Could 2009 be the year that corporate art shows take over, asks Clare Morin

In order to predict the art trends of 2009, we’re following Confucian wisdom: “Study the past if you would divine the future.”
The year began with headlines that labelled our city as the most important hub for the buying and selling of art in Asia. By the time the financial tsunami hit and auction sales plummeted, we wondered whether being a financial arts hub was really so useful after all. Fortunately, the West Kowloon development remained fairly unaffected – a Cultural Authority was named to oversee it, and Chief Secretary Henry Tang was given the golden gauntlet of leadership.

Amid these stories, we noticed another trend, one with its own strange momentum. Property companies appeared to be competing with one another to sponsor the arts. When the Olympics surged into town in August, the Sun Hung Kai Charitable Fund revealed their City Art Square in Sha Tin, a 190,000 square foot area developed in association with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), featuring 19 public art works by international and local artists (from Zaha Hadid to Freeman Lau). The project won a prestigious Cityscape Architectural Award, and brought a welcome dose of innovation to the New Territories. There were also exhibitions in Causeway Bay as Wharf, owners of Times Square, launched a series of high profile exhibitions in the development’s public space. Meanwhile, the Sino Group continued with their award-winning Art in Hong Kong campaign, sponsoring art projects and holding exhibitions in their properties. Even The Link launched the Artsmart fair in Stanley.

But in December, Swire Properties dropped their arts bombshell. Following their consistent support of the arts since the 1970s, they opened ArtisTree, an astonishing 20,000 square foot space in Taikoo Place dedicated to visual and performing arts. The opening exhibition (showing until the end of January) was Dame Vivienne Westwood’s retrospective exhibition A Life in Fashion, organised in conjunction with London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. Just to rub it in the face of the LCSD, the Museum of Art had turned down the chance to hold the same exhibition several years ago. Essentially, here was a property company doing the work of an art museum.

Stephan Spurr, director and general manager of Island East, is eloquent in his explanation of the firm’s mission. “We take the view that art is not something that should be left entirely in Government hands,” he says. “As a developer we can play an active role, whether it is through sponsorship, direct investment or partnering.” His argument for why they are involved in the arts is equally impressive. “It is vital for a property developer, as it is for an individual, to possess a developed sense of visual awareness. If we have to think in three dimensional forms, or understand the meaning of colour, we want that knowledge to be passed onto the younger set. This visual literacy – the ability to interpret and use visual images and structures – has never seemed more important to us.”

Property companies have historically played a large role in developing public art in the city. Hong Kong Land were the pioneers, establishing Henry Moore and Ju Ming sculptures in Exchange Square and running regular exhibitions at The Rotunda. The reason, however, we are now seeing a splurge on the arts may be a direct by-product of the early West Kowloon bidding wars. The major property developers all consulted arts experts during the initial tendering process. While the government eventually scrapped the one developer idea, the ideas might just have stuck. David Clarke, a professor of art at the University of Hong Kong, sees it as a major cause of the new trend. “It’s great that more corporations are getting involved, more property developers,” he says. “I think the key thing is West Kowloon, when, for purely commercial reasons, a lot of the big corporations making bids had to think about culture. They did so with a profit notion in mind, but having done that, they may have begun to understand more deeply how culture can begin to play a big role in their game plan.”

Claire Hsu, executive director of the Asia Art Archive (whose Sheung Wan office space is sponsored by the Sino Group) welcomes the trend. “While this is often done in conjunction with wanting to fill space in a shopping centre, and should therefore should be read as just that, we should not dismiss the potential of the different public spaces in bringing art to the people – especially in a place like Hong Kong where shopping is cited as our favourite past time.”

Looking forward into 2009, one of the most unusual property-art events of the year will occur in autumn when an ‘Art Mall’ will open in the new K11 development in Tsim Sha Tsui. The project is a partnership between New World Development and the Urban Renewal Authority. “K11 is probably the first art mall in the world, combining an art gallery with a shopping mall,” explains executive director of New World Development, Adrian Cheng. The art loving 28 year old, the driving force behind the project, promises to showcase artworks by local and international artists throughout the mall. “TST has the Cultural Centre and Museum of Art, and K11 is the main force to integrate the art and cultural elements of TST, so that the district becomes the ultimate cultural district in Hong Kong, like Tribeca or Soho [in New York],” adds the young developer. “Giving local artist the resources and platform to display their masterpieces is the main vision for K11 to promote local art.”

While any support of the arts is welcomed in this town, there are reasons to be careful, too, as Hsu points out. “I would caution companies that want to play the role of curator, as this is a profession that requires a large amount of time in familiarising oneself with the issues and artists,” she says. “The most exciting and far more meaningful thing to do would be if these companies work with or hire professionals and organisations by giving them real support, and the artistic freedom to realise projects.”

Clarke echoes this, adding that in 2009; the key is for the companies – and the government – to not be overly controlling. “It’s the same with the West Kowloon issue; whether that will work or not depends on if the government can trust professionals. That’s the key thing I’m the most worried about in the current Hong Kong arts scene.”

An example of a property company being overly controlling happened in May last year, when Wharf sparked controversy during their exhibition of Yue Minjun sculptures in Time Square. Conceptual artist Luke Ching wrote a review of the exhibition in the Ming Pao, adding context in his review by mentioning the artist’s background and his Assassination painting, which referenced the June 4,, 1989 massacre. Wharf responded by contacting the newspaper executives to complain, asking them to ‘correct’ the article – angering the art community in their disregard for freedom of expression. It was an unfortunate PR blunder, yet a further indication of the need for corporate giants to work with art experts.

So here’s our New Year’s wish. We want the powers that be (i.e. property tycoons and the government) to collaborate closer with the city’s art professionals – without stifling any of their creativity. It’s not too much to ask, is it? For as Confucius said: “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.” Here’s to the year ahead.
 

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Your year in art
Your year in stage
Your year in music
Your year in film
Your year in food