Art and culture can shape the essence of a city, strengthening its soft power and elevating its ability to draw visitors from around the world. The benefits the arts industry can bring to Hong Kong, and the city’s reputation globally, are intangible but potentially enormous and sustainable.
This is coming into sharp focus this March, with our calendar buzzing with events, exhibitions, installations and other attractions that are drawing in thousands of visitors and giving a much-needed fillip to businesses that rely on the tourist dollar.
The inaugural Hong Kong International Cultural Summit that was just held at the West Kowloon Cultural District attracted more than 1,000 visionaries and leaders from the global arts and culture sector and helped put Hong Kong on the map as a cultural hub of growing importance.
Detractors will say that spending on arts and culture is a frivolity and a diversion, an unnecessary expense in a world struggling to balance budgets and provide the basic necessities for citizens. But what delegates at this week’s summit and the various events around town are showing is that arts and culture can bring cities to life and help them flourish in significant and surprising ways.
Since the West Kowloon Cultural District came into being, with the opening of M+ in 2021 and the Hong Kong Palace Museum in 2022, synergies have been created, which in turn have led to more arts events, exhibitions and performances.
We have seen a spate of new exhibition spaces and galleries, making the arts scene in Hong Kong arguably more exciting than ever and helping to elevate people’s perception of a city still working hard to rebuild its reputation.
“Portrait of Song Emperor Huizong” is on display in the Hong Kong Palace Museum’s ongoing exhibition of historical Chinese figure paintings by Ming dynasty artists. Photo: Eugene Lee
These are the synergies that Hong Kong can unleash when all stakeholders work together in a concerted manner, staging quality exhibitions and events coupled with art trading, cultural exchange and networking opportunities.
Visitors coming to Hong Kong this month, from artists, museum directors and collectors to journalists, critics and tourists, are going to experience for themselves the unique East-meets-West cultural flavour of the city. And the world will hear that Hong Kong is very much alive and kicking – a vibrant, culture-rich city that has more to offer than ever before.
Ever since the opening of the West Kowloon Cultural District and its group of world-class venues, various players in the arts sector, public and private, local and overseas, have been seeking collaboration opportunities that will in turn enrich Hong Kong’s cultural offerings.
Will top-class summit put Hong Kong on global cultural map?
Indeed, over the weekend, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority signed memorandums of understanding with more than 20 leading international cultural institutions. This not only marks an important gain in the global standing of the West Kowloon Cultural District, but will also kick-start new collaborative endeavours that will thrust Hong Kong into the global spotlight and make the cultural tapestry of the city even richer.
The cultural summit was staged as the key international event of Hong Kong Art Week, which this year is being held on a larger scale amid a greater focus on art and cultural happenings in the city. More broadly, March has rightfully earned its unofficial “arts month” tag in recent years.
A view of Art Basel at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on March 23 last year. The 2024 edition will feature more exhibitors. Photo: Elson Li
The 2024 Hong Kong edition of Art Basel will feature 243 galleries from 40 countries and territories, with a 37 per cent increase in exhibitors compared to 2023, bringing a welcome return to the show’s pre-pandemic scale.
Art lovers can enjoy an extensive roster of artworks from Asia’s most innovative galleries at Art Central, while HKwalls 2024 features works from some of the world’s best street artists. And Continuous, the installation of luminous ovoids at Tamar by Japan’s amazing teamLab, has set the Hong Kong harbourfront – and Instagram – alight.
I’m truly excited about what we are seeing in Hong Kong this month and the potential that arts and culture hold for our city’s future. It’s time to build on the great things that are happening and turn our unofficial art month into an official, well-supported annual event that will attract the movers and shakers of arts and culture every March and get people talking about our city as a new and vibrant cultural tourism hotspot.
Betty Fung is CEO of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority
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