Independent Art Spaces Roundtable

What's behind the scenes? Founders, curators, and artists of Hong Kong’s independent art spaces come together for a panel discussion on the latest. Cathleen Ching Yee Lau, Yim Sui Fong, Juliana Chan, Daniel Stempfer, and Kim Lam on the glamourous and not so outside the confines of commercial galleries and art fairs — it’s in the neighborhoods of Sham Shui Po, Tai Kok Tsui, To Kwa Wan and North Point that these galleries, residencies, studios, and creative hubs form the launching point for many local artists. Uncover how.

Cathleen Lau is the founder of Mist Gallery. She is  a Hong Kong-based artist working in mixed media sculpture and cross-media installation. With a B.A in Sculpture from Hong Kong Art School (RMIT).She received the Reaching Out Scholarship in 2019 to explore craft and land art in Japan. In 2018, she was awarded the Director’s Choice Award from the Hong Kong Human Rights Art Prize.She concerns and studies the relationship between ecology and society, her works practice is often contemplating the norms and boundaries of living beings.

Yim Sui Fong is an artist based in Hong Kong, a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) graduate from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is the co-founder of the artist-run organisation Rooftop Institute and a member of the Hong Kong artists’ collective, L sub.
Through using medium include photography, video, sound, performance and installation, the artist probes the dynamics between individuality and collectivity. While she explores individual unease in social contexts, she is equally a keen practitioner of examining the potential of people in the group through artistic actions.
She received the Award for Young Artist (Visual Arts) from Hong Kong Development Council (2019/2020), WMA Masters Award (2017/18) from WYNG foundation. Her book project ‘The man who attends to the times’, commissioned by Oi!, Hong Kong (2018). Recent exhibition includes: ‘Emo Gym’, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong (2022), ‘The Body and The City’, Goethe Institute, Hong Kong (2021), ‘Can’t Touch This’, WMA Space, Hong Kong (2021),  ‘Otherworlds: non/digital realities’, Gillman Barracks, Singapore Art Week, Singapore (2021), ‘Landskrona Foto Festival’,  Landskrona Art Gallery, Sweden (2020), ‘Artists’ Film International’, Whitechapel Gallery (2019), ‘Hic Sunt Leons’, Surplus Space, Wuhan, China (2019), ‘A Room of Resistance’, Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre, Hong Kong (2019), ‘Talkover/Handover 2.0’, 1a Space, Hong Kong (2017).

Juliana Chan is the Gallery Manager of 1a space, an independent, non-for-profit contemporary art organisation founded by a collective of Hong Kong artists in 1998. At 1a space, Chan piloted the first edition of FITS, an artist residency programme, and is currently launching a series of exhibitions and publications focusing on mid-career artists. Chan is also the co-founder of Per.Platform a HK based art space that is dedicated to live art exhibitions and festivals. Chan received MA in Contemporary Art Criticism from the University of Edinburgh, UK and BA in History of Art from the University of Florence, Italy.

Kim Lam, Founder of Parallel Space.
Since Oct 2018, Kim founded Parallel Space, which a multi-discipline exhibition venue in a form of raw finishing white cube gallery space, located in Tai Nan Street, Sham Shui Po, countinesly hosting various exhibitions for local Painters, illustrators, Photographers, Creatives and Artists who mainly based in Hong Kong, also provide space rental for all kind of arts & creatives event.
Kim runs the space, also presenting exhibitions in the name of Parallel Space.
He curates and collaborates with creatives & artists for exhibitions during the years.
providing an alternative venue option where it can also connect mass audiences from the floor shop on the street, made Parallel Space become a significant "art space" around the Tai Nan Street Neighborhood.

Daniel Stempfer is an Austrian-born artist living and working in Hong Kong since 2019. His works have been shown in MMK Frankfurt, MMCA Seoul, Mediterranea Biennale Tirana, Transmediale Berlin and Art Center Ongoing Tokyo among other places.
Last year he founded the artist-run exhibition space Feyerabend, located in Tai Kok Tsui. Previously he was the co-founder of Frankfurt-based art space Jenifer Nails

The views and opinions expressed are those of the speakers and participants and, unless expressly stated to the contrary, do not reflect the opinion, position or official policy of Asia Society Hong Kong, its members, or its committees. Asia Society Hong Kong does not endorse or approve, and assumes no responsibility for the content of the information presented.