative potential.”
With the renewal of their lease at JCCAC in late 2021, the Collective started the third phase in their life cycle with four new members joining the 12 recurring participants. This phase puts an emphasis on reflecting on what it means to be a collective, producing more zines, and strengthening their existing programs, which include the D-Normal/V-Essay online video zine platform and the durational performance series Assemblage.
Floating Collective. “FP/ FPC, An Introduction.” Accessed November 24, 2023. https://www.floatingprojectscollective.net/about/introduction.
2010
K11 Art Foundation established
Non-collecting institutions
K11 Art Foundation is a nonprofit organisation founded in 2010 by Adrian Cheng 鄭志剛. It is dedicated to promoting the development of contemporary art in Greater China. It hosts exhibitions, public programmes, and residencies.
K11 Art Foundation. “About Us.” Accessed 12 November 2023.
2010
Savannah College of Art and Design Hong Kong opens (2010–20)
Art education
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), an American private art school, began operation of its Hong Kong campus in September 2010. Located in the refurbished former North Kowloon Magistracy building in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, SCAD Hong Kong taught graphic design, illustration, fashion marketing, photography, animation, and advertising.
SCAD announced the discontinuation of its Hong Kong campus on 13 March 2020, as Hong Kong and the rest of the world were hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The school was reported to have accumulated a deficit of more than HKD 321 million between 2010 and 2019 despite its annual tuition fee averaging HKD 300,000. Existing students were given the option to transfer to SCAD’s Atlanta or Savannah campuses or to finish their degrees online.
Chan, Samantha. “Students shocked as prestigious art college SCAD closes Hong Kong campus.” Hong Kong Free Press, 28 June 2020.
Harilela, Divia. “Hammer blow for Hong Kong creative arts as SCAD closes city campus; students of fashion, art and design at a loss.” South China Morning Post, 13 March 2020.
2011
Spring Workshop opens (2011–18)
Artist-run spaces
Spring Workshop, founded in 2011 by Mimi Brown 貝明湄, sought to experiment with the way people related to art. Located in Wong Chuk Hang on Hong Kong Island, it hosted international cross-disciplinary art and curatorial programmes, including residencies, as well as facilitated artistic exchange.
In 2016, Spring Workshop received the Prudential Eye Award for Best Asian Contemporary Art Organisation. It ceased activities at Wong Chuk Hang one year later and the final Spring project, Tai Kwun Contemporary’s inaugural exhibition “Dismantling the Scaffold,” was completed in mid-2018. While Spring Workshop has ended all activity, they occassionaly partner with different artists and nonprofit organisations to temporarily use their premises in Wong Chuk Hang.
Spring Workshop. Accessed 31 May 2023. https://www.springworkshop.org/?lang=en.
2011
EmptySCape established
Artist and cultural groups
EmptySCape is an art collective established in 2011 by a group of multidisciplinary artists and professionals, which draws attention to [unused premises/ vacant buildings] through artistic intervention. According to their official website, they “hope to reveal to the public the characters of these typologies of both private and public emptied spaces and what roles do they play within the city and how are these spaces were related to the city and people.”
The first EmptySCape Art Festival was held in 2013.
EmptySCape. “About.” Accessed 19 December 2023.
https://emptyscape.wordpress.com/about/.
04.2011
423 Art Citizens March
Art events with a social cause
423 Art Citizens, comprised of a group of art practitioners, marched in protest of the detainment of Ai Wei Wei 艾未未 by the Chinese Communist Party on 3 April 2011. The march began at Sai Yeung Choi South Street in Mong Kok and ended at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.
Asia Art Archive. [Independent Initiative File (Hong Kong): Art Citizens.] Accessed 31 May 2023.
https://aaa.org.hk/en/archive-collection/26283.
Wen, Yau. “Artists Taking to the Streets! - 423 Art Citizens March and its Revelations.” International Association of Art Critics Hong Kong, 2012.
http://www.aicahk.org/chi/reviews.asp?id=550&pg=1.
2011
Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme launched
Awards, grants, residencies
The Art Capacity Development Funding Scheme (ACDFS) was launched by the government in 2011 “to provide funding support for innovative and impactful proposals that contribute to the objectives of capacity development, programme/content development, audience building and arts education.” The applications are assessed by the Advisory Committee on Arts Development alongside expert advisors. Since its 10th round, the ACDFS has introduced the new category of “Arts Technology” to the list of possible genres, which also includes music, theatre, multi-disciplinary arts, arts technology, arts education/appreciation/promotion, media arts, and community arts.
Culture Sports and Tourism Bureau. “Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme (ACDFS).” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.cstb.gov.hk/en/acdfs.html.
info.gov.hk. “Results of applications for 11th-round funding exercise of Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme announced.” Press Releases, 19 July 2022.
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202207/19/P2022071900190.htm.
