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When pro-China Hong Kong people began to question which art form the city’s new M+ Visual Culture Museum should allow, it exposed the growing rift between art freedom and Hong Kong’s national censorship system.
These tensions emerged after Hong Kong implemented strict national security laws last year and will be further tested when one of the world’s largest art fairs returns to Hong Kong on Friday. Critics say that Beijing is more crowded than ever in this once-popular cultural community.
“M+, Art Basel and many internationally renowned art companies have opened galleries in Hong Kong, but all this was done before the promulgation of this new national security law,” he said. Ai Weiwei, China’s most famous dissident artist, donated his works to the M+ Gallery on the Kowloon Waterfront, which will open this year.
He said: “This is the last nail in the coffin.” “They are trying to stop this independent culture…[using]National Security Law. “
The organizers of Art Basel at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center hope that the creative expressions on display will avoid problems that plague the entire city.
Adeline Ooi, Asia Director of Art Basel, told the Financial Times: “The government did not ask us to do anything other than perform our shows.” She insisted that she was committed to realizing “the dream of making Hong Kong an international cultural center.” “. “.
Her acceptance of the return of art fairs in the pandemic-after Hong Kong experienced unprecedented protests and political turmoil-has raised questions in the art world.
“Following galleries, galleries from overseas [were] She said, and insisted that these worries do not always reflect reality.
However, there is no doubt that the National Security Law (which critics say criminalize dissent), which was promulgated in June last year, has launched severe crackdowns across Hong Kong, with militants imprisoned and teachers dismissed. Some media are sought after.
The pro-Beijing legislator Eunice Yung tried to expand to the art world by asking whether M+’s works, including Ai Weiwei’s 26 works, violated security laws. This led Carrie Lam, the leader of the region, to assure that her officials will be “extraordinarily cautious” to ensure that all exhibits are legal.
Ai Weiwei said that the museum will still exhibit his two works “Still Life” and “Whitewashing”, but there is no plan to show his “Perspective Study: Tiananmen SquareHe pointed at Beijing Square with his middle finger, which was the scene of the infamous student massacre in 1989.
At the same time, attacks on the arts continue. The pro-China newspaper Ta Kung Pao accused the Hong Kong Arts Development Council of funding projects, film and theater groups that may also violate the law.
A movie theater responded by canceling the screening of a documentary about the siege of Hong Kong Polytechnic University during the anti-government protests in 2019, where students tried to evade police blockade by hanging down the school’s walls.
This exhibition was held at the same time as the interest in art in the entire Greater China region (including Hong Kong), where the pandemic is spreading, is increasing. By 2020, art sales in the region will total 10 billion U.S. dollars.
According to data from Art Basel in 2021 and UBS Global Art Market, the Greater China region replaced the United States as the world’s largest auction market last year, with a 36% market share. report.
In March, Christie’s announced the auction record of the most expensive Western art in Asia’s history. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Warrior” was in Hong Kong. The auction house sold it for 323 million Hong Kong dollars (42 million U.S. dollars).
“Many Hong Kong galleries are doubling… Ooi said of the boom times: “Not only was it built for gallery space, but it also provided studios and residences for their artists. ”
The development of M+ and the new West Kowloon Cultural District is part of a revival driven by powerful figures in Hong Kong institutions.
Bernard Chan, who advised Mr. Lin, expressed frustration, believing that attacks on art are endangering an important industry
“Supervise and even review the artworks displayed in our museums and galleries… This puts us at risk of losing our global reputation,” he wrote in the South China Morning Post. He added: “We will jeopardize our years of hard work and billions of dollars of funding in this economic field.”
For many people exhibiting at Art Basel, restraint has left its mark. Visual artist Kong Chunxi will lead visitors to his exhibition booth through the speed bumps on the ground composed of kitchen scales in order to “measure” them as part of the spread of government surveillance.
Only one year after the massacre, 73-year-old Guo Menghao performed in Tiananmen Square. He said that although he has not been censored, Hong Kong artists today sometimes need to “control themselves”.
“I did a lot of crazy things when I was a kid…[Now]I do the right thing at the right time-this is survival skills. I try to control myself, just like at Art Basel. I walked peacefully, I don’t throw bombs,” he said.
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