Lai See | Hong Kong does not need a culture tsar to define what is art

Artist Ai Weiwei

Pro-Beijing lawmaker Chan Kam-lam may have unwittingly triggered an interesting debate over his warning to the West Kowloon Cultural District that any artworks with indecent, insulting or political elements should not be viewed as art.

Despite denying political interference, what bothers him is that the collection owned by the museum, M+, includes works such as Tiananmen by dissident artist Ai Weiwei . Artists, like journalists, come in many shapes and sizes. Some are good, others are bad. Some have interesting things to say, others less so.

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