Present Encounters : Papers from the conference of the Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, 1996

argued against the popular belief that there was no sign ificant art i n Hong Kong before the 1 960s. The 'Hong Kong Culture Series' covers a broad range of subjects, includi ng comic and commercial art, such as the calendar painting of Kwan Wai Loong , whose i nfluence extended all the way to China. The most significant exhibition of the series was, I think, 'Hong Kong Sixties: Designing Identity' (1 995), which focused on a decade which has been regarded by many scholars as the formative years of a distinctive Hong Kong culture . The exhi bition intensified nosta lgic trends in Hong Kong and led to many debates which continue today. I n other exh i bitions we focused o n the Hong Kong generation - those who were born locally after the war. Typically, members of this generation have little direct connection with China in either a physical or emotional sense. 'Tum of a Decade' (1 990) was typical of this kind of exhibition. The Hong Kong Arts Centre has also staged experimental exhibitions such as ' I n Search of Art ' (1 989) . 4 Based on the idea that every home is a personal museum , we invited the public to send in objects which no longer served any function but were still on display in their living rooms. The participants were also asked to write down the reasons why they d isplayed the selected objects in their homes. The exhibition not only questioned the concepts of 'art' and 'museum', but also revealed an intimate collection of personal and local histories through objects of art col lected by Hong Kong people. Cultural identity is a dangerous issue. A distinctive culture suggests cultural autonomy which , in tum , implies political autonomy. It is even more complicated in the context of Hong Kong. The Chinese government would like to see Hong Kong people stay and help to keep Hong Kong prosperous. But that would need a commitment and an identification with Hong Kong's way of life. What will happen if this identification gets too strong? Despite the sensitive natu re of 'cultural identity', I have to say that up until now, there has not been any political pressure on my curatorial decisions. However, there is an eth ical dimension to bei ng a curator that I find i ncreasingly d ifficult to deal with . In July this year we organised a retrospective of the political cartoonist, Zunzi , who was described by a local magazine as one of the fi rst individuals who would defi nitely go to jail after 1 997. Putting up such an exhibition would certainly be regarded as pol itica lly provocative. The question is, as a curator, have I imposed a political view on an institution which i ncludes many staff whose careers m ight be affected after 1 997, despite the fact that I firmly believe that Zunzi is a significant artist and h is importance has been well recognised by the Hong Kong public? Then again, at a time when we all are worried about self-censorship with in art institutions, isn't this an important statement one needs to make? An interesting incident happened while I was curati ng the Zunzi exhibition. I made a joke when I invited the artist, who is a friend of mine, to have the show. I told h im, 'I want to organise an exhibition for you . Will you be afraid'? He replied , 'It should be me aski ng you if you're afraid'! This conversation somehow got into the press and it was stated prominently that the 'Hong Kong Arts Centre is terrified by the organisation of the Zunzi exhi bition'. I was then labelled as exercising self-censorship. Politicians were interviewed and stated things such as, 'A curator in such a position should not be afraid; it is being irresponsible'. 5 In a way, this showed how nervous and neurotic the community has become. Sometimes, however, this nervous energy works i n a beautiful way. I n early 1 995, the sculpture, New Man, by the British sculptor Elisabeth Frink was declared 'indecent' by the Obscene Article Tribunal. Consequently, the sculpture's exposed penis had to be covered . The entire art community was outraged and immediate action was taken. The sculpture was removed from its origi nal venue, which was a commercial building , and placed in the Arts Centre because the Tribunal ind icated that if the sculpture was displayed in an art gallery then the exposed penis was fine. Discussion was organised at the gallery which further i ncreased the press coverage. The case was then brought to the Court of Appeal and we won . The public pressure was such that the government agreed to make amendments to both the existing leg islature as well as the operation of the Tribunal. 1 0 1