1997

June

Protection of the Harbour Ordinance was passed by the Legislative Council. The bill was proposed by the charitable organization Society for Protection of the Harbour to protect the Victoria Harbor waterfront from the Central and Wan Chai Reclamation project proposed in the 1980s.

July

The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China.

The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.

1998

October

The 1998 Policy Address announced the plan for the West Kowloon Cultural District.

1999

June

The Oil Street ex-Government Supplies Department was leased to local artists and organizations, who then formed the Oil Street Art Village.

Home Affairs (家事)

The curatorial project partnered 16 Hong Kong artists with 16 local participants, each group worked together to transform a domestic environment into an aesthetic space. The project aimed at developing new models of artistic collaboration, challenging the division of private and public space, and questing who the public was in public art.

Medium: Collorative art & exhibition

Organizer: Community Museum Project

Location: Sam Tung Uk Museum, Tsuen Wan

Reference: http://www.hkcmp.org/cmp/002_home.html

2000

The government reclaimed the Oil Street ex-Government Supplies Department and terminated the lease to the artists, many of whom soon moved to the Cattle Depot Artist Village.

2001

n.d.

The foundation of Art for All (全人藝動)

Art for A'll is a non-profit community art charitable organization established by Evelyna Liang Yee Woo, a veteran artist of socially engaged practice. It is dedicated to the combination of art and social services with the aim to reach out to those who have limited access to art due to unprivileged economic, physical, or social conditions. It also help to cultivate commnual consciousness and skills among its partnering artists and groups.

Medium: Art organization

Organizer: Evelyna Liang Yee Woo

Reference: https://art-for-all.org/about/

Cattle Depot Artist Village, adapted from the then Grade III historical site of former Ma Tau Kok Quarantine Depot, opened rental applications for local artists and groups.

May

The Urban Renewal Authority was established to replace the Land Development Corporation. It has since been working on the acceleration of urban renewals and perservation in Hong Kong.

August

The foundation of YMCArts in Education Project (港青創意藝術教育計劃)

The program is dedicated to the continous promotion of art and creative expression among young people between the age 17 to 35 through public art projects. It is known for a series of projects concerned with the culture of New Territories.

Medium: Art & pedagogy pogram

Organizer: Sandy

2002

January

The foundation of Community Museum Project

Community Museum Project is an art and curatorial collective that invites artists to experiment with alternative collection and archival practices through exhibitions and socially engaged art programmes. It is dedicated to the research and appreciation of quatidian visual cultures and personal histories.

Medium: Art collective

Organizer: Howard Chan, Siu Kingchung, Tse Pakchai, and Phoebe Wong.

Reference: http://www.hkcmp.org/cmp/002.html

2003

February

The commencement of the Central Reclamation Phase III plan.

March

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Hong Kong began.

June

Hong Kong was removed from the list of regions affected by SARS by the World Health Organisation.

July

The July 1 march held annually since the Handover was attended by aournd 500,000 citizens protesting against the legislation of Basic Law Article 23. The action led to the suspension of the article.

October

The 1st edition Hong Kong Social Movement Film Festival

The debut of the Hong Kong Social Movement Film Festival, which has been held annually since 2003

Medium: Film Festival

Organizer: Social Movement Resources Centre, Hong Kong Federation of Students (autonomous 8a)

Location: Hong Kong Federation of Students, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University & Self-Help Development Centre

The Urban Renewal Authority announced the Lee Tung Street / McGregor Street Project. Residents and shop owners (tenants) on the former Lee Tung Street formed the H15 concern group to organize a series of on-site resistance movement.

2004

April

Hong Kong Housing Society and Urban Renewal Authority announced the zoning of Sham Shui Po K20-23 Renewal District. The plan covered the area of Tokyo Street/Fuk Wing Street, Castle Peak Road/Un Chau Street, Cheung Wah Street, and Hing Wah Street. Most of the residents and small business owners were relocated in the following three years.

