Hong Kong can set an example in revival of its cultural life
The COVID-19 pandemic has democratized art and made art spaces free of hierarchies. The global health emergency that forced much of the world to retreat indoors also resulted in free public access to a range of very fine artistic creations. Those who could not afford to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York or watch a Shakespeare play staged by the National Theatre in London’s South Bank can now do so on their computer screens.
Hong Kong’s art world was quick to jump on the online bandwagon. Enterprising members of Hong Kong’s many-splendored arts community — comprising art galleries, museums and nonprofit support groups — launched Art Power HK in March, an online platform to present new art and artists, to make up for canceled art events and closed exhibition venues.
Although the city’s flagship annual art event, Art Basel Hong Kong, could not be held this year, around 90 participating galleries showcased their ware through online viewing rooms with free public access. Nowadays, the city’s leading art auctioneers conduct their businesses in the virtual realm. Panel discussions on art, earlier held in art galleries or auditoriums with limited capacity, have taken the form of webinars. Images of several participants — artists, art historians, art entrepreneurs, collectors and art lovers — displayed on windows of equal measure across the computer screen during a video conference serve as a visual metaphor of the novel coronavirus being a great leveler, and not just in terms of who it infects.
Hong Kong’s efficiency in containing the coronavirus has been exemplary. There is no reason why the city cannot repeat this success in reviving its cultural life when there is no dearth of political intent in that direction. While industry-watchers apprehend that many top-quality performance-art companies in the United States and the United Kingdom may not survive COVID-19, the Hong Kong government has a consistent track record of extending support to the city’s arts sector through its Arts Development Council. Cultural organizations and artists hard-hit by COVID-19-induced restrictions have been provided for in Hong Kong government’s Anti-Epidemic Fund. However, while trying to protect its artists, the government needs to ensure that those with relatively less visibility do not fall through the cracks.
It is a given that experiencing art is not going to be the same when the city’s cultural facilities reopen. There is a possibility that culture-starved audiences will flock to the theaters and art galleries at the first chance, risking a fresh wave of COVID-19 cases. A number of tricky issues need to be sorted out, and tough decisions taken to pre-empt such a disaster. For example, should audiences be subjected to a health check on their way inside a theater? Will failing to maintain social distance at an art exhibition be counted as a culpable offense? If theaters are made to function at 50 percent capacity, initially, like the restaurants were, will the government absorb the losses?
While art in the virtual space is only a copy of the real thing and therefore believed to be an inferior version of the former, there are a few things about the online experience that we may not want to discard altogether when the curtains go up again. For example, free online content sharing could be a good idea to reach out to the elderly and infirm — unable to take the strain of traveling to a venue and sit through a three-and-half-hour show or, for that matter, to those lacking the means to buy a ticket. Besides, online viewing has expanded the scope for audience participation. Artists reading out or singing from their living rooms are encouraging the audience to create their own spinoffs of the show and donate to charities.
The pandemic has shown us that the internet can be used to connect art with an audience in many new interesting ways that are likely to stay with us in a COVID-19-free world.