Two exhibitions, that take Hong Kong as a starting point

Tai Kwun Contemporary presents and commissions artists from Hong Kong and beyond, contributing to an expanding art and cultural discourse in the city. This spring, the center presents two contemporary art exhibitions INK CITY, and Portals, Stories, and Other Journeys. On view from April 23rd through August 1st, INK CITY collectively showcases the social narratives of an age marked by transition. Some stories tell the unique perspectives of Hong Kong in the twilight of the colonial era, with the city adjusting to the handover and navigating rising global tensions; other narratives take in the vast range of the Chinese diaspora and resonate with shared social experiences of gender, identity, desire, and fantasy.

Opening simultaneously, Portals, Stories, and Other Journeys takes the personal archive of the late Hong Kong artist Ha Bik Chuen (1925–2009) as a starting point. A self-taught sculptor and printmaker, Ha left behind a vast personal archive—his “thinking studio”. He documented exhibitions that he attended from the 1960s till the 2000s, and kept records in the form of ephemera, negatives, contact sheets, and photo albums.This exhibition comprises ten “sets” that share what this archive can do—how it fuels practices of artists, and how it shapes and shifts our understanding of Hong Kong’s history and art.