2005

February

Residents and shop owners of the former Lee Tung Street submitted the Dumbbell Proposal to the Town Planning Board. The proposal was the first bottom-up urban plannig scheme designed by citizens in the history of Hong Kong. Instead of the demolishing the street, it proposed to preserve the tenement buildings in the middle and build highrises on the two end of the street.

Street as Museum: Cultural Tourism (一街博物館—文化旅遊系列)

The project invited senior residents in Wan Chai district to give guided tours around the neighbourhood with creative themes.

Medium: Collorative art

Organizer: Community Museum Project, the AiR Association, and St. James Settlement

Location: Multiple streets in Wan Chai

Reference: http://www.hkcmp.org/cmp/002_street_cultural.html

March

The Town Planning Board rejected the Dumbbell Proposal of the formal Lee Tung Street.

September

Street as Museum: Lee Tung Street as You Have Never Seen Before (一街博物館—整整一條利東街）

The project was conducted at the imminent demolition of old Lee Tung Street. It conceptualized the whole street as a museum space, within which it scavenged and archived the stories and images of its people and thing. In particular, the project used digital technology to compose the facades of Lee Tung Street on a panorama. It also made a publication including an index of the street and a visualization of everyday life knowledge of the street.

Medium: Documentation, publication, & exhibition

Organizer: Community Museum Project, the AiR Association, and St. James Settlement

Location: A-Link+, Wan Chai

Reference: http://www.hkcmp.org/cmp/002_street_lee.html

October

The Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre, a cultural and art hub converted from the former Shek Kip Mei Flatted Factory Building, was open for rental. The centre offers affordable studio units to emerging artist and cultural workers across disciplines. It also harbors a theatre space, two galleries, and a courtyard for public events.

November

The Urban Renewal Authority began to reclaim properties on the former Lee Tung Street.

2006

n.d.

Community Cultural Concern (社區文化關注) was formed as a charitable organization. It later participated multiple civil planning cases including Viva Blue House, the new Choi Yuen Village, and the perservation of To Kwa Wan neighbourhood.

The whole year

Detailed zoning scheme of the Central Reclamation Phase III plan was announced and its plan to remove the Star Ferry Pier and Clock Tower arounsed wide public rejection. Citizens initiated a range of actions claiming the right of civil participation in democratic planning of the city.

The foundation of v-artivist and the making of the documentary Home Where the Yellow Banners Fly (黃幡翻飛處)

v-artivist is a aguerilla video collective that adopts documentary-making as a major strategy in its engagement in multiple urban spatial resistance movements. It was founded by some of the former members of the group Video Power (since 1989) during the resistance movement against the eviction of Lee Tung Street. The film Home Where the Yellow Banners Fly witness the birth of the group. It documented the resistance movements and bottom-up urban planning of the former Lee Tung Street since 2003. Affected residents and shop owners of the street also participated in the process of shooting and editing.

Medium: Participatory documentary making

Organizer: H15 concern group & v-artivist

Location: Lee Tung Street, Wan Chai

Reference: https://vaproductions.wordpress.com/tag/%E9%BB%84%E5%B9%A1%E7%BF%BB%E9%A3%9B%E8%99%95/

March

Hong Kong Housing Society announced to partner with the Urban Renewal Society on the renewal of Stone Nullah Lane, Hing Wan Street, and King Hin Street in Wan Chai. The plan involved evictions and the renovation of three historic heritages known as the Blue, Orange, and Yellow houses into tourist attractions, which aroused public concern.

August

820 Saving Star Ferry Port Art Action (820拯救天星藝術行動)

The art activism event held on 20 August included a performance demonstration at the Star Ferry Pier and a parade to the Governmental Headquarters to hand in an objection letter.

Medium: Art activism

Organizer: Hong Kong artists & civil organizations including Habitus and SEE Network

Location: Old Star Ferry Pier and Edinburgh Place, Central

September

Local artists formed the group We Are Society.

