Taking part: participatory art and the emerging civil society in Hong Kong

Abstract

As civil society grows in post-colonial Hong Kong, participatory art has registered a heightened local consciousness, the desire to be autonomous and attempts to resist various kinds of hegemony in the 2000s and the 2010s. This essay aims to provide an empirical base for further studies by examining exemplary works, namely Complaints Choir of Hong Kong, Stephanie Sin's Super Warm, Kacey Wong's Instant Skyline, artwalker's West 9 Dragon and the practice of Woofer Ten. I analyse how committed artists have treated form with an openness that is critical for art to take a more active part in society.

Keywords:

• contemporary art
• participatory art
• socially engaged art
• social practice
• civil society
• Hong Kong

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Vangi Fong, Kacey Wong, Stephanie Sin, Meipo Yuen and Lee Chun-fung for informing this essay through interviews, and Louis Hung, Tempo Yeung, Thickest Choi and Irene Hui for sharing their experiences in the projects discussed. Special thanks also go to Dr Yuko Kikuchi, Wong Ying-kay Ada, Wong Yu-hin Sampson, Hiroki Yamamoto and Keunhye Lee for reviewing the draft and providing supportive feedback.

Notes on contributor

Stephanie Cheung is a research student at the Research Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation, Chelsea, Camberwell and Wimbledon Graduate School, University of the Arts London, London, United Kingdom. Professionally, she is a curator specializing on collaborative projects, usually with a social edge, in public space. Her own artistic practice explores intersubjective encounters.

Notes

1. The comment is noted in the author's MPhil thesis (‘Public Art in Hong Kong’, University of Hong Kong, 2004).

2. The ‘local discourse’ has emerged through talks, seminars and publications in local journals, newspapers and web-based platforms. In 2008, the Journal of Local Discourse (本土論述) was first published as an annual compilation of related essays.

3. A range of views about local identity, and the urge to make statements in the public arena among official bodies and artists, are discussed in Clarke's survey, which covers art in conventional institutions, popular culture and public sites.

4. Art as Social Interaction featured Taiwanese curator Wu Mali, a veteran in social practice and a key writer on such practices in the Chinese language, and over 30 artists and art collectives. For this bi-city exhibition, a timeline on socially engaged art in Hong Kong was drawn for the first time by Kaitak, Centre for Research Development, Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University. That this timeline was simply a list of related events and initiatives indicates both the value in research in this area and the gap in our knowledge suggested in this essay.

5. Post-handover Hong Kong is governed by the Basic Laws, a set of laws that, according to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, promises to operate the SAR according to a legal system separate from that of the Chinese Central Government. Article 23 states that ‘The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies’. When this article was introduced in 2003, it was feared that the city's freedom would be infringed upon and political control from the Central Government would be tightened.

6. Interview with Vangi Fong by the author, 19 July 2014. The interview was conducted in Cantonese. The quotation is a translation by the author.

7. See webpage of Complaints Choir of Hong Kong: http://www.complaintschoir.org/hongkong/complaintschoir_about_hongkong.html.

8. A video of the Choir, showing the members performing in various locations, with the lyrics in Chinese and English subtitles, has been posted on Facebook by the organizer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQVZMMqg7_0&noredirect=1.

9. The Choir was covered by almost all major local newspapers and popular magazines, including the South China Morning Post, the Standard, Hong Kong Economic Times, Hong Kong Economic Journal, Ming Pao Daily, Sing Tao Daily, Oriental Daily, Apple Daily, AM 730, Ming Pao Weekly, Next magazine, U magazine, Weekend Weekly, CUP and HK Magazine. It has also attracted the attention of pro-China papers in Hong Kong as well as mainland media, such as Wei Wei Po, Tai Kung Pao, China Daily, Shenzhen Economic Daily and Nandu Daily.

10. The open call was made via Vangi Fong to former Choir participants, who were invited to respond to the author's questions on a voluntary basis. Responses were originally in Chinese. The quotations are translations by the author.

11. After MaD@West Kowloon, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority embarked upon a similar programme. Called Freespace Fest, it also adopted a model of co-curation, and MaD was invited as one of the co-curators. Responding to the extravaganza's pre-determined framework, largely masterminded by the Authority, MaD's approach was to reiterate the premise of open-ended collaboration. Thus its contribution to the first Fest was straightforwardly titled ‘Collaborative Programmes’ (2012). The last edition in this curatorial series was ‘Construction-in-Progress’ (2013). An example from that edition is discussed in a later part of this essay. For the series’ documentation, see http://www.mad.asia/posts/509/Others/MaD-@-West-Kowloon-2011, http://www.mad.asia/posts/391/Others/Freespace-Fest----Collaborative-Programmes, and http://www.mad.asia/posts/559/Others/. The author is a member of the curatorial team.

12. Interview with Stephanie Sin by the author on 29 July 2014. The interview was conducted in Cantonese. The quotation is a translation by the author.

13. Interview with Stephanie Sin, 29 July 2014.

14. Interview with Kacey Wong by the author on 18 July 2014. The interview was conducted in Cantonese. The quotation is a translation by the author.

15. Interview with Kacey Wong, 18 July 2014.

16. Interview with Meipo Yuen by the author on 31 July 2014. The interview was conducted in Cantonese. The quotation is a translation by the author.

17. Interview with Meipo Yuen, 31 July 2014.

18. This trend can be illustrated by a considerable number of initiatives joining the open call for Construction-in-Progress. A list of these groups can be viewed at http://www.mad.asia/posts/560.

19. Major campaigns that took place in the early 2010s include the anti-national education protests (2012), whose high turnout forced the government to suspend plans seen as an attempt at indoctrination. There were also oppositional struggles against development plans that were thought to be negligent of indigenous livelihood and sustainability, such as the construction of an express rail link and urbanization that would wipe out villages and farmland (from 2009 to the present). The earlier struggles, though often in vain have inspired widespread concern for land justice.

20. Woofer Ten was not selected as the operator of the space when it applied for a third term of occupancy in 2013. Some of the group members believe that relocation will sever the communal ties established over the years, and thus have been negotiating with the Hong Kong Arts Development Council for another space in the same area. Negotiations were in progress when this essay was written, and members persisting in the cause were then still based in the Yaumatei space with the support of the new tenant.

21. This seminal project was initiated by Ching Chin-wai Luke, whose writing on Complaints Choir is cited above.

22. Two recent examples that suggest the threat to the city's freedom of speech include the brutal attack on veteran journalist Kevin Lau and the closure of House News, a popular website. The attack on Lau was allegedly due to his investigation of corruption on the mainland. The owner of House News also hinted that its closure was due to pressure from China.

23. Interview with Irene Hui by the author, 7 August 2014. The interview was conducted in Cantonese. The quotation is a translation by the author.

24. Interview with Lee Chun-fung by the author, 2 August 2014. The interview was conducted in Cantonese. The quotation is a translation by the author.

25. By the end of 2014, when this essay was under review, an exceptionally supportive gentleman rented a space in the neighbourhood and offered it for free to artists who continued to pursue Woofer Ten's cause.