Visual Arts in Hong Kong

Visual Arts in Hong Kong are supported by local markets, government programs, and auction houses that have helped raise the status of Art across the region. Hong Kong is a city that combines both Western and Eastern culture. Culture and visual art are developing together here. There will be hundreds of international-level cultural and artistic activities in Hong Kong every March. From avant-garde art to comic graffiti, from film to dance, from the temple to the street, the streets of Hong Kong are filled with posters of art events, and the atmosphere of the city will be very active. The artistic heritage of Hong Kong is everywhere. The blending of Chinese and Western cultures has formed the city's unique diverse temperament and cultural landscape. Hong Kong has a fusion of art and history in Chinese restaurants, famous wax museums, and nightlife ports. This multicultural blend of Chinese and Western cultures continues to reinvigorate. Hong Kong's visual art market has finally become one of the most important art trading markets in the world with its own development and the opportunities of the times. Hong Kong is favored by the international art market because of its special historical development background and geographical advantages. Because Hong Kong is open, inclusive and diverse, Chinese and Western cultures are converging here, making it to be the center of Asian art market. The future development of Hong Kong visual art market is worthy of attention:[1].

Hong Kong visual art market status

Hong Kong is a city which combines Chinese and Western cultures in Asia. In Hong Kong, there will be many world-renowned and top galleries in Asia, and both local and international galleries are international bellwether in terms of commercial value and academic influence. Hong Kong's economy and culture are globally renowned for their freedom and openness. Hong Kong's visual arts market is growing rapidly because of the flow of information, supporting facilities and services, and its geographical location. Two of the world's top auction houses, Sotheby's and Christie's, and many well-known auction houses are based in Hong Kong[2]. The two auction houses has already shared nearly half of the world's sales, making Hong Kong the third-largest market for art after London and New York. Hong Kong becomes inland to pat the important way that walks into international market, Poly, Guardian, Kuangshi, the mainland that these a few are in Hong Kong trades a deal very big also. At the same time, the auction houses' success highlights the boom in Hong Kong's visual arts market. Art fairs and exhibitions are indispensable for an international art city. In 2008, Hong Kong international Art fair (Art HK) was a milestone in Hong Kong's international Art market and brought Hong Kong the world's leading Art fair[3]. The sixth Basel art fair in Hong Kong has also come to a perfect conclusion. Its topic influence has already gone beyond the art circle to the community. As the center of the Asian art market, Hong Kong's galleries have grown from more than 50 to hundreds[4]. The development of Hong Kong gallery industry has greatly promoted the development of Hong Kong art market and the communication between Chinese and western art.

The early development of Hong Kong visual art market
Description: Hollywood Road, Hong Kong Date: 6 November 2007, 12:41 Author: yeowatzup Camera location: 22° 16′ 26.13″ N, 114° 10′ 34.58″ E

Hong Kong visual art market, which now looks like a rocket, has never been optimistic in the past. When it comes to the early Hong Kong visual art market, Hollywood Road must be talked about. This is the first street since the opening of Hong Kong. People are selling jade and antiques here, and they have gradually become an important place for Hong Kong art trade. In the 1970s, with the frenzy of the Hong Kong stock market, economically developed rapidly, and increased national wealth, a large number of wealthy art collectors were born. After the end of the "Cultural Revolution" in 1976, Hong Kong became a trading and distribution center for Chinese cultural relics. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the prosperity of Hollywood Road in Hong Kong reached its peak. After 1995, Hollywood Road’s grand occasion disappeared[5]. The Hong Kong art market has entered a new historical period.

International auction house enters

The new era of Hong Kong's visual art market development is closely related to the presence of two major international auction houses. In the early 1970s, the international top auction house Sotheby ratio first entered Hong Kong. In 1986, another Western top auction house, Christie's, also moved from Japan to Hong Kong, which made the Hong Kong art market more popular and declared it an important international art. market. Asia in 1997-1998 experienced a financial turmoil, but with the strong support of the government, Hong Kong has thrilledly preserved decades of economic development. The two major auction giants, Christie's and Sotheby's, also moved their Asian headquarters from Taiwan to Hong Kong in 1999 and 2001. Since then, Hong Kong has become an auction center that radiates across Asia. After 2010, the Chinese contemporary art market has entered an adjustment period as a whole[6]. The Hong Kong art market is constantly exploring new forms of artistic development, driven by the social wave. As Chinese art is constantly being pursued by collectors around the world, more auction houses from all over the world and buyers of all kinds of art have come to Hong Kong, making Hong Kong truly the “Asian Art Exchange Center”.

Hong Kong visual art market advantage

Hong Kong visual art market has developed rapidly that it has attracted many international galleries and auctions to be associated with its unique regional advantages. First of all, Hong Kong has the advantages of a low tax rate, high efficiency, perfect legal financial system, and logistics. It has neither import and export tariffs nor VAT (Value Added Tax). Hong Kong Government has implemented a positive non-intervention policy for many years. Funds can enter and exit freely and the market can develop freely. At the same time, the development of international exhibitions plays an important role in the active Hong Kong market. Furthermore, Hong Kong auction house continues to attract high-end customers around the world. Its high-quality catalog production, high-quality auctions, excellent exhibition conditions, and humanized services still occupy the commanding heights of the industry[7]. In addition, Hong Kong collection investment buyers are rich and high-quality, and Hong Kong people's thinking mode, cultural background, and ideology also influence the development of the Hong Kong visual art market.