Art Action to Conserve the Star Ferry Clock Tower (保衛鐘樓藝術行動)

The event was organized for four consecutive Sundays since 10 September. It involved spontaneous art activism and creative forms of resistance, which also encouraged the citizen's participatoin.

Medium: Art activism

Organizer: Hong Kong artists & We Are Society

Location: Old Star Ferry Pier, Central

October

My Soil, My Land: Community Art Project (天‧水‧泥：社區藝術計劃)

The project engaged five hundred primary school students in making ceramic art with the mud collected from Tin Shui Wai

Medium: Aimed at cultivating an environmental awareness, the project engaged five hundred schoolchildren in making ceramic art with the mud collected from Tin Shui Wai.

Organizer: The Hong Kong Wetland Park, Hong Kong Arts Centre & Public Art Hong Kong

Location: Tin Shui Wai

November-December

The Star Ferry Pier stopped operation, after which tens of thousands of citizens, joint by architects and academics, protested at the pier site against it demolision. Nevertheless, the pier and the Clock Tower was torn down. The activist and conservation organization Land Justice League (本土行動) was founded.

December

The Urban Renewal Authority began to demolish the former Lee Tung Street while the remaining residents and tenants started a hunger strike.

2007

The whole year

The “Protecting Blue House Movement” was initiated by St. James’ Settlement. This included a range of activities, including concern groups, art festivals, as well as planning workshops and symposiums, that reached out the stakeholders affected by the renewal plan. The goal was to summon collective efforts in making a bottom-up conservation plan for the Blue House.

January

A group of citizens launched the “People Landing on the Queen’s Pier” action to demand the conservation of the site and restoration of the Star Ferry Pier.

February

In Search of Marginalized Wisdom : Sham Shui Po Craftspeople (小作業大智慧- 深水埗手工業者展覽)

The project was commissioned by the Working Group on the Problems of Urban Renewal of Sham Shui Po district. In following eight craftmem in the district and investigating their "production process, survival strategies, and community relations," the project aimed at learning how the wisdom of doing small businesses with limited space and resource. The accompany exhibition was held in the craftmen's shops.

Medium: Collorative art, publication & exhibition

Organizer: Community Museum Project

Location: Shek Kip Mei Estate, Shek Kip Mei

Reference: http://www.hkcmp.org/cmp/002_craftsman.html

Wan Chai Livelihood Place (灣仔民間生活館) , currently known as the Hong Kong House of Stories (香港故事館), was open to the public

The former Wan Chai Livehood Place was established on the ground floor space of the Blue House during the bottom-up planning process as a space for displaying the history and culture of Wan Chai. In 2012, the government approved the St. James Settlement's proposal "Viva Blue House," which suggested to transform the cluster into multifunctional complex with both residential units and community centers. In 2014, the Wan Chai livelihood Place was opened after renovation as the Hong Kong House of Stories, a community-based art and cultural space.

Medium: Community-based alternative space

Organizer: St. James' Settlement

Location: Blue House, Wan Chai

Reference:https://vivabluehouse.hk/tc/menu/27/story

Our Life in West Kowloon (活在西九)

The exhibition was organized in an old tenement building in which the Society for Community Organization was based to showcase the architecture, living conditions, rooftop gardens, grassroots life, and various small businesses in the Sham Shui Po. It partnered artists and architects with the underprivileged families living in the building to transform the space into an art exhibition, during the process of which the art community and audience learned about grassroot living conditions and culture.

Medium: Collorative art & exhibition

Organizer: Society for Community Organization

Reference: https://soco.org.hk/en/our-life-in-kowloon_exh/

April - August

Campaigns against the demolition of the Queen’s Pier continued, involving site occupation, site-in protests, and hunger strike.

May

Flower in the Ruins: Queen’s Pier Culture Festival” (廢墟之花-皇后碼頭文化節)

The festival was held on 6 May and involved storytelling, poetry reading, street theatre, performance art, dancing, and concert. The event hoped to sustain the liveliness the Queen's Pier while offering a creative menas of occupation.

