How the Hong Kong Museum of Art can stay relevant, during a time of political turmoil and beyond
- The return of HKMoA in a time of crisis is an important reminder of what shaped Hong Kong. In future, however, will the government-run museum be able to showcase Hong Kong contemporary art that is critical of the status quo?
I am standing in front of floor-to-ceiling windows admiring the view I will never tire of: a dense jungle of skyscrapers against the backdrop of Victoria Peak under a blue sky; in front, a vast body of water on which ships, ferries and junks sail from one end to the other, with wakes spreading out behind. The vitality of Hong Kong lives on.
But, the truth is, the return of HKMoA in a time of crisis is an important reminder of what shaped Hong Kong.
The value of the artworks on show at HKMoA lies not only in their artistic, aesthetic or historical merits, but also in the stories behind them: where they came from, how they ended up in Hong Kong and what they say about the city’s cultural roots.
Despite being a 57-year-old government-run museum, HKMoA has a vast and often underrated collection of over 17,000 pieces – Chinese ink paintings and antiquities from centuries ago, China trade paintings from the pre-colonial days, Hong Kong modern and contemporary art – a collection that has been witness to, and a vessel of, the city’s unique cultural history.
Like the boats sailing in Victoria Harbour, these cultural treasures leave a wake for us to retrace the city’s history: for centuries, Hong Kong has been a safe haven for cultural treasures, a land of freedom for generations of artists to reinvent and express themselves, drawing on the hybrid cultural lineage of East and West.
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Of the 11 exhibitions that make up the ambitious inaugural programme and are spread out in 12 galleries spanning 10,000 square metres, 10 are drawn from the museum’s collection (only the blockbuster show, “A Sense of Place: from Turner to Hockney”, is on loan from the Tate in Britain).
Many pieces of the collection were thought lost during the second world war but were recovered and returned by residents and organisations – an early example of Hong Kong’s crowdsourcing spirit.
These important works were kept safe from the political upheaval in mainland China, thanks to private collectors who brought them to Hong Kong, which was a sanctuary for Chinese treasures for decades because of its unique political status.
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One of the new exhibitions at HKMoA, which attempts to retrace the development of Hong Kong contemporary art from the 1960s to recent years, also reflects the former British colony’s changing sentiments about art, culture, society and politics.
HKMoA has outdone itself in its bid to transform the city’s oldest museum into a space that is welcoming, pleasant and relevant (within the confines of government bureaucracy). But how the museum can stay relevant in the years to come remains a big question.
But will the museum be able to showcase more artistic creations that are critical of the status quo? Judging from its current presentation, a great deal of avant-garde, conceptual art by local artists over the past two decades has not been covered. Will the museum be free to fill this vacuum in future?
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Past and present events, such as the inaugural Sigg Prize exhibition featuring avant-garde works by contemporary artists from Hong Kong and mainland China at the M+ Pavilion, offer a clue about how relevant a global institution with a Hong Kong perspective will be when it finally opens.
After all, the Hong Kong perspective is a complex matter and should be open to interpretation, and HKMoA will continue to have a key role to play in the city’s cultural ecology, but only if it’s given a free hand.
Vivienne Chow is a Hong Kong-based journalist and critic specialising in art and cultural affairs. She is the founder of Cultural Journalism Campus