Making Spaces

It’s a common complaint: Why are there so few spaces where local artists can hold exhibitions and performances? For years, any local, small-scale productions had to be staged at the Fringe Club or not at all. But now, people are taking our art space problem into their own hands and finding creative ways to showcase their work.

Café Corridor

After quitting his bank job, Felix Wong opened Café Corridor in 2001. For the sake of his artistic friends, he decided to turn the long corridor leading to the café and the wall of his café into an exhibition space, mostly for photography. “It’s amateur in nature. All I do is to provide a space for my artistic friends to realize their wish,” he says. Wong shares the space for free and the artworks are not for sale, unless they are sold for a charitable cause. “If they want to go commercial, they can always go to the space opposite, Times Square.”
26A Russell St., Causeway Bay, 2892-2927

Les Artistes Café

Knowing local artists find it hard to survive, Kenneth Lee created an upstairs café with free exhibition space exclusively for local art. Since its opening four years ago, Les Artistes Café has held nearly 50 exhibitions. It expanded two years ago with an added bookshop and shelves for DIY consignments. Though the exhibition and consignment spaces are provided free, a commission is charged when a work is sold. The fame of exhibiting artists is unimportant to Lee, who is open to alternative ideas. Not long ago, they staged an exhibition of men’s underpants. “If they are not afraid to create it, then we’re unafraid to show it,” he says.
1/F, Man Hoi Building, 98-100 Electric Rd., Tin Hau, 3426-8918

Street Artists

A lack of exhibition space has never been an issue for the artist duo Graphicairlines, who have turned the city’s public spaces into their personal canvas. Starting with stickers and posters three years ago and moving on to large-scale wall paintings today, Graphicairlines’ works can be seen under highways and in back alleys. In spite of their desire to connect with people, the pair hasn’t received much attention from the public and they’ve never been arrested. “The police don’t understand what we‘re doing. There are too few people doing street art. It’s not even a social problem here, which mean the scene is still not well-developed,” they say.

In fact, according to Graphicairlines, a lack of physical space is less of a problem for local art makers than the public’s narrow thinking. “It’s people’s way of life that stops them from making or appreciating art. The root of the problem is the city’s high rents. With high rents, it’s not just a lack of spaces—you also just can’t just quit your job and indulge your creativity,” they say.
Check out Graphicairlines’ art at www. graphicairlines.com

Mall Music

Industrial Action

We don’t need to wait for the government to get their act together with West Kowloon, private organizations and charities have joined forces to build us a desperately needed arts center.

The soon-to-be open Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC) used to be a nine-storey industrial building until it was converted—by the government, the Jockey Club Charities Trust and the Hong Kong Baptist University—into an art space that can accomodate up to 150 artists or groups, and at a reasonable price no less.

Kiwi Liu (Unit L8-13), a student at Hong Kong Art School, is an eighth-floor tenant who has organized a collaborative exhibition with her neighbors. The young artist has made creative use of the corridor’s public space to display her character, Miss Fat. “We want to push the staff to think about the use of public space here,” says Liu.

Among other tenants is the Hong Kong Street Cultural Centre (Unit L2-09), run by GOD’s CEO Douglas Young. It showcases Young’s own collection of old Hong Kong paraphernalia, from a barber chair to bricks from old buildings. Young aspires to make his art space not only an exhibition venue, but also a gathering place for like-minded people.
30 Pak Tin St., Shek Kip Mei, 2353-1311, net3.hkbu.edu.hk/~jccac.