Medium: Art festival & activism

Organizer: Hong Kong artists & Land Justice League

Reference: Old Queen's Pier

August

The Queen’s Pier was closed and the demolition began.

October

The planning for “North East New Territories New Development Areas” (NENT NDAs) was proposed in the 2007-2008 Polity Address. The plan aims at claming land in three areas in Northeast New Territories, namely Ping Che/Ta Kwu Ling, Fanling North, and Kwun Tung North, for buiding new public and private housing to accomodate a growing population.

2008

n.d.

The making of the documentary People in Deep Distress (「水深火熱的人們」)

The documentary was mde from 2006 to 2008, featuring the remaining small business and handicraft shops in the Sham Shui Po K20-23 Renewal District.

Medium: Participatory documentary making

Organizer: Affected residents, volunteers, with v-artivist

Location: Sham Shui Po

Reference: https://vaproductions.wordpress.com/tag/%E6%B0%B4%E6%B7%B1%E7%81%AB%E7%86%B1%E7%9A%84%E4%BA%BA%E5%80%91/

The foundation of Art Together (藝術到家)

It is a non-profit art group and registered charitable organization devoted to the promotion of community art. The group has held multiple participatory projects in collaboration with other art groups, organizations, and schools in public and outdoor spaces around Hong Kong, with an emphasis on the pedagogical role of art.

Medium: Art organization

Reference: http://www.arttogether.org/

August

The Last Suit You Ever Need: Burial Clothes Re-imagined (華麗上路 — 壽衣再想像)

The project partnered local designers, elderlies, and sewing workers to design and make feneral clothes. It hoped to bring together the old and younger generations of people in discussing the issue of life and death, the meaning of burial rituals, and differences in their aesthetic choices and desires.

Medium: Collorative art & exhibition

Organizer: Community Museum Project &Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Yu Mak Yuen Integrated Services Centre

Location:A-Link+, Wan Chai

Reference:http://www.hkcmp.org/cmp/002_burial_clothes.html

November

The government announced to the land reclamation of old Choi Yuen Village for making room for the construction of “an emergency rescue station and stabling sidings” for the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link.

December

Choi Yuen Village Concern Group was founded by a group of affected villagers. The group initiated a series of demonstration at the Kam Sheung Road Station.

2009

March

The foundation of Woofer Ten (活化廳)

The group was established as a non-profit organization by a group of local art professionals during their application for ADC's Shanghai Street Artspace Exhibition Hall scheme in 2009. The sucessful application granted the group the managerial right of 404 Shanghai Street storefront space, which was run from 2009 to 2013 under the funding of ADC as an experimental community platform dedicated to alternative approaches of urban revival.

Medium: Art organization & community-based art space

Organizer: Woofer Ten members

Location: Yau Ma Tei

June

Hong Kong Housing Society announced the renewal plan for 69-83 Shun Ning Road. The plan included evicting the affected residents from eight street numbers of buildings, who would not be able to relocated within the Sham Shui Po district or with affordable accommodation.

July

Residents and tenants affected by the Shun Ning Road renewal plan form a concern group.

The foundation of Complaints Choir of Hong Kong (香港投訴合唱團)

Inspired by Finnish artist Tellero Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen, the group voiced out Hong Kong citizens' dissatisfactions with various social issues through singing together in public occasions.

Medium: Art activism collective

September

The plan of preserving the origingal architecture and households of the Blue House while transforming it into the museum “Wan Chai Livelihood Place,” proposed St. James’ Settlement and other stakeholder in the neighbourhood was officially approved after 2 years’ appeal.

Let’s Sing! “Down Down Express-Rail-Link” Concert (高高燢興唱低高鐵音樂會)

The concret was held as a part of the Anti-XRL movement. It used singing as a method to introduce the rationale behind the resistance movement and the problematics of the XRL project.