2011
Venice Biennale: “Kwok Mang-ho: Frogtopia．Hongkornucopia”
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Hong Kong’s participation at the 2011 Venice Biennale was a solo exhibition of Hong Kong-based artist Kwok Mang-ho 郭孟浩, also known as Frog King 蛙王, titled “Frogtopia．Hongkornucopia.” Curated by Benny Chia 謝俊興, Kith Tsang Tak-ping 曾德平, and Wong Shun-kit 王純杰 in association with the Fringe Club, the exhibition manifested as a spatial take-over by the artist through four sections of maximalist multimedia installations with Kwok’s characteristic bold marks.
Frogtopia Hongkornucopia. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Arts Development Council, 2011.
Hong Kong Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. “Hong Kong at the 54th Venice Biennale.” E-flux, 29 May 2011. https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/35508/hong-kong-at-the-54th-venice-biennale/.
2011
Occupy Central (2011–12)
Policies and socio-political events
Occupy Central was Hong Kong's response to the call for solidarity by the international Occupy movement against social and economic inequality. The movement took up camp beneath the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation's (HSBC) headquarters in Central on Hong Kong Island on 15 October 2011 and remained there until 11 September 2012.
Associated Press in Hong Kong. “Occupy Hong Kong camp cleared from HSBC headquarters.” The Guardian, 11 September 2012.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/11/occupy-hong-kong-camp-hsbc.
12.2011
First JCCAC Festival
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Located in Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon, the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC) held the first edition of its annual month-long JCCAC Art Festival in December 2011. Typically held at the end of the year, the Festival showcases the creative productions of its tenant artist studios and organisations in the form of exhibitions, workshops, lectures, studio tours, open-air cinemas, and more.
Built through the support of the Government and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, JCCAC was established as a self-financing registered charity and a subsidiary of Hong Kong Baptist University to meet the community’s need for affordable studios and exhibition facilities.
Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre. “JCCAC Art Festival.” Accessed 12 November 2023. https://www.jccac.org.hk/?a=doc&id=7562.
04.2012
Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination introduced
Policies and socio-political events
The Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) was introduced in April 2012, replacing the Hong Kong Certification of Education Examination (HKCEE), which had been used since 1978. This change followed the comprehensive review of Hong Kong’s education system launched by the government in 1999 and the implementation of the New Academic Structure and Senior Secondary Curriculum in 2009.
“Seminar on 2012 HKDSE Visual Arts (NEW)—Public Assessment and SBA Mark Submission.” The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, 2011. Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/HKDSE/Subject_Information/va/Seminar-VARTS-20111209.pdf.
Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. “About HKEAA.” Accessed 19 December 2023.
https://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/en/about_hkeaa/milestones/.
01.07.2012
HKBU AVA 1st July protest
Art events with a social cause
Students, alumni, and other members of the Academy of Visual Arts (AVA) at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) joined the 1st of July protest in 2012 with a model of their Kai Tak Campus in Kowloon to protest the campus’ possible closure due to a proposed increase in rent.
In March 2012, news regarding the Kai Tak Campus’s upcoming lease expiration and the government’s decision to increase AVA’s monthly rent from HK$50,000 to HK$300,000 began to circulate. This was followed by HKBU’s announcement that it will cease tenancy in Kai Tak and relocate the entirety of AVA’s operations to the University’s newly opened Lee Shau Kee Communication and Visual Arts Building in Kowloon Tong. In response, AVA students and alumni formed the HKBU AVA Campus Development Concern Group to express their discontent with the government’s approach to cultural policy and protest leaving Kai Tak Campus.
In a text written by Ada Wong Ying-kay, then executive director of the Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Culture, for the 2012 Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook, “They began with designing leaflets that depicted their life at the Kai Tak Campus, collected over one thousand signatures, organised open days, forums and docent tours; during the July 1st protest, they carried a huge model of the Kai Tak Campus and paraded down the road, winning the hearts of the general public.”
On 18 October 2013, South China Morning Post reported that “Baptist University’s visual arts academy will be able to extend the government lease of its heritage campus in Kai Tak for 10 years at a nominal monthly rent of HK$1, down from the HK$50,000 it paid for six years.”
Facebook. “浸大視藝校園發展關注組 HKBU AVA Campus Development Concern Group.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
Chow, Vivienne. “Visual Arts Academy to Stay at Kai Tak Campus - for HK$1 A Month.” South China Morning Post, October 18, 2013.
Wong Ying-kai Ada. Translated by Roberta Freya. “Visual Arts Education in Face of Hong Kong's Cultural Policy (or its lack of) - A Revelation from the HKBU Kai Tak Campus Incident.” In the Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook 2012, edited by Tong Kam-tang, 94–101. Hong Kong: Department of Fine Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012.
http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~fadept/Yearbook/YearbookEssays/2012/2012adawong_eng.pdf.
2012
100ft. PARK opens
Artist-run spaces
Founded by three art practitioners in 2012, 100ft. PARK is a nonprofit art space that opened in a 100-square-feet venue in The Coming Society, a second-hand book shop in Foo Tak Building in Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island.
In 2014, 100ft. PARK relocated to Prince Edward, Kowloon, where creative residence WontonMeen (by design team Yuen Yeung) was situated. The space neighboured Holicycle, a bicycle shop. A year later, the nonprofit moved to Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, next to the architecture firm Daydreamers Design.
