A Zoom-Chat with Joyce Ng of Asia Society HK: Art, Nonprofits, and Fusion
Before we arrived at the e-tour, we were joined by Joyce Ng, the Head of Exhibitions and Gallery at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center, for a quick chat regarding her new chapter at the organisation, the excitement with the growing interest in the Asian arts scene, and more about the emergence of Fusion 2 《融合貳》!
Read the exhibition review here.
DK:
You have an extensive career in the arts from various corners of the art world, especially in the commercial/private sector of the industry–how has the transition been for you in terms of now working at a non-profit organisation? Were there any changes in the way you perceived or thought about art?
JN:
Well, personally, it’s been a sea change for me. It was a conscious decision to switch from a commercial to a nonprofit sector. I am still working within the same space–in the sense that I’m still in the art industry, in Hong Kong, and based in Asia. But I think it would be naive to think that there is no commercialization in the nonprofit sector itself. The nonprofit world is really challenged in this day and age because of the geopolitics and what’s at stake in the world–all that affects the nonprofit sector as well.
Warm and fuzzy feelings are often associated with the thought of art and nonprofits–with much goodwill and faith–but in reality, it’s a very tough environment to do what you do and to mount the exhibitions that you want on a budget. A very strict one, too. And as with a lot of colleagues in the same sector, we’re all dependent on the kindness of strangers. So for me, this change or switch from commercial to nonprofit has been a really interesting and challenging one–you just learn to take nothing for granted.
DK:
Within the new environment that you’re in, what are some of the conversations that you wish to lead through your role at Asia Society Hong Kong Center, in terms of cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and the rest of the world? And what are some things that you believe to be important in this generation for art learners and appreciators alike?
Within the new environment that you’re in, what are some of the conversations that you wish to lead through your role at Asia Society Hong Kong Center, in terms of cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and the rest of the world? And what are some things that you believe to be important in this generation for art learners and appreciators alike?
JN:
I’ll start with the latter part of your question. I think it’s very important to be authentic–it has to ring true to the person saying it and to the people around them, or else people are misinformed or misconstrued. It’s increasingly more important to stay true to yourself.
As to what I hope to bring, well, clearly to mount good and quality exhibitions here on site! It’s a heritage site; a beautiful architectural building with a lot of history–to pay homage to that. And also to feature more Hong Kong artists, Asian artists, as you mentioned, Dyana, which Art Spectra hopes to showcase as well.
In terms of cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and the rest of the world; it’s not so much a clear division between the East and West. You know, it’s not as binary as that. It’s more about how one absorbs external information learned and makes it their own. I think it’s very entrenched, maybe in Hong Kong society, that something is only good or extra good if it receives a kind of external or international approval before coming home. As if, homegrown is somehow less good in a way. And what COVID-19 has done, is turn that on its head and changed things and made it cool to be homegrown. And so we are reaping the benefits of that sort of change of mindset–to ride on that change in mentality and to keep honing in on it. There should always be this looking in and looking out situation going on. Having the privilege of working with a space that’s open to the public, that allows free admission to people to come and enjoy the artworks and exhibitions–there’s really a mission to give a platform to those artists.
DK:
The idea of going out, and then coming back with a sort of credibility has been perceived quite differently, like you said, in light of the restrictions and having to be within an enclosed area for a prolonged time regardless of will. As an extension to your comment on being more proud of homegrown or home authenticity–Asia is an exciting place to be right now, especially with the success of the Hong Kong auction sphere in the past five years. More recently, with the expansion of Seoul as another global art hub, and also with the growing interest in Singapore as a primary market for outposts for galleries and fairs.
As someone who has lived and worked in the already-established art capitals such as New York and London, what are some of your expectations for the Asian arts scene? And what are some of your plans to support the budding ecosystem?
The idea of going out, and then coming back with a sort of credibility has been perceived quite differently, like you said, in light of the restrictions and having to be within an enclosed area for a prolonged time regardless of will. As an extension to your comment on being more proud of homegrown or home authenticity–Asia is an exciting place to be right now, especially with the success of the Hong Kong auction sphere in the past five years. More recently, with the expansion of Seoul as another global art hub, and also with the growing interest in Singapore as a primary market for outposts for galleries and fairs.
As someone who has lived and worked in the already-established art capitals such as New York and London, what are some of your expectations for the Asian arts scene? And what are some of your plans to support the budding ecosystem?
JN:
I’m very proud to be in Asia–not only spectating, but also participating in all this excitement around the arts. I can speak to Hong Kong specifically because I’m here, but I’m aware of what’s happening in the wider regions of Asia. It’s very exciting to have more art fair action; it adds to the ecosystem, and adds to the temporality of visitors coming. There’s more of a reason for international visitors to make any city in Asia part of their calendar, part of a stop in the annual cycle–a sort of migration in terms of hopping.
But I really don’t think this is a fad, and I don’t think this is a phase.
I don’t want to speak to these grand terms like, ‘oh, this is the golden age for Asia’, or, ‘it’s now our turn.’ I think that takes a very specific perspective. What do you mean by it’s our turn? It always was–people have always been working hard here. It’s just whether or not, say, English news outlets have picked up on this as a story, and if it’s our time in the sun, as it were, then great! All the better for it.
