Private affairs

The coming of spring means the arrival of art in Hong Kong. As the city welcomes possibly the greatest density of art in Asia over its annual art month, it is the artists, rightfully, that are in the spotlight. Behind the canvas, though, is a whole complex of interlocking gears devoted to supporting that talent and maintaining that spotlight. Traditionally, this role has fallen to art patrons (think Barbara Guggenheim or Charles Saatchi) or art galleries; but recently another force has been on the rise – private, non-profit foundations.

Freed from commercial aspirations, these private foundations are expanding the scale of Hong Kong’s scene, adding depth and breadth, sometimes in unexpected places. The MILL6 Foundation, for example, focuses entirely on textile arts. Part of The Mills conservation project based out of a former textile factory, its projects reference an increasingly forgotten industry that supported half of Hong Kong’s workforce at its peak. “I’m curating and bringing creative forces together to contribute and preserve the heritage of textile arts and culture here,” says Angelika Li, Director of the MILL6 Foundation. “It’s been a very meaningful project; a project for Hong Kong.” To that end, beyond its permanent collection and artist-in-residence programmes, MILL6’s 2017 Spring Exhibition embraces an ambitious multi-dimensional attempt to weave the distinct practises of Brooklyn’s Aziz+Cucher, Taiwan’s Yin-Ju Chen and Hong Kong’s Morgan Wong in a series of tapestries, sculpture and video works. (The exhibition runs from 11 March to 2 April at the MILL6 Pop-up Space at The Annex)

Specific remits are key the success of such foundations, and while some are thematic, others are directional. The K11 Art Foundation looks outwards, providing an international platform for contemporary Greater Chinese artists, uncovering the region’s depth of undiscovered artistic and cultural talents. “Our mission,” Carmen Ho, Cultural Manager of KAF, “is to connect, promote and foster this generation of (Greater China) millennial voices.” And just as KAF propelled artists like Cheng Ran – and his epic 9-hour film In Course of The Miraculous – to international acclaim, the HOCA Foundation reverses that direction. Pauline Foessel, Director of Development of HOCA, elucidates – “(We) aim to bring international artists to Hong Kong, opening the door into Asia. For many of the artists we work with, Asia is not well known even though it is a source of inspiration.” With a focus on institutional exhibitions, including one by American artist Swoon in the form of a travelling Hong Kong ‘art tram’, HOCA sees its greatest value in welcoming international artists to inhale the energetic urban energy of Hong Kong and merge it with their own experiences.

For Hong Kong’s spring art season 2017, KAF will be showcasing solo exhibitions of Adrian Wong (The Tiger Returns To The Mountain, 20 March to April 29) and a Janet Fong-curated inaugural exhibition titled Second Nature (11 March to 9 April) at chi art space, while HOCA is welcoming Japanese-American artist Tomokazu Matsuyama (19 March to 9 April). With these, and other projects supported by similar institutions, it is increasingly clear that private non-profits are increasingly indispensible to enriching the arts scene in Hong Kong. But what exactly do these foundations see their role as?

HOCA’s Pauline Foessel compares it to her experience in a for-profit. “We need funds to carry on, and that is my role – to raise money. So in that sense, there isn’t really a difference, because even if fundraising is very different from selling art pieces, we still need to be able communicate a passion for the artist’s work to convince.” Foundations need money to run, after all, and beyond that there also needs to be ambition. For MILL6’s Angelika Li, her role is to push boundaries, since “(private foundations) are at the forefront of the art ecology.” Carmen Ho of KAF believes there can be no conventional definition, since K11’s role as an “instigator, collaborator and connector” is subservient to the end goal of supporting artists and their expressions. And rightfully so, because it is ultimately the artists that need the spotlight.