Hong Kong Art Scene

For such a large, international city with so much wealth, I found the Hong Kong art scene to be surprisingly bleak in terms of organic local and regional creative output. That is, with the exception of a few struggling galleries and one resilient and determined group on the mainland side of Victoria Harbour called Fotanian.

The Fotanian community houses well over 100 artists in studios fashioned from old, empty industrial spaces in the Fotan area, towards the Hong Kong-China border.

The artists are technically an unofficial, yet organized group who started nabbing up cheap leases in the largely abandoned industrial area. The group gets little to no assistance from the Hong Kong government, and there is no ‘official’ support or acknowledgment of the group, yet every year it grows larger.

According to the artists and gallery managers I spoke with, they just ‘jumped on an opportunity’ when they saw it. Now that the industrial sector is starting to rebound, the group’s studio spaces are dwarfed by those with true industrial uses. Walking through Fotanian, you’ll see food distribution centers, mechanical workshops, and other industrial setups intermingling with artist studios in the same building.

Gallery visitor, Alice, interacts with functional artwork at the 'G16 Exhibition' in the Fotanian complex, Hong Kong. (P.Lydon, 2010)

Because of the area’s industrial zoning, getting there with public transportation is a bit of a chore. But, based on the great variety of work I was able to view, and the hospitable gallery owners and artists, it’s one that is well worth it.

In the landscape of the Hong Kong art scene however, the Fotanian group of artists is a bit of a black sheep.

The focus of the vast majority of the Hong Kong scene mirrored the theme of its business world: make the largest amount of money possible.

When the above statement is the focus of an entity that provides product or service, it hardly leads to the best of either. When the same statement is the focus of a community arts institution, it’s downright dangerous to the prospect of free creativity.  Perhaps I should not have been so surprised at any ‘bleakness’ found within a largely money-oriented, arts-apathetic community.

Despite the negatives however, there were positive lessons in terms of creating an arts-supporting entity that is financially stable. Hong Kong might take it overboard in terms of mounting financial support, but they do it in a very transparent way.

The main entrance and atrium at the Hong Kong Art Center building (P.Lydon, 2010)

The staple art institutions on Hong Kong Island have government support, but seem to rely on other sources of income to support their visual-arts-related output.

The Hong Kong Art Center in Wan Chai uses income from their school of art, and from leasing space in the custom building they constructed and own. Venues such as the Fringe Club, located close by in the Central district of Hong Kong Island, support their substantial arts activities with revenue from their coffee shop and cafe, the latter of which is a popular and extremely well-promoted live performance venue boasting over 300 shows a year; but the visual art here seems tertiary to live music and promotion of the ‘scene’.

Main performance/cafe space at Hong Kong's 'Fringe Club' live music and visual arts venue (P.Lydon, 2010)

Both Hong Kong Art Center and Fringe Club got their start with a huge amount of city government support, as well as a combination of private grants, donations, and investments for land and facilities. As a result, they are popular venues within the community. But there is no question that, however financially stable they are today, these institutions could not exist without the initial boost of philanthropy, or often in the case of Hong Kong, venture capital and investments made to turn a profit.

Back on the other side of the Harbour and far away from the ever-hip Hong Kong Island scene, the Fotanian group may be ‘secretly’ flourishing, but they do so without a great deal of local support, and as a consequence, without much recognition from the community.

Hong Kong teaches us that the right mix of ‘support’ and ‘raw creativity’ are necessary to start and maintain a real, live, thriving arts scene.

Too much investment-type support and you risk removing aspects of creativity, too little city and community support and the creative efforts of artists go unrecognized. It would behoove any arts-minded community — developing or established — to use examples like Hong Kong as lessons to help find, and keep, a balance between these two extremes.

Because of the area’s industrial zoning, getting there with public transportation is a bit of a chore. But, based on the work I saw, and the people I met, it’s one that is well worth it!