It’s definitely interesting in Hong Kong because of the plethora of national-standard arts institutions that have been popping up–museums besides art fairs, new ones that have been built really within the past five years or open to the public in a very short span of time, when you think about it.
But not just focusing on the novelty factor of such new and existing buildings and institutions, ones that have been doing great work for the past 60, 70 years, have also, if not rebranded or revisited the kind of the programming that they bring to the audience and the public– and not just the arts loving public. That’s very important because that involves a wider part of the community at large. And that’s really what everyone working in a nonprofit sector would hope, because who’s your audience, right? How do you make art and exhibition material approachable–not too intimidating, yet interesting and relevant to someone who may not work in the arts and may never work in the arts.
That has definitely brought more to the forefront in Asian communities because there were other subjects that have always traditionally been more prioritized, and for good reason. They are absolutely necessary; and are bedrocks to a growing, flourishing society. Because I work in the arts, I also think arts–visual performance, performative, sound art, theatre arts–they’re all fundamental, which is why I work in it. The hope is now for art to be perceived not only as the cherry on top, but also as something as crucial as those other sectors that we have prioritised in the past.
DK:
I have just one last question before we move on to the tour, and this one’s from Helen. Could you tell us a bit about your international outlook in planning exhibitions, and perhaps specifically to Fusion 2 《融合貳》? To what extent have you discovered commonalities between Asian and Italian sculptural practices?
I have just one last question before we move on to the tour, and this one’s from Helen. Could you tell us a bit about your international outlook in planning exhibitions, and perhaps specifically to Fusion 2 《融合貳》? To what extent have you discovered commonalities between Asian and Italian sculptural practices?
JN:
As you may already know, Asia society has many centers around the world, but only three of those have an art-specific space: Hong Kong, New York and Houston. The hope for future exhibitions is to actually travel the shows that we create to each location and to adapt them to the location’s specific audience to engender a kind of response. It’ll be a similar topic with almost identical material, but we anticipate that the audience’s feedback, reaction and response will be different because people come from different backgrounds and communities.
That’s a really big hope, but you know, it’s a project with a big scope and it’s very ambitious because there’s so many stars that have to align in order for that sort of traveling exhibition to happen!
And speaking specifically to Fusion 2 《融合貳》: this was two years in the making and we came across many obstacles throughout, because of the pandemic and very specific travel restrictions. We are just so grateful that it was able to open to the full scale that we had wanted and hoped for in Hong Kong. And people have been very receptive to it–people understand it. It has really clicked with the Hong Kong audience here. And it’s really a cultural exchange because all ten artists didn’t necessarily know each other before this exhibition.
The five Hong Kong artists may have heard of each other, but they never had the chance to meet, or have a prolonged conversation with each other–Hong Kong is both small and big. This was a great opportunity for them to have a common goal to work towards, and that has been really the most satisfying aspect to this exhibition for all those involved. And it was a genuine rapport that each pair of artists have established with each other. The five Hong Kong artists. And the five Italian artists.
In terms of cultural exchange, it’s a very specific connection–Seravezza, Italy near to the quarries where Carrara marble is mined, and Hong Kong and its wood materiality. Sculptors learning from Italian sculpting techniques and Italian artists learning from differently sourced pieces of wood and how that might improve on or complement their own sculptural techniques and visions.
It has been a really long, creative journey for all ten artists, and they tell me they’ve loved every step of it, because maybe the prolonged preparation time for this show has meant that through stops and starts, they’ve been able to really digest each part by part, instead of just being in a whirlwind and being like, ‘oh, now it’s over.’ They’ve been able to really process things as it was happening.
And there have been calls for a Fusion 3! Who knows how that might happen? Anyways, we couldn’t have done this without our collaborators in Italy as well. So a shout out to the Arkad Foundation based in Italy for proposing the project and also being such good partners to work with; for really being that sounding board for the Italian artists. Not just in terms of linguistic support, but also for providing coaching and encouragement for every artist to complete their piece.
DK:
Yeah, I mean, I’m excited to see works through the (e-)tour! When I was reading the exhibition blurb on your website, I thought to myself, ‘wow, all this sounds like it required a lot of logistical coordination’–lots of strings to tie together, across the continents too. I’m quite curious to see how it turned out and how it occupies your space!
JN:
Yeah. It’s 30 pieces, all specifically made for the Fusion project, and each piece has been co-created by two artists together. So the authorship is joint. Each artist was able to take the initiative and start off first, because it’s always different–making something out of nothing and then being a secondary artist to add to that. Another thing worth mentioning is that you have to remember that none of the works had been created when the idea was pitched. It was just a concept! The works were a long shot in terms of garnering the necessary support to make it happen. But once the show opened, people got it immediately. I think one learns to persist in these sorts of things.
A special thank you to Hain Yoon, the Curatorial Assistant at Asia Society Hong Kong Center, for organising the conversation and the e-tour!
Dyana Kim