Medium: Art festival & activism

Organizer: Slow Development Hong Kong

Location: Time Square, Causeway Bay

October

Few Few Prize, Many Many Praise” (多多獎，小小賞)

The initiative is the debut project by Woofer Ten. It invited local artists and art student to visit more than thirty shops on Shanghai Street to learn the history of the small businesses there. After the fieldwork, the artists and students conceived multiple awards, which were presented to the shop owners to show appreciations for their work. A follow-up exhibition was also held in Woofer Ten's space

Medium: Collorative art & exhibition

Organizer: Woofer Ten

Location: Yau Ma Tei

Reference: http://prize-prize-prize.blogspot.com/

The launchment of the programe See Through (隔窗有嘢)

On a monthly basis, the program invited local artists to stage an interactive project that involved the participation of surrounding neighbours through or utilizing the window of Woofer Ten's space. It actualized 15 projects from 2009 to 2011.

Medium: Collorative art & exhibition

Organizer: Hosted by Woofer Ten and organized by Wan Yau

Location: Yau Ma Tei

Reference: http://seeseethrough.blogspot.com/

More than a thousand villagers and concern citizens gathered at old Choi Yuen Village for the ““Group Photo for Thousands of People Who Support Choi Yuen Village” event and demonstration. Meanwhile, the Executive Council passed the budget plan of the XRL.

November

More than a thousand people engaged in a demonstration in front of the government headquarters in Central, during which a hundred people stage a sit-in protest.

December

More than a thousand citizens gathered at the Legislative Council Building to protest against the funding plan then in-debate.

2010

The whole year

The self-intiative planning of new Choi Yuen Village, led by Wang Weijen Architecture studio with participation of the villagers. The project through rehabitation, ecological architectural and spatial design, as well as grassroots participation, offered an alternative model to the governmental relocation strategies.

January

The post-1980s generation of activists launched the “Prostrating Walk of the Five Districts” to protest against the XRL plan. Later in the same month, the Legislative Council passed the fundig plan for the XRL. After that, more than ten thousand citizens gathered at the Legislative Council Building for two days for the Resistance Carnival.

Tens of Thousands of People Against the Legislative Council·Anti-XRL Resistance Carnival (萬人決戰立法會：反高鐵抗爭嘉年華)

The carnival was organized accompanying the demonstration against the XRL funding plan.

Medium: Art festival & activism

Organizer: Chater Garden and Statue Square, Central

March

The launchment of the "Dare to Teach If U Ar Willing to Learn" workshop series (「你肯學，我敢教」工作坊系列)

The series invited local artists and handicraft masters to give workshops on various art skills such origami, watercolor, booklet making, music record, cooking, and local craftmanship like Fa Pai making. The workshops were often thematically designed in response to specific social issues or occasions such as the seasonal holidays or annual aniversary of certain social movements. From 2010 to 2013, seventeen workshops were held.

Medium: Collorative art

Organizer: Hosted by Woofer Ten and organized by Au Wah Yan

Location: 404 Shanghai Street

Reference: http://wwworkshop.blogspot.com/

The foundation of local farming collective Sangwoodgoon (生活館)

The collective was born out of the Anti-XRL and Choi Yuen Village resistance movement. It is currently an organic farming group consisting of a group of local activists as well as cultural and art worker who experiment with alternative models of economies and living.

Medium: Farming collective

Location: Kam Tin, Yuen Long

Reference: https://sangwoodgoon.wordpress.com/

Summer

Mapopo Community Farm was founded by farmers in Ma Shi Po and a group of citizens concerned with permaculture in Hong Kong.

September

Shun Ning Road Concern Group proposed a self-initiated renewal scheme “Sham Shui Po Stay Plan,” in replacement of the 69-83 Shun Ning Road and renewal plans, based on surveys conducted with residents within the district.

October

Land Breathing Concert in Ma Shi Po (土地呼吸馬屎埔音樂會)

The concert was the first public art event held in Ma Shi Po after it was announced to be demolished. The event was to introduce the village and its conumdrum to both participating artists and citizens.

