There's a cultural buzz in Hong Kong that can match New York, says gallery owner
There's a creative buzz in the city, says gallery owner, and Occupy Central shows there is an audience out there that's hungry for change
Hong Kong is on the verge of a new creative period for the arts, with a focus on cultural significance rather than market value.
So says patron of the arts Stephen Cheng Sing-yin, son of former Central Policy Unit head Edgar Cheng Wai-kin and Doreen Pao Pui-wai, youngest daughter of the late shipping magnate Pao Yue-kong. He believes the time is right for the city to take the next step to becoming a true cultural hub.
"In the financial world, Hong Kong is at an international level and can compete with London and New York, and there is no reason why culturally we can't compete too," said Cheng, who was born and raised in New York but has called Hong Kong home since 2006.
"If Hong Kong can't take the next step to be more than just a financial city or a property market, then it would kind of get stuck. I think conditions are ripe for the next level of development to happen, which is the cultural level, and I have heard a lot of people talk about it and try to do something about it, such as M+ [of the West Kowloon Cultural District]," he said.
He is also trying to do something about it. Last month, Cheng launched The Empty Gallery, a 3,000 sq ft space in Aberdeen, which features an all-black interior.
There is a faint whiff of incense, some barely audible John Coltrane jazz, and just one window - a narrow strip looking onto a distant hill. But the 13 works by Indian-American artist Amit Desai which are currently on show stand out in the dark.
"There is something deliberate in my design of The Empty Gallery by giving art a spiritual edge and context. The idea behind black and the space is not a religion thing but just to make it a contemplative space for art and to reintroduce that feeling instead of the prevailing feeling to link art to commerce and view art for its material value," Cheng explained.
A graduate of Eton College and Harvard University, the soft-spoken 35-year-old says the gallery owes its origins to a dream in which he saw paintings floating in dark outer space. The Chinese words for "outer space", , literally mean "extreme emptiness", which to him convey a spiritual context.
But the event that compelled him to feel it was "necessary" to launch the project was Occupy Central. "Whatever you think about Occupy Central and the consequences, if you look at it positively, what it means is we have a youth in Hong Kong that is engaged and looking for change," he said. "I for one before they came out thought they were all buried on their phones and didn't care."
The 79-day movement, he said, showed "that the young population of Hong Kong is thinking, passionate and wants change … and the most positive area for that, in my opinion, is art because to me art is a force of change in a positive way".
"These young kids didn't even know what they were looking for, but you can feel they were looking for some way out, something new. The whole point of this gallery is to at least in some way give them that. So they come here during the night and see a performance, they may see something that speaks of them," he said.
The gallery will be Cheng's experiment over the next three years to create a critical mass of audience and artists. He has also set up a post-production film studio on the upper floor, and will be delving into publishing and audio production.
"I think we are at the edge of a very fertile creative period in this part of the world, not so much about East versus West, but integration and dialogue and how ideas are shared through cross-fertilisation and unearthing of new ideas and culture," he said.
"My goal in The Empty Gallery is to be involved and be a space for that creativity to flow through and ultimately to help shape it and influence it," he added.
"I think we are living in very dark times as money is more important than ever and we are more disconnected from each other and from nature.
"Art can be and should be a lighthouse, shining light in the darkness and leading us forward."
