Art festival reaffirms Hong Kong’s role as global cultural powerhouse
The inaugural edition of Art Hong Kong — a festival that seeks to “enhance cultural exchange between the East and West through the lens of art” and hopes to see Hong Kong play a pivotal role in that process — concluded on Saturday. Hosted by the Bauhinia Culture Group, with community workshops and master classes supported by the Xiling School, the four-day festival included an exhibition of works by modern Chinese masters, such as Xu Beihong, Qi Baishi and Wu Guanzhong, and contemporary stalwarts Wang Tiande, Lam Tianxing and Zhang Enli among others.
Young docents enthusiastically led tour groups — from schools, mostly — through the exhibition, calling attention to the finer points of the paintings on display and sharing anecdotes about the ideas and events that went into their making, adding to the collegial vibe in the atmosphere.
For instance, who would have guessed that painter Wang Tiande (born in 1960) came upon the idea of using burnt paper as highlights in his ink landscapes after he had dropped cigarette ash on one of them by accident?
All the three panelists of the day’s first forum on “The Internationalization and Contemporaneity of Museums in Hong Kong” agreed that investing in the city’s future generations was on the top of their agenda. Florian Knothe, director of the University Museum and Art Gallery at the University of Hong Kong; Joost Schokkenbroek, director of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum; and Hong Kong Palace Museum Director Louis Ng seemed to speak in one voice, expressing their eagerness to share resources with institutions in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as well as the rest of the world.
As Ng put it, “Hong Kong is wellpositioned to act as a museum hub to the world”.
Leveraging Hong Kong’s unique position as the international face of China was also discussed. Referring to the UMAG as a repository of Hong Kong art, Knothe mentioned how his museum often showcases art from Hong Kong in conjunction with those from the Chinese mainland in order to situate the works in a sociohistorical context. “Thematically, they may be very different but, in some ways, they promote one another.”
Schokkenbroek unveiled HKMM’s plan to launch Anchor Plaza — a new maritime plaza to be built around the anchor of the Seawise Giant, the largest vessel of its kind ever built — close to its current premises at the Central Ferry Pier, hoping the development will attract tourists, especially from the mainland, once normal travel resumes.
Ng announced an upcoming exhibition of Cartier’s heritage collection, as well as the plan to bring over treasures from London’s The National Gallery and more collaboration with The Louvre from where some objects are already on show as part of HKPM’s ongoing horsethemed exhibition.
Knothe reiterated the importance of putting the word out there about Hong Kong’s value as a cultural hub. He also floated the idea of forming a consortium of Hong Kong museums to help launch a joint publicity campaign toward that end. “We can show the world what a strong art and culture hub Hong Kong already is.”