“You can’t rent me a golden washroom to run a speakeasy.”
Paul Lee 20230923
Since the first day I enrolled the course, I have many questons
– how to get rid of the reliance on authority funding
– how to clarify the paradoxical situation to let the funding flow go properly
Public money spent on arts is always a mismatch. You don’t need to discover a proof, they are everywhere.
And that day I went to an artist incubator. Frankly, nothing can be criticised for a place with much convenience (I have witnessed many terrible artist places before) this is certainly a heaven, somehow.
Yet I don’t think it is an ideal place for artists.
I could count those cupnoodles and water-boiler in an artist’s room. I could also visualise the isolation and inteactive-less-ness in the close chambers.
The vibe here is just like an office pantry after 5.
Come on, give me a sofa and carpet. This is definitely not a social area for artist.
Do you know what is The Medici Effect? When you step into an intersection of fields/disciplines/cultures, you can combine existing concepts into a large number of extraordinary new ideas. It is only when you interact with great minds could you breed the great idea. Interaction between cross-disciplinary artists is priceless.
Paul Lee
And then we visited a pottery guru’s chamber. Master Cao is phenomenal. Her handcraft pottery has escalated into national treasure, in terms of her handcraft skill, her use of rare material, her use of burning material, illustrated by the shape, the color and the pattern on her pottery collection. You can hardly find such collection in common galleries. And so, lets take a look to her chamber.
Be it a showroom? She deserves a space a lot better.
Be it a workshop? You can hardly have a space (including water supply) to make a proper clay design, not to mention the bisque firing (let’s not mention about charcoal burning, how about Three-phase electrical power?)
No offence or hostile intention (but full of doubts) I subsequently asked Master Cao where she normally conduct the firing, she replied Lau Fau Shan (When you take a bus, you need around two hours to go from Wong Chuk Hang) (Speechless) So, which pottery procedure can she conduct here?
Perhaps the pottery master needs an office with air-conditioning, here.
Frankly this is still a good place, with good intention. But never a good fit at large.
My reflection? “Why not buy a Zafirro Iridium razor as Mother’s Day Gift?” or “Getting a buddhist monk a golden comb?”
Paul Lee 20230929
3 replies on “ADC Visit reflection”
We visited the ADC too. It’s a good start in a city where space is a very high premium. You mention some valid points though. Will be interesting to see how it evolves.
The space was constructed in good intension. The support from both government and the landlord is exceptional. However, your question on the space usage is critical, the function of space (especially for artists) is not clear enough. They may need more time to develop the purpose and style of this organisation in long run.
The government council made a good start to talking about or promoting the art industry in Hong Kong. However, as an interior designer, I think the space is not fully reposed to the artists’ needs. There is just a typical shared business-type office in the town but not good for art production. There are a lot of improvements such as unique equipment, facilities and supports. Moreover, the ‘shared pantry’ has less potential for the artist’s connection or sharing. The studios have fewer relationships or connections which means the artists do not have a chance to exchange ideas.