100 ft. PARK. “About.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
2012
Hong Kong Art Gallery Association established
Galleries
A member-based nonprofit association of more than 60 established galleries, the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association promotes the local art gallery community through public outreach and events.
Hong Kong Art Gallery Association. Accessed 31 May 2023.
2012
First Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong
Art fairs
Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong was held for the first time at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre from 15 to 17 March 2012. The art fair franchise was established by Will Ramsay in London in 1999. Prior to its Hong Kong edition, the art fair had been hosted annually in London, New York, Seattle, Mexico City, Amsterdam, Milan, Hamburg, Stockholm, and Singapore. For the first Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong, artworks were priced at between HK$1,000 and HK$100,000.
Seow, Janice. “Affordable Art Fair Comes to Hong Kong.” Indesignlive Asia, 5 March 2013.
https://www.indesignlive.hk/articles/affordable-art-fair-comes-to-hong-kong.
01.2013
The Salt Yard opens
Artist-run spaces
The Salt Yard is an independent artist-run space dedicated to photography founded in January 2013 by photographers Lit Ma, Gary Ng, and Dustin Shum in Ma and Ng’s commercial studio in Kwun Tong, Kowloon. The Salt Yard’s name is derived from Kwun Tong’s history as a royalty-owned salt pan during the Northern Song dynasty. They held exhibitions of local and international photographers, sold “lesser-known” photography publications, and provided a space for people to gather, read, and look at photographs. According to co-founder Shum: “We wanted to nurture a new audience, we wanted to build a more lively experience to appreciate photography, so we designed a space for reading and opened a independent bookstore.”
The Salt Yard’s physical premises closed in 2015 and has since moved its operations online.
The Salt Yard. Accessed 19 November 2023.
Yiu, Sheung. “The Last Salt Yard.” Urbanautica, 2015. Accessed 31 May 2023. https://www.urbanautica.com/interview/the-last-salt-yard/355.
03.2013
First Art Basel Hong Kong
Art fairs
The first annual Art Basel Hong Kong was held in March 2013 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, a year after MCH Group, Art Basel’s parent company, bought the local fair Art HK. Art Basel is a Swiss-based, international, modern and contemporary art fair franchise. Art Basel Hong Kong is keen to foreground its promotion of Asian Art, with at least half of its participating galleries hailing from the Asia Pacific region each year. In 2014, MCH Group acquired full ownership of Art Basel Hong Kong. Five years later, in 2019, Art Basel Hong Kong had a record attendance of 88,000.
Bodick, Noelle. “A Brief History of Art Basel, the World's Premier Contemporary Fair.” Artspace, 17 June 2014.
https://www.artspace.com/magazine/art_101/art_market/a-brief-history-of-art-basel-52350.
Cascone, Sarah. “Art Basel Completes Hong Kong Art Fair Buy-Out.” Artnet news, 28 October 2014.
https://news.artnet.com/market/art-basel-completes-hong-kong-art-fair-buy-out-144479.
2013
First EmptySCape Art Festival
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
The independent artist collective EmptySCape held its first Emptyscape Art Festival in May 2013 at the abandoned campus of Ping Yeung Public School in Ping Che, Ta Kwu Ling, New Territories. The first edition of the festival was organised with a strong focus on community engagement with the Ping Che villagers and lasted for four days. It was organised in response to the government’s North East New Territories New Development Areas plan which proposed developing Kwu Tung North, Fanling North, and Ta Kwu Ling into residential and commercial areas.
周文慶：〈「空城藝術節」— 抗爭的另一種方式〉。立場新聞，2016。
https://collection.news/thestandnews/articles/28513.
黃宇軒：〈在亂世中，站穩陣腳（空城藝術節筆記，一）〉。立場新聞，2016。 https://www.thestandnews.com/city/在亂世中-站穩陣腳-空城藝術節筆記-一／。
“Ping Che Village School Art Festival.” Go.Asia, 2013.
https://www.go.asia/ping-che-village-school-art-festival/.
2013
Venice Biennale: “Lee Kit: You (you)”
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
The Hong Kong Pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale presented a solo exhibition by Hong Kong-born artist Lee Kit 李傑 titled “You (you).” Curated by M+ executive director Lars Nittve 李立偉 and chief curator Yung Ma 馬容元, this exhibition was the first Hong Kong Pavilion at Venice Biennale that was co-organised by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) and M+. The exhibition continued Lee’s exploration of the quotidian, or the everyday. The presentation comprised moving images, performance, ready-made objects, found images, and lighting.
M+, West Kowloon Cultural District. “Lee Kit.” E-flux, 22 May 2013. Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/32633/lee-kit/.
Ma, Yung, ed. ‘You (you).’ - Lee Kit. 2013.