Medium: Art Festival & activism

Organizer: YMCArts & Mapopo Community Farm

Location: Ma Shi Po village, Fanling

November

The first and second evictions took place in the old Choi Yuen Village.

December

The government continued to vandalize housing, transportation infrastructure, and vegatations in the old Choi Yuen Village

2011

February

Woodstock in Spring·Here Comes Choi Yuen Village: An Arts Festival Among the Ruins (新春糊士托·菜園滾滾來—大型廢墟藝術節)

The festival was held during the last Spring Festival expected to be held in the old Choi Yuen Village. It attracted more than three thousand citizens to the demolition site, which also help to temporarily keep the village safe from vandalism.

Medium: Art Festival & activism

Organizer: Villagers of the old Choi Yuen Village and local art workers

Location: The old Choi Yuen Village, Kam Tim, Yuen Long

The whole year

The making of the documentary Walk on! Shun Ning Road! (「順寧道，走下去！」)

The documentary was made in collaboration with the tenants being affected by the Shun Ning Road renewal plan. It paid special attention to the conditions faced by the most underprivileged social groups - crossborder (Mainland-Hong Kong) families and a single mother, who were excluded from any compensation plan.

Medium: Participatory documentary making

Organizer: Shun Ning Road concern group and affected residents with v-artivist

Location: Sham Shui Po

Reference: https://vaproductions.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/2012shunning/

n.d.

The foundation of EmptySCape (空城計劃)

The group was established by a group of "multi-discplinary profession" with the aim to "re-use, re-represent, reinterpret" dilapidated spaces in Hong Kong through art intervention.

Medium: Art collective

Reference: https://emptyscape.wordpress.com/about/

April - May

Some of the residents from the old Choi Yuen Village are relocated to the new site of the village.

September - December

Ma Shi Po Village Earthware Utensil Exhibition (馬屎埔村生活器皿展)

The exhibition collected utensils from Ma Shi Po villages to tell the history of the place and envision its future. It consisted of three parts: the past shows utensils collected from the villagers, the present encompassed items found in the villages ruins, and the future utensils are made together by local artists and citizens in workshops.

Medium: On-site art & exhibition

Organizer: Soil breathes, Mapopo Community Farm, and YMCArts in Education Project

Location: Ma Shi Po village, Fanling

October

Several hundreds of citizens launched the Occupy Central movement on the plaza near the HSBC headquarters as a response to to the international Occupy Movements started in the same year. The goal was to protest against hegemonic neo-liberalist economic models and social inequality.

n.d.

The foundation of 2&3 Tak Cheong Lane

2&3 Tak Cheong Lane is an experimental sapce with multiple roles: an info shop, a vegetarian cooperative, a community centre, a space for live music and art. Its establishment was inspire by the Occupy Central movement from 2011 to 2012, which cultivated a local awareness of how to utizlize public space.

Medium: Community-based alternative space

Location: Yau Ma Tei

2012

The whole year

"Beautifying Ma Shi Po" Murals for Village Protection (『美化馬屎埔村家園』壁畫護村活動)

The project invited six local artists to collaborate with Ma Shi Po villagers to repaint the outier wall of village houses for the elderly. It was among a series of socially engaged art projects co-organized by Mapopo Community Farm and YMCArts in Education Project.

Medium: On-site art

Organizer: Mapopo Community Farm, and YMCArts in Education Project

Location: Ma Shi Po village, Fanling

Reference: https://mapopo.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/mural/

June

Kai Tak River Green Corridor Community Education Project (啟德河綠色藝術節)

The project partnered seventeen primary and middle schools with local and oversea artists, environmentalists, academics, and civil organizations to explore the ecology and community culture along the Kai Tak River through a range of activities including but not limited to art workshops. The project spaned over six months, leading to a reporting exhibition in 1a space in June 2012.