The Hong Kong Arts Development Council and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department support and carry out visual arts activities
Description：English: Front view of Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre. Date：24 May 2013, 16:26:58 Author：HK Arun

In 1995, Hong Kong Government established the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. Its role is to "plan, promote and support the wide development of arts (including literature, performance, visual and film arts) and arts education." The Visual Arts Subcommittee is affiliated with it. One task is to improve the visual arts environment in Hong Kong. In 2001, the Visual Arts Subcommittee publicly sought a research project to help public art develop in the local environment. The results of the research project were released to the public in September 2003. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department set up an arts promotion office in April 2001. It is responsible for public arts, community arts and visual arts centre. The office is located at the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre. The office aims to "let art jump out of the museum and integrate into different segments of society... and help the public to discover their interest in visual arts, enrich their artistic experience and enhance their appreciation of art." The office is mainly responsible for promoting the community, art and public art, and provide professional visual arts facilities and training[8]. The office is committed to providing high quality and diverse visual arts activities and services. Through different levels, people will work with artists and organizations, organizations and organizations that are dedicated to promoting Hong Kong's visual arts development to form strategic partnerships to meet the needs of the public and promote the visual arts in different fields to the public. Appreciation of visual art and interest in participation. The office also provides a one-stop service to assist the creation and development of artists. Under the jurisdiction of the Art Promotion Office, the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre is a professional art venue for ceramics, sculpture and printmaking. It provides excellent equipment to facilitate artists to create and hold various types of artistic activities. The Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre has nine art studios, a lecture hall, an exhibition hall and a multi-purpose activity room for use by artists and groups. The Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre also organizes various types of arts activities, including courses, exhibitions, demonstrations, lectures, artist residency programmes and art exhibitions. It promotes arts development and training in order to promote arts exchange and foster new talent.

Hong Kong Arts Development Council's funding for visual arts

Hong Kong "Public Art Research" report found that public funding for performance and visual arts is seriously unbalanced, often focusing on subsidizing the former and ignoring the latter. This has become a phenomenon of globalization, and Hong Kong is no exception. In the 2003 Policy Report of the Hong Kong Cultural Council, it was pointed out that half of the total expenditure on culture and arts of the Government (HK$1.3 billion) was placed on the performing arts. The spending of the Arts Development Council, which has been included in this total expenditure, further extends this ratio: 70% is spending on performing arts, and only 20% is spending on visual and literary arts. In general, public art is closely related to visual arts rather than performing arts. Hong Kong is no exception. Therefore, the Hong Kong government should expand the proportion of funding for visual arts. In August 2005, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council announced the "One Year Funding 2006" program for visual arts, inviting appropriate groups to submit the "One Year Funding 2006" plan for visual arts. The program proposes to the funded visual arts community that successfully funded visual arts groups (hereinafter referred to as "art groups" must engage in various forms of artistic activities such as creation, publishing, exhibitions, forums/seminars, Workshops, courses, etc., to enhance the community's understanding and support for visual arts, to establish a high level and good reputation for the visual arts community in Hong Kong. In order to implement the above ideals, the arts group must establish one or more of the following development goals[9]

- Promote and deepen visual arts education, nurture students and the public's understanding of visual arts and enhance their appreciation;

- Planning themes or series of exhibitions and seminars, providing visual arts workers with creative space, exhibition opportunities, organizing art-skillers to enter the event and supporting visual artist's pursuit of artistic excellence;

- Promote public art and community art, expand the contact level of visual art in society, encourage people to participate in art activities, and promote the close relationship between the community and art;

- Providing administrative support and extension services to visual arts workers to improve the creative environment of Hong Kong's visual arts;

- Promote Hong Kong's visual arts through cultural exchanges with the Mainland or overseas to enhance the international status of Hong Kong visual artists;

- Dedicated to the development of art criticism, research or data preservation (such as web pages and documentary records) to promote the sustainable development of local visual arts.

Compilation of Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook

Since the 1990s, due to the increasing emphasis on art culture in Hong Kong society and the improvement of local awareness, the history, current situation and future of Hong Kong visual art have become the subject of great concern in the art and academic circles. Some colleges and universities. While working with art institutions to build a database and archives of Hong Kong visual art, different forms of research have been carried out. At the same time, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council under the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government also plays a key role in promoting the study of Hong Kong visual arts. Apart from funding the publication of Hong Kong visual arts, it also formulates its own large-scale projects in the form of commissions. research. The Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook is one of the commissioned research projects and is hosted by the Art Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Since 2015, the Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook has been published three times: "Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook 2015", "Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook 2016" and "Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook 2017". Preparations for the Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook 2018 are also underway[10]. The Visual Arts Yearbook will make a comprehensive and informative record of various events and activities related to visual art throughout the year. Through collection, collation, collation and classification, the data will be systematically compiled to show the development of visual art. At the same time, using feature articles to make an academic and professional analysis of important visual realization art phenomena.

References
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  3. "The Contemporary Art Market Report 2018". www.artprice.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-08. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  4. White, Adam (2018-03-01). "Making the most of arty Hong Kong: Art Basel and beyond". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2019-05-08. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  5. Azimi, Roxana; Changy, Florence de (2013-07-16). "Asia Pacific's art market comes of age". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2019-05-08. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  6. "The Hong Kong Art Market: Part I - Auctions And Galleries | Ocula". ocula.com. 2019-05-14. Archived from the original on 2019-05-14. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  7. "Hong Kong — The Heart of the Asian Art Market". BMW Art Guide by Independent Collectors. Archived from the original on 2019-05-08. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  8. "Hong Kong Arts Development Council". ASEF culture360. Archived from the original on 2019-05-28. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  9. "Hong Kong Arts Development Council (ADC)". ASEF culture360. Archived from the original on 2019-05-28. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  10. "Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook | Department of Fine Arts, CUHK". www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk. Archived from the original on 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
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