07.2013
HKAC in the Setouchi Triennale
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
The Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) participated in the Setouchi Triennale in Japan for the first time in July 2013. HKAC was part of the Fukutake House Asia Art Platform, a collaboration between seven organisations that took place at the Fukutake House, a building repurposed from former Shodoshima Fukuda Elementary School. In its inaugural year , the Asian Art Platform responded to the connectivity of Setouchi as a region with links to the East China Sea, Southeast Asia, and Australasia, placing emphasis on trans-Asian exchange. The exhibition’s theme that year was “How do we respond to globalisation?”
Hong Kong Arts Centre. “HONG KONG ARTS CENTRE presents FUKUTAKE HOUSE Asia Art Platform, Setouchi Triennale 2013.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.hkac.org.hk/press_release_detail/?u=oisT1SEv0DU.
Benesse Art Site Aoshima. “Fukutake House.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
2013
First Colours of Humanity Art Prize
Awards, grants, residencies
The first Colours of Humanity Art Prize (formerly known as Hong Kong Human Rights Arts Prize) was co-presented in 2013 by the Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre (renamed Justice Centre Hong Kong in 2014), the European Union Office in Hong Kong and Macao, and the Goethe-Institut Hong Kong to encourage the creation of artworks that explore themes of inclusivity and portray refugee experiences in Hong Kong. Each year, the Arts Prize also has a different theme that participants are required to work with.
The Arts Prize offers three awards, each with cash prizes: the flagship award presented to the artwork that captures the annual theme most successfully, Goethe-Institut Hong Kong’s InkluVision Award, and the Justice Centre Choice Award for the work that reflects refugee issues. Shortlisted works will be presented at an exhibition at the Goethe- Gallery and Black Box Studio.
Colours of Humanity Art Prize. Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.colours-of-humanity-arts-prize.com/.
The Hong Kong Arts Collective. “Artist Opportunity: Hong Kong Human Rights Art Prize.” Hong Kong Arts Collective, 28 March 2022.
https://www.hongkongartscollective.com/post/artist-opportunity-hong-kong-human-rights-art-prize.
Justice Centre Hong Kong. “Terms-and-Conditions_HKHRAP2021.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.justicecentre.org.hk/framework/uploads/2021/02/Terms-and-Conditions_HKHRAP2021.pdf.
2013
Comix Home Base opens
Non-collecting institutions
Hong Kong’s first arts venue dedicated to comics and animation, Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC)’s Comix Home Base opened on 18 July 2013 at 7 Mallory Street in Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island. Previously pre-war tenement houses, the four-storey building was part of the Urban Renewal Authority’s (URA) revitalisation project and now features artist studios, retail shops, restaurants, a comix salon with a wide selection of Hong Kong and international works, exhibition venues, and work spaces. Curated by HKAC, Comix Home Base hosts and participates in events relating to comics and animation to raise the profile of Hong Kong comics internationally.
Next Stop Hong Kong. “Architecture and Culture of Comix Home Base.”
https://www.nextstophongkong.com/comix-home-base-hong-kong-arts-centre/.
Instagram. “comixhomebase.”
https://www.instagram.com/comixhomebase/.
Hong Kong Arts Centre. “History of the Hong Kong Arts Centre.” Accessed 6 December 2023.
https://hkac.org.hk/about_history/.
05.2013
Oi! Street opens
Government bodies
Managed by the government’s Art Promotion Office (APO) and Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), Oi! Art space opened on 21 May 2013 at 12 Oil Street, next to the then-demolished Government Supplies Department Complex, which housed the evicted Oil Street Artist Village. Oi! hosts various projects spanning contemporary art, new creative media, and architecture and design. The art space also organises public programmes, conducts artist residencies, and promotes green living. In 2019, Oi! expanded its premises to include more than 3,000 square meters of outdoor space.
info.gov.hk. “Oi! opens today to provide new art space for community (with photos).” Press Releases, 21 May 2013.
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201305/21/P201305210472.htm.
info.gov.hk “New extension of Oil Street Art Space to be ready for public visits tomorrow (with photos).” Press Releases, 22 May 2022. Accessed 19 December 2023.
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202205/23/P2022052000649.htm.
01.2014
Art Appraisal Club established
Artist and cultural groups
Initiated by curator Ying Kwok 郭瑛 in January 2014, the Art Appraisal Club sought to develop and support more art criticism and art writing in Hong Kong. In its official statement on its website, the Club remarks that “the lack of art discussions and critical writing in the city do not contribute well to the development of artist and local art ecosystem.” Every month, the Club provides recommended exhibition lists, reviews, and themed articles via a mailing list and their Facebook page.
Art Appraisal Club. “About.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
http://www.artappraisalclub.com/en/about/.
05.2014
PMQ opens
Non-collecting institutions
Following the government’s revitalisation project, the arts and design venue PMQ opened at the former Hollywood Road Police Married Quarters in Central, Hong Kong Island, in May 2014. The venue offers spaces for artist-run start-ups and events, placing an emphasis on design, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the creative industry. It is operated by PMQ Management Co, Ltd., a nonprofit enterprise set up by Musketeers Education and Culture Charitable Foundation Ltd (“Musketeers Foundation”) with the support of Hong Kong Design Centre, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the Hong Kong Design Institute of the Vocational Training Council.