Medium: Collorative art & exhibition

Organizer: Urban Place Research Unit, the School of Architecture, CUHK

Location: Kai Tak River & 1 a space

July

More than 9,000 citizens joined the march of protest against the Moral and National Education scheme. The resistance movement lasted until the scheme was suspended in September of the same year.

Summer

The foundation of Society for Indigenous Learning (鄉土學社), an organization dedicated to the conservation of rural culture and communities in the New Territories and the promotion of permaculture.

October

Yau Ma Tei Leftover Guide (油麻地剩食圖鑑)

The project invited students from the Academy of Visual Arts, HKBU, to conduct fieldworks in Yau Ma Tei and interview the neighbours about tactics of processing and reusing leftover food. It explored the possibility of transforming leftover into materials of art and the use of infographics in presenting findings.

Medium: Collorative art, publication & exhibition

Organizer: Woofer Ten & the Curatorial Team (Fong Wan Chi, Kiki Ho, Sum Wing Man, Justina Woo, Dorothy Cheung, Phyllis Ting, Toto Lee) from the Visual Art Axis, Academy of Visual Arts, HKBU

Location: 404 Shanghai Street, Woofer Ten

Reference: https://soilhk.wordpress.com/2012/12/25/%E6%B2%B9%E9%BA%BB%E5%9C%B0%E5%89%A9%E9%A3%9F%E5%9C%96%E9%91%91/

2013

The whole year

The launchment of the " Five Elements of the Old District" (舊區五行紀) series

It was a collective filmmaking project v-artivist conducted with its core members, volunteers, and collaborating citizens from 2013 to 2016. It explored the perceptual dimensions and narrative lexicons of urban spaces from the viewpoints of its residents, using gold, wood, water, fire and earth as the core metaphors.

Medium: participatory filmmaking

Organizer: v-artivist

Location: Multiple location in Hong Kong

Reference: https://5elements.video.blog/

May

Oi! Art Space at no. 12 Oil Street, developed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, was opened to public. The space is dedicated to the cultivation of young art talents and the promotion of public and communal art.

June

The First EmptySCape Art Festival: Beyond the Village School (第一屆空城藝術節：坪輋•村校•展演)

The festival was held in the former Ping Yeung Village School in Ping Che, Fanling of the New Territories to arouse the public's interest in the history and current condition of discarded public spaces. It invited artists and the public to participate in the making of on-site installations and performances. It also staged a range of artoworks, concert, screening, talks, workshops, and guided tours.

Medium: Art Festival

Organizer: EmptySscape & Ping Che-Ta Kwu Ling Save Our Home Alliance

Location: Former Ping Yeung Public School, Ping Che, NT

The revised planning for “North East New Territories New Development Areas” was announced during the 2013 Polity Address. The plan allows developers to apply for changing land usage for private development without going through governmental land reclamation and auction processes, which accelerated evictions in Northeast New Territories and intensified the conflicts between developers, Hong Kong government, and villagers. Meanwhile, the development plan for Ta Ku Ling/Ping Che area was suspended.

July

Sham Shui Po Cherish Food Guide (深水埗惜食圖鑑 )

Continuing the method and rational of the " Yau Ma Tei Leftover Guide," the project brought the research of leftover food to Sham Shui Po. Collaborating with the housewives in the region, the project learned from them recipes using leftover as cooking materials, which was documented in a publication.

Medium: Collorative art & publication

Organizer: Yaumatei Gardener

Location: Goodlab

Reference: Programme website: https://ymtgardener.wordpress.com/ssp/

2014

The whole year

Village Beautifying Project (村落美化計劃)

The project partnered local artists and young people to experiment with alternative ways of developing rural villages in the New Territories, primarily through painting murals on the surfaces of all public spaces in villages of Ping Che.

Medium: On-site art

Organizer: Local villager KK & Emptyscape

Location: Ping Che, N.T.

