Art space owners hope Hongkongers get the gallery-going habit

Pair out to make Wong Chuk Hang gallery a place to show Hong Kong the works of non-Western artists the mainstream market ignores vow they won’t be beaten by public indifference and MTR delay

4-MIN READ4-MIN

Yallay Gallery owner Jean Marc Decrop (left) and Rossi Rossi director Fabio Rossi (right). Photos: May Tse

Published: 5:46am, 21 Dec 2015Updated: 5:46am, 21 Dec 2015

Fabio Rossi and Jean Marc Decrop knew back in 2012 that opening an independent contemporary art gallery in Hong Kong would be a challenge. But they didn’t thinkgetting people to visit would be this difficult.

The two veterans of the art market decided to buy a 6,500 square-foot unit in a Wong Chuk Hang factory building three years ago because the price was right and the up-and-coming art district would soon be served by the new MTR South Island line.

Unfortunately, the railway extension has become just one of many delayed infrastructure projects with an elusive completion date.

The gritty Wong Chuk Hang neighbourhood is challenging for operators of galleries there.

At the moment, most buses to the area stop in Wong Chuk Hang Road and visitors have to walk along this unpleasant road to the 25 galleries dotted all over the place. A long, continuous row of industrial buildings, all blackened by exhaust fumes, tower claustrophobically over the busy traffic. It’s a challenge finding building entrances designed for delivery trucks, not people.

The location is just one reason for the disappointing footfall. People in Hong Kong still don’t have a habit of going to galleries, says Rossi.

“It’s not like New York and London where there’s such a culture.”