PMQ. “History of PMQ.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.pmq.org.hk/heritage/history-of-pmq/.
PMQ. “PMQ soft launches in May with showcase of Hong Kong’s young design talents.” Press Release, 11 April 2014.
https://www.pmq.org.hk/media/PressRelease_PMQ_Soft_launch_announcement_FINAL2014.04.11_1.pdf.
2014
The School of Everyday Life opens
Art education
The School of Everyday Life is an educational organisation that opened at 178 Kam Shan Road in Tai Po, New Territories, in 2014. The organisation promotes creative and experiential learning as part of sustainable living, calling for a reevaluation of urban lifestyles detached from nature. It has since moved to a new space at Tuen Fu Road, Tuen Mun.
The School of Everyday Life. “Everyday Life.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://everydaylife.org.hk/aboutus/.
2014
Cultural Journalism Campus established
Artist and cultural groups
Founded by journalist Vivienne Chow in 2014, Cultural Journalism Campus (CJC) is a nonprofit educational initiative aimed at developing cultural journalism, art criticism, and art appreciation. CJC organises workshops, forums, and seminars for young cultural journalists and art critics. It has partnered with several institutions, including Goethe-Institut Hong Kong, Arts in Heritage Research, and MILL6 Foundation.
Its annual CJC Fellowship offered hands-on media training at Art Basel Hong Kong where Cultural Express, CJC’s newspaper, was distributed.
CJC has been inactive since 2019.
Instagram. “culturaljournalismcampus.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.instagram.com/culturaljournalismcampus/?hl=en.
Vivienne Chow. “CULTURAL JOURNALISM CAMPUS.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.viviennechow.com/p/about-cultural-journalism-campus.html.
2014
Umbrella Movement
Policies and socio-political events
Protests began on 26 September 2014 in response to the Government-proposed reforms to Hong Kong's electoral system. These soon evolved into the Occupy Central with Love and Peace civil disobedience campaign, aggravated by the closure of Civic Square, a public space in the Hong Kong Government Offices that was fenced off during the demonstration. The movement encouraged some artists to stage public performances aimed at expressing and raising awareness surrounding issues of freedom of speech and demonstration, rights to public spaces, and land ownership. The Umbrella Movement ended on 15 December 2014, lasting 79 days.
Kaiman, Jonathan. “Hong Kong’s umbrella revolution - the Guardian briefing.” The Guardian, 30 September 2014.
05.2015
First Art Central Hong Kong
Art fairs
The founders of ART HK (Hong Kong’s first international art fair acquired by Art Basel in 2011), Tim Etchells and Sandy Angus of Montgomery Worldwide launched the first edition of Art Central Hong Kong alongside Will Ramsay of Ramsay Fairs in May 2015. The annual contemporary art fair was first held in a temporary structure by the Central Harbourfront, timed to coincide with Art Basel Hong Kong and Hong Kong Art Week.
Art Central Hong Kong. “About.” Accessed 29 December 2023.
https://artcentralhongkong.com/about/.
Li, Zoe. “New Fair, Art Central, Challenges Art Basel in Hong Kong.” Artnet, 21 January 2015.
https://news.artnet.com/market/new-fair-art-central-challenges-art-basel-in-hong-kong-225779.
05.2015
Sun Museum
Museums
The Sun Museum is a nonprofit and non-governmental museum established by the Simon Suen Foundation to promote Chinese art and culture. It opened in May 2015 on the fourth floor of the SML Tower along the Kwun Tong waterfront promenade on 165 Hoi Bun Road in Kwun Tong, Kowloon. The museum does not house a permanent collection and instead hosts thematic exhibitions with objects on loan from collectors, artists, and other cultural bodies.
Sun Museum. “Introduction.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.en.sunmuseum.org.hk/introduction.
2015
Venice Biennale: “Tsang Kin-Wah: The Infinite Nothing”
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Hong Kong’s presentation for the 2015 Venice Biennale was a solo exhibition by Hong Kong-based artist Tsang Kin-Wah 曾建華 titled “The Infinite Nothing.” Curated by M+’s chief curator Doryun Chong 鄭道鍊, curator of learning and interpretation Stella Fong 方詠甄, and executive director Lars Nittve 李立偉, the exhibition comprised four new video installations that tackled philosophical inquiries using metaphors, allegories, religious symbolism, and pop culture references. Drawing from Friedrich Nietzsche’s existentialist philosophy, the title comes from the German philosopher’s quote pronouncing the death of god: “Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space?”
Chong, Doryun, and Stella Fong, eds. Tsang Kin-Wah: The Infinite Nothing - Hong Kong in Venice. Hong Kong: M+, West Kowloon Cultural District, 2015.
M+, West Kowloon Cultural District / Hong Kong Arts Development Council. “Tsang Kin-Wah Collateral Event of the 56th Venice Biennale.” E-flux, 28 April 2015.
