Art HK: Inspiring the next generation of art dealers

So art is now big business in Hong Kong. The fifth Art HK Fair held in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from 17-20th May broke all previous attendance records. In its five year history, the fair has always had a good number of multi-million dollar deals and this year was no exception with 266 exhibitors reporting brisk trade.

All of this ties in nicely with Hong Kong’s stated intention to become an arts hub for Asia. When the government announces a new capital project in the cultural sector these days, odds-on it’s an “arts hub”.

From a situation where we have had very few spaces for the promotion of contemporary art in Hong Kong, in the next few years we will have two new spaces within a few blocks of each other – the Central Police Station and Police Married Quarters.

And, of course, by 2031 the enormous West Kowloon Cultural District is due (delays permitting!) to be complete, including the M+ in 2017 with its 20,000 square metres dedicated to contemporary art. To put that in perspective the Guggenheim in Bilbao only has 11,000 square metres of exhibition space.

It is conventional wisdom that art is good for society. And so it is. But if a city is predominantly a consumer rather than a creator how much benefit do its (non-chatterati) citizens actually gain?

Just as Hong Kong’s intention to become a wine hub of Asia does not bring the benefits of vineyards, do art fairs simply act like glorified stock exchanges for the art world?

Don’t get me wrong, seeing the numbers of people wandering around the fair and being exposed to contemporary art in a way that might not otherwise happen is a good thing.

But the way that Hong Kong has gone about making itself an arts hub makes me think that in the near future, rather than sipping an espresso in a café in one of the city’s creative quarters surrounded by the hubbub of new and extreme ideas, I am more likely to be fielding cold calls on a Sunday evening from a terribly nice chap inquiring as to whether I have thought about starting an art portfolio for investment.

Surely, art only really changes the philosophical outlook of a society if it is deeply embedded within its communities at grass roots level. That's a pretty hard thing to artificially stimulate and maybe HK Art’s top-down attempt to boost the appreciation of art in Hong Kong will pay off.

Far from inspiring young visitors with a romantic vision of the starving artist in the garret, however, I suspect that in ten years time a child visiting the exhibition today is more likely to shock their parents by saying "I'm running away to Hollywood Road to become a struggling art dealer."