What Hong Kong’s protests mean for the city’s art market: an upsurge in creativity amid economic woes

While professionals on the international circuit express concern about Hong Kong’s art market, the protests have generated a range of creative output
How these art works can be preserved and how the creativity behind them can be channelled is worth considering

Vivienne Chow

Published: 6:30am, 2 Nov 2019

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At the Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain (FIAC), the international contemporary art fair held in Paris in October, I was surprised to find Hong Kong being avidly discussed. Gallerists and collectors expressed concern over the ongoing protests.

I found myself at the receiving end of questions, ranging from the escalation of violence by both the police and protesters to why it took Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor months to withdraw the extradition bill that sparked the protests and why she has not addressed protesters’ other demands since then.

But, among the biggest concerns of those I met at the fair was Hong Kong’s art market, and whether the city’s Art Basel event would go ahead next March. A gallerist from Japan asked me if it was safe to travel to Hong Kong.

Another wondered what impact the protests would have on sales, given that the Asia Contemporary Art Show, one of the region’s longest-running hotel art fairs, had announced the cancellation of its spring 2020 edition amid a 40 per cent drop in attendance and a decline in sales during its October event.

Hong Kong’s economic downturn is a serious worry. The city has slipped into recession and Lam has blamed protesters’ violence for the downturn. An economic slowdown will undoubtedly affect Hong Kong’s art market, the world’s third-largest after New York and London.

However, artistic creativity in Hong Kong is booming. Over the past five months, Hong Kong has seen an abundance of creative output inspired by the protests – political cartoons, illustrations, design and moving-image works have been widely circulated digitally. Some of this work is on display in the form of street art on “Lennon Walls” across town, enhancing the city’s visual culture.

This protest-inspired creative output serves not only to emotionally bond protesters and their supporters, but is also a protest tactic in itself. Glory to Hong Kong, a melody written by an anonymous composer with its lyrics crowdsourced online, has become the city’s unofficial anthem; singing the song in public spaces has become a form of protest.

Hong Kong’s “Lady Liberty” stands tall on Lion Rock on October 13. Photo: May Tse

A crowdfunded statue “Lady Liberty” has been transported to different protest venues, including the top of Lion Rock, a symbol of Hong Kong’s can-do spirit. Although the statue, the aesthetic value of which is debatable, was later vandalised, the image of it standing tall atop Lion Rock has become for many an iconic representation of protester defiance.

Professional artists are also trying to translate the political tension and emotional trauma of the movement into art that could speak to a wider global audience.

Because the movement is leaderless, those who consider themselves part of it are required to take matters into their own hands, and creativity plays a big role in mobilising people and organising protest activities – from how to deal with tear gas canisters to restaurants printing protest slogans on receipts, and a Halloween parade. Protesters’ innovations will in turn inspire artists, fuelling a cycle of creativity.

Hong Kong’s pro-establishment camp has failed to catch up with this. At best, it has only mirrored the tactics of its opponents, whether singing the Chinese national anthem at shopping malls as a counter-protest or recording a video spoof of Glory to Hong Kong, which was taken down from YouTube just hours after its release because of complaints of copyright infringement of the original version.

Regardless of one’s political stance, the movement is an important chapter in Hong Kong’s creative trajectory. It is also a concrete demonstration of Hongkongers’ creative potential.

Many of those behind protest illustrations and graphics are professionals who do not have the opportunity to shine at work, mostly because they have to follow clients’ orders. The movement has liberated them from these constraints and given them a platform to showcase their talent.

Hong Kong protest art: the nameless collective behind the designs

It’s worth considering how best to harness the wealth of creativity the unrest has unleashed, particularly that of the young generation, as well as how to archive and study this creative output. Will organisations take up this task without self-censorship? Freedom of expression, after all, is written into Hong Kong’s Basic Law.

As for the art market, as Andy Hei, director of the Fine Art Asia and Ink Asia fairs, put it, “it could be worse”. Both fairs took place during the first weekend of October when the city faced one of the most violent weekends of protests.

Hei told The Art Newspaper: “This is not the end, this is not doomsday – of the world or of the Hong Kong art world”, adding that the US-China trade war was more responsible than social movements for the economic downturn.

Graffiti artist Boms holds up one of the many posters in support of the ongoing protests he has posted around the city, in Mong Kok on September 2. Photo: Snow Xia

He’s right. New records were still achieved during Sotheby’s Hong Kong autumn auctions. Christie’s will stage its autumn sales from November 22-27, featuring a new sales category targeting young collectors and Kim Whanki’s diptych painting 05-IV-71#200 (Universe), with a presale estimate of US$6 million to US$8 million, set to be the most expensive Korean artwork offered by an international auction house.

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Art Basel has said the show will go on and announced the list of galleries exhibiting at the Hong Kong fair in March and its 50th anniversary celebration plans in the city. Clockenflap, one of the city’s most beloved music and cultural events, also announced that it will press ahead on November 22-24 at Central harbourfront with a full line-up of musical acts.

The present moment is indeed the best and worst of times for Hong Kong’s art scene. One Asian gallerist at FIAC told me she will not pull out from exhibiting at Art Basel next spring. “Coming to Hong Kong is our way to show support for the city,” she said, wrapping my hands in hers.

Vivienne Chow is a journalist and cultural critic based in Hong Kong. She is the founder of Cultural Journalism Campus and a part-time lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong

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