07.2015
A Walk with A3 opens (2015–17)
Artist-run spaces
Initiated as an independent research project by writer, curator, and founder of the nonprofit soundpocket Yeung Yang 楊陽, A Walk with A3 is an experimental art space that explores the streetscapes of Hong Kong and art as an integral part of pedestrian’s experience in the city. It opened in July 2015 as a small stairwell shop at Shop A3 on the ground floor of an old tenement building (or tong lau 唐樓) at 1 Sharp Street West in Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island. Such stairwell shops have been disappearing due to Hong Kong’s urban redevelopment.
Among the initiatives held at the space was Alongside Poetry in an Alley, which consisted of six “chapters” that tackled Hong Kong’s streetscapes and the site-specificity of Shop A3 itself.
A Walk with A3 has been inactive since the end of its two-year lease in 2017.
Institute for Public Art. “Alongside Poetry in an Alley.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.instituteforpublicart.org/case-studies/alongside-poetry-in-an-alley/.
Facebook. “A Walk with A3.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.facebook.com/AWalkWithA3/about.
09.2015
Things that can happen opens
Artist-run spaces
Founded by Lee Kit 李傑 and Chantel Wong 黃子欣, Things that can happen is a nonprofit art space that opened in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, in September 2015. Located on the first floor of a refurbished old tenement building (, or tong lau 唐樓), , the space was conceived as a two-year project for artistic experimentation with local early-career artists. It organised exhibitions and residencies and hosted a library.
呂陽：〈深水埗可以發生的狂野事〉。端傳媒，2015年。
https://theinitium.com/article/20150909-culture-feature-things-that-can-happen.
Asia Art Archive. [Independent Initiative File (Hong Kong): Things That Can Happen]. Accessed 19 November 2023 via Asia Art Archive: https://aaa.org.hk/archive/196495.
Randian. “Things that can happen.” Accessed 31 May 2023.
http://www.randian-online.com/np_space/things-that-can-happen/.
2016
Rooftop Institute opens
Artist-run spaces
Rooftop Institute is an independent nonprofit organisation co-founded by artists Yim Sui Fong 嚴瑞芳 and Law Yuk Mui 羅玉梅 and professor Frank Vigneron 韋一空. It opened at the Foo Tak Building in Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island, in 2016. With a focus on “education through art,” Rooftop Institute organises programmes for artist-led educational research and practice.
Rooftop Institute. “About.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.rooftopinstitute.org/about/.
03.2016
CCCD Artspace Green Wave Art opens (2016–19)
Non-collecting institutions
The Centre for Community Cultural Development (CCCD) opened its CCCD Artspace Green Wave Art 碧波押 at 404 Shanghai Street, Kowloon in March 2016. It placed a strong emphasis on community involvement and socially-engaged artworks, holding exhibitions, concerts, screenings, poetry readings, performances, talks, and workshops.
The Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) awarded the ground floor premise—owned by the Lands Department and rented to the HKADC—to CCCD on a two-year contract with an annual budget of HKD 500,000. Augustine Mok Chiu-yu 莫昭如, Chief Executive of CCCD, invited Sammu Chan to curate the art space. Its physical premises closed in 2019 before the lease ended, when the HKADC terminated the programme on the nominal grounds of complaints that the space lacked the appropriate license for being a “place of public entertainment.”
Chan, Holmes. “The final days of Hong Kong’s Green Wave Art space – a community arts hub like no other.” Hong Kong Free Press, 28 April 2019.
2016
First Jockey Club ifva Everywhere Carnival
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Organised by the Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) and funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the Jockey Club ifva Everywhere Carnival is an outdoor moving image festival that screens movies, short films, animations, and media arts, while holding live music performances and a hosting market.
Founded by the Hong Kong Arts Centre, the first Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards—now known as ifva—was held in 1995 to recognise independent filmmakers and video artists in the city.
Jockey Club ifva Everywhere. “Programme.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
Jockey Club ifva Everywhere 2016. “Programme.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://ifva.com/everywhere/2016/programme/carnival/?lang=en.
2016
M+ Pavilion opens
Museums
The M+ Pavilion opened in 2016 as a preliminary exhibition space for the institution prior to the anticipated completion of M+ Museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District in November 2021.
Laboratory for Explorative Architecture & Design. “M+ Pavilion.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://l-e-a-d.pro/portfolio/wkcd-pavilion/.
2017
Hidden Space opens
Artist-run spaces
Founded by Hong Kong artists Katie Ho, Kay Mei Ling Beadman, and Isabella Isabella in an industrial building at Wah Shing Street in Kwai Hing, New Territories, in 2017, Hidden Space is an independent nonprofit that showcases experimental installation and performance art.
Hidden Space introduced the Hidden Space Award in 2018 for graduates from the RMIT University and Hong Kong Art School BFA programme, wherein one awardee receives mentorship, curatorial and installation support, and venue access to develop a solo exhibition.
Hidden Space. “About.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.hiddenspace.land/about.
