Hing-kay Oscar Ho
is participant at
Where is Art Contemporary? The Global Challenge of Art Museums II
Abstract
Business, Politics and People: Museums Development in Asia
The development of museums in Asia is as diversified as its cultural landscapes. Countries like Japan and Korea have well developed public and private infrastructure supporting the development of various types of museums. At the same time, at countries such as the Philippines and Thailand, the lack of funding in providing adequate public museum spaces has been a major obstacle hindering the growth of their local art. Another A significant development emerged in recent years at other part of Asia is a sudden growth in investing in arts and culture by the business entrepreneurs/dealers or by the government.
This ‘suddenly cultured’ phenomenon is most prominent among cities/countries which are facing economic transformation. Excitedly governments of these places found the potential of using culture to attract the migration of overseas professionals, as well as the economic benefits of cultural tourism and the creative industries. Such awareness has led cities/countries like Shanghai, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong jumping into heavy investment in the building of museums and cultural facilities. In 2002 in Shanghai, for example, the city government announced a plan of building 100 museums by 2012, in early 2007, Government of Singapore launched an architecture competition of a new national gallery to be completed in 2012, and in Hong Kong, the government has just announced an ambitious project of an 40 acres cultural district plan which consists of 15 new orming rts venues and a museum of 75,000 square metres.
This unprecedented passion for new museums, however, is frequently loaded with political and business agendas, and the actual needs of the people are intentionally or unintentionally left out, especially in countries like China. Without a sensitive consideration of the local cultural needs and the conditions of the local cultural ecology, many these ambitious projects run the risk of turning into ‘white elephants’, whose existence is to satisfy the official vanity of being a ‘world class culture city’, or to fulfill the needs of the business communities.
In 2004, the Hong Kong Government launched the most ambitious cultural project ever introduced in the history of the city: the ‘West Kowloon Cultural District’ project. Led by the Planning and Development Bureau instead of the Home Affairs Bureau, which is in charge of cultural affairs, the project was to utilize a centrally located piece of reclaimed land (which was originally planned to be a park) and turned it into a cultural plus real estate development project. A plan of four large scale museums and two theatres was proposed. However, the public, especially the arts communities quickly learnt that the proposed plan was to invite one single developer to develop and manage the entire district, including the commercial and residential facilities as well as all the cultural facilities. Uproars from the community were so severe that the government had to withdraw the proposal and set up new committees to rework the proposal.
In September 12, 2007, a new proposal on the West Kowloon Cultural District project was delivered. A new plan for a museum temporarily entitled ‘Museum Plus’ was proposed. The idea is to create a museum that is more than just a museum.
With the intention to broaden the definition of art and to encourage the interaction of various art forms, the Museum Advisory Committee recommends that Museum Plus should be devoted to contemporary culture instead of visual arts. One of its main focusing area is popular culture, one of the most significant aspects of the Hong Kong culture. Avoiding adopting terms such as ‘modern’ and ‘contemporary’, Museum Plus defines their areas of activities to the visual cultures of the 20th and 21st Centuries. The decision of the not building a museum of ink painting, as suggested in the previous proposal in 2004, received strong protests from some important members within the hierarchy of cultural power. On the other hand, the emphasis on popular culture also received harsh criticism for downgrading the quality of art and museum. There are also criticisms that these fancy, expensive facilities fail to integrate into its neighbourhood, which is one of the poorest areas in Hong Kong. The arts remain the exclusive luxury of the rich.
After the announcement of the revised West Kowloon project, the real estate developers immediately praise the proposal and welcome the opportunity for investment. The community groups, on the other hand, are quick to request to simply just building a big park. For the arts community, the concern is over the lack of a holistic ecology and professional support will end up creating some grand buildings that no one knows what to do with them.
The West Kowloon Project reveals the typical debates and conflicts among government, business sector and the general public at an era of zealous imagination over the possibilities of cultural development, frequently for the wrong reasons. It is in fact a battle of redefining culture and its ownership. The introduction of the idea Museum Plus in Hong Kong and the debates that it generates has opened up new discussion on redefining the functions and roles of museum within the Asian context, and the necessity to take art from the hands of the government and the business sectors and bring it back to the people again.
