It's a sprawling arts compound home to more than a dozen tenants but the Cattle Depot Artist Village in To Kwa Wan is now off-limits to the public, photographers and even promotional banners.
Anger over entry restrictions and government orders to remove banners at the village has been brewing for a long time. Yesterday, a group of artists voiced their complaints in a protest outside the Government Property Agency in Wan Chai, which manages the compound.
The village is housed in a converted Grade Two Victorian-era compound of red-brick buildings and sheds that was once the customs and excise office's livestock quarantine station. Its 15 tenants include art groups and individuals housed in private studios.
The simmering tensions came to a head last month when the government ordered the removal of an artistic work - a banner made by conceptual artist Ching Chin-wai.
The banner accused the government of being high-handed in the management of the compound and was put up as part of a nine-day-long arts event, My To Kwa Wan, organised by four tenants.
Alvis Choi, assistant manager at Videotage, one of the four tenants, said the removal order was ridiculous. 'Ching's banner was draped outside the door of a tenant. We got a letter from the agency saying that a clause of the tenancy agreement states that display of anything outside the premises of our shops is forbidden,' Choi said.