2017
Hong Kong Visual Art Critic Nurturing Programme launched
Art education
Independent nonprofit 1a space launched the Hong Kong Visual Art Critics Nurturing Programme 香港視覺藝術評論人培育計劃 in 2017 to cultivate art critics and a readership for art writing in Hong Kong. The programme provides guided tours, talks, and writing reviews. It accepts applications from all ages and backgrounds with no prior experience in art or writing necessary. 1a space also collaborated with Stand News to publish selected works by the programme’s participants on their online platform.
For its fifth edition in 2022, the Programme changed its name to the Hong Kong Visual Art Criticism Incubation Programme 香港視覺藝術評論培育計劃.
1a space. “Events.” Accessed 19 November 2019.
2017
Venice Biennale: “Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief”
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
The Hong Kong Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale comprised of a solo exhibition by Hong Kong-born artist and composer Samson Young 楊嘉輝 titled “Songs for Disaster Relief.” Curated by Ying Kwok 郭瑛 with M+ chief curator Doryun Chong 鄭道鍊 serving as Consulting Curator, the exhibition featured a new body of multimedia work that explores “charity singles,” recordings made for charitable causes by a group of well-known artists that were widespread in the 1980s. According to M+’s E-flux announcement of the show, “The exhibition is conceived as an album unfolding in space to be experienced in person.”
Kwok, Ying, and Sonia So, eds. Songs for Disaster Relief: Hong Kong in Venice - A Mixtape. Hong Kong: M+, West Kowloon Cultural District, 2017.
M+, West Kowloon Cultural District. “Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief.” E-flux, 7 May 2017. Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/123815/samson-youngsongs-for-disaster-relief/.
2017
In-situ artist residency launched
Awards, grants, residencies
Founded by John Lu in 2017, In-situ is a year-round artist residency programme in To Kwa Wan, Kowloon. The programme aims to facilitate international exchange and encourages participating artists to respond to Hong Kong as a place.
As of 2023, the last round of applications was in 2019.
Facebook. “In-situ: Hong Kong Artist Residency.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.facebook.com/insituresidency.
2017
Form Society opens
Artist-run spaces
Founded by artist Wong Tin Yan 王天仁, Form Society 合舍 is an independent art space that opened at 186 Tai Nan Street in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, in 2017. The space is divided into different sections to simultaneously hold multiple programmes with the local community as target audience.
【第三空間．深水埗】大南街「合舍」 跟社區街坊共融藝文空間
原文網址: 【第三空間．深水埗】大南街「合舍」 跟社區街坊共融藝文空間 | 香港01
https://www.hk01.com/article/102481?utm_source=01articlecopy&utm_medium=referral.
09.2017
PRÉCÉDÉE opens
Artist-run spaces
PRÉCÉDÉE is an experimental 24-hour art space founded by artist Man Tin 田禮文. It opened in a 2.4-square-meters storefront at 304 Shanghai in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, in September 2017.
黎振寧：〈PRÉCÉDÉE：全港最小的藝術空間 突破想象界限〉。好習慣, 2018 。
https://www.betterme-magazine.com/好地方/precedee：全港最小的藝術空間-突破想象界限/。
Facebook. “PRÉCÉDÉE.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
01.2018
Korean Cultural Center opens
Diplomatic organisations
The Korean Cultural Center (KCC) opened at PMQ in Central, Hong Kong Island, in January 2018. The KCC aims to facilitate cultural exchange between Hong Kong and South Korea and foster the development of an artistic network between the two regions. The KCC holds workshops, performances, exhibitions, film screenings, Korean language classes, and other events introducing Korean culture. The KCC space consists of various function rooms and a library.
Korean Cultural Center. Accessed 31 May 2023.
2018
Tai Kwun opens
Non-collecting institutions
Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts opened to the public in 2018 in the revitalised Central Police Station Compound at 10 Hollywood Road in Central, Hong Kong Island. The restoration of the Central Police Station Compound, which comprises three declared monuments—the former Central Police Station, Central Magistracy, and Victoria Prison—was announced in 2008 by the government in partnership with The Hong Kong Jockey Club.
The Compound reopened in 2018 as Tai Kwun with two new buildings, JC Contemporary and JC Cube. Tai Kwun provides public tours, exhibitions, and educational programmes about both its heritage and contemporary art. It also hosts performances for theatre, music, dance, and film.
Tai Kwun. “About Us.” Accessed 29 December 2023.
https://www.taikwun.hk/en/taikwun/story.
2018
Arts-in-School Partnership Scheme launched
Art education
Funded by the Home Affairs Bureau, the Arts-in-School Partnership Scheme was launched by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) in 2018 to “bring arts closer to the community” by facilitating 12-month partnerships between schools and local arts organisations and/or artists. As part of the scheme, the partner schools will lease some of their facilities as art spaces during non-school hours and provide storage and operational support for artists, while partner artists are encouraged to organise two arts activities for the partnering school.
Hong Kong Arts Development Council. “Arts-in-School Partnership Scheme.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.hkadc.org.hk/?p=24797&lang=en.
Arts-in-School Partnership Scheme. Accessed 19 November 2023.
2018
Rooftop Institute Hok Zaap launched
Art education
Hok Zaap 學習 was an alternative teaching module launched by Rooftop Institute in collaboration with artists Zheng Bo 鄭波 and Luke Ching Chin Wai 程展緯 in 2018. It aimed to interact with different Hong Kong communities through art education. It ran until 2019.
In late 2018, Rooftop Institute went on to launch Hok Hok Zaap: 15 Initiatives of Engaged Learning in Art 學學習: 15個以藝術作為參與式學習的倡議, a two-year programme aimed at developing community art education programmes that ran until 2020.
Rooftop Institute is an independent nonprofit co-founded by artists Yim Sui Fong 嚴瑞芳 and Law Yuk Mui 羅玉梅 and professor Frank Vigneron 韋一空. It opened at the Foo Tak Building in Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island, in 2015.
Rooftop Institute. “Hok Zaap.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.rooftopinstitute.org/?page_id=679.
Rooftop Institute. “Hok Hok Zaap.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.rooftopinstitute.org/hokhokzaap/landing.html.
2018
First Tai Kwun Summer Institute
Art education
Tai Kwun Summer Institute is a two-week art education programme launched in August 2018. The programme is held annually and directed at students and art professionals from Hong Kong and Asia. The annual education programme consists of seminars, talks, and public lectures by scholars, thinkers, curators, artists, and philosophers in the cultural sector.
Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts opened to the public in 2018 in the revitalised Central Police Station Compound at 10 Hollywood Road in Central, Hong Kong Island.
Tai Kwun Contemporary. “Summer Institute 2018: Labour and Privilege.” E-flux, 4 July 2018.
https://www.taikwun.hk/en/programme/detail/summer-institute-future-commons/409.
2019
MILL6 Centre for Heritage, Arts & Textile opens
Non-collecting institutions
Four years after its establishment in 2015, the Mill6 Foundation (MILL6) opened its Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT) to the public in March 2019. Located in the former cotton-spinning mills of Nan Fung Textiles at 45 Pak Tin Par Street in Tsuen Wan, New Territories, CHAT is a part of The Mills heritage conservation project which aims to preserve Hong Kong’s industrial history as a textile manufacturer in the 1950s and ’60s. It is also dedicated to spearheading research into and the development of Hong Kong and Asia’s new textile arts.
Centre for Heritage, Art & Textile. “CHAT announces vibrant series of Winter Pre-opening Programmes to celebrate The Mills’ grand opening in December 2018.” Press Release, 11 October 2018.
https://www.mill6chat.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/CHAT_2018-Winter-programmes_PR_EN.pdf.
2019
Venice Biennale: “Shirley Tse: Stakeholders”
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
Hong Kong’s participation in the 2019 Venice Biennale was a solo exhibition by Hong Kong-born American artist Shirley Tse 謝淑妮, titled “Stakeholders.” Co-curated by independent curator Christina Li 李綺敏 with M+ chief curator Doryun Chong 鄭道鍊, the exhibition featured two sculptural installations by Tse: Negotiated Differences (2019), an installation of carved wooden pieces interlocked by wooden, metallic, and plastic joints, and Playcourt (2019), an assortment of objects in an outdoor area, loosely emulating a badminton game.
According to M+’s announcement of the show on E-flux, “Negotiation is at the heart of Stakeholders; foregrounding affect, empathy, and ethics, the exhibition proposes a space to reflect on coexistence amidst the differences that both reactivate our relationships and renew our individual stakes in society.”
M+, West Kowloon Cultural District. “Shirley Tse: Stakeholders.” E-flux, 3 May 2019. Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/256646/shirley-tsestakeholders/.
Shirley Tse: Stakeholders, Hong Kong In Venice. Venice: Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia, 2019.
2019
Hong Kong Extradition Bill and Anti-Government Protests
Policies and socio-political events
The Government’s proposed amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance led to the establishment of the 2019 Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill (Anti-ELAB) movement and an increasingly tense situation from June 2019 onwards. On 12 June, more than 100 arts organisations in Hong Kong called a one-day strike to protest the extradition bill.
“2019 Hong Kong Protests and Unrest.” Hong Kong Free Press. Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://hongkongfp.com/anti-extradition-movement/.
10.2019
First FLAME HK
Festivals and mega-exhibitions
The first video art fair in Hong Kong, FLAME HK was held in October 2019 at the Ovolo Southside Hotel in Aberdeen, Hong Kong Island. Organised by the Taiwan-based Formosa Art Fair Corporation, the traveling fair is planned to have a different host-country every year with Hong Kong being its first stop. The three-day fair took over more than 30 rooms with galleries and nonprofits across Asia in participation. United Kingdom-based new media agency videoclub was invited to curate a show, which featured five artists, including Patrick Hough, boredomresearch and Sarah Cockings & Harriet Fleuriot.
videoclub. “FLAME HK – Asia’s first video art fair.” Accessed 19 November 2023.
https://videoclub.org.uk/flame-hk-asias-first-video-art-fair/.
Ovolo Hotels. “FLAME HK is the first video art fair in Asia and it’s coming to Ovolo Southside.” Accessed 19 November 2023.