Reference: Programme website: https://emptyscape.wordpress.com/%e6%9d%91%e8%90%bd%e7%be%8e%e5%8c%96%e8%a8%88%e5%8a%83-village-beautification-project/

Summer

Tin Shui Collaborative (天水營造社)

The project centre on Tin Sau Bazaar, a small market palce in Tin Shui Wai district that were facing financial challenges. A group of art and cultural workers were invited to organize workshops for discussing issues including urban planning, public space, local markets, quotidian aesthetics, and community art. During this process, the project expanded to collaborate with local small business owners to experiment with alternative community building and economic practices.

Medium: Collorative art & publication

Organizer: MaD (Make A Difference)

Location: Tin Shui Wai

Reference: http://www.mad.asia/programmes/socially-engaged-art/273

June

The Housing Departmentacknowledged a public housing development plan in Wang Chau, Yuen Long of the New Territories. The plan was to build 4,000 public housing units on on a greenbelt, which required to evict the residents of three nearby non-indigenous villages including Fung Chi Tsuen,Wing Ning Tsuen, and Yeung Uk San Tsuen.

House of To Kwa Wan Stories/To Home (土家故事館) was open to the public for the first time since its foundation in 2013 (土家故事館)

The space is rooted in the To Kwa Wan neighbourhood. It undertakes the mission to cultivate a sense of community in the district by exploiting the publicness of the space as a platform for various activities. It has also been struggling against the urban renewal plans in the region.

Medium: Community-based alternative space

Organizer: Community Cultural Concern & Fixing HK

Location: To Kwa Wan

September

The civil disobedience movement Occupy Central with Love and Peace was launched on 24 September to appeal for a democratic electoral system in Hong Kong. The Umbrella Movement soon emerged out of this initiated and last for 79 days.

Autumn

The launchment of the Urban-rural Life Community Arts proejct (城鄉共生藝術遊學計劃）

In this project, partnering with local artists and middle schools, YMCArts brought students to Ma Shi Po village to explore the agricultural ecology and permaculture of Hong Kong though artistic approach. The project later expanded to multiple villages including Ping Che, new Choi Yuen Village, and Kwong Pan Tin Tsuen.

Medium: Art & pedagogy pogram

Organizer: YMCArts

Location: Multiple villages in the New Territories

2015

n.d.

The launchement of "I Live It All" (我住嗮)

“I Live It All” is a longitudinal community art program that invites artists and the public to engage with senior citizens through creative and dialogical collaboration. In 2009, Hong Kong government suspended the Senior Housing program that once offered affordable rental units to elderly citizens. Instead, Senior Housing units were used for public housing schemes. As a result, elderlies who cannot afford rising rents would be sent to retirement houses. Concerned the possible social isolation faced by this community, I Live It All establishes itself as a platform between the senior citizens, art, and the public.

Medium: Community art & pedagogy

Organizer: Leung Ho Yin, with support from the I‧CARE Programme of CUHK

Reference: http://iliveitall.com/about

August

Remember Sing Ping Art Festival (活現昇平：村校．藝術．大笪地)

The project invited more than thirty teaches and students from local schools to visit Sing Ping Village, where they learn the histories of the place with special attention to the rural schools gradually disappearing after the 1990s. It led to in-situ creation of art and the two-day art festival in the village.

Medium: Collorative art, exhibition & art festival

Organizer: SoIL (Society for Indigenous Learning)

Location: Sing Ping Tsuen，Ta Kwu Ling, N.T.

November

The foundation of Kai Fong Pai Dong (街坊排檔)

It is a self-organized community space built around a small market stall. While the stall sells and criculates a variety of products, it functions mainly as a gathering place that the members described as "urban commons." It also organizes simple social services and communal activities.

Medium: Community-based alternative space

Location: Yau Ma Tei

The Third Space I: Sai Wan Winter Cam 空間叄號 (一): 西灣冬令營

The event was organized to review the controversy over the use of land in Sai Wan village in Sai Kung, which started in 2010 when a private developer plan to use the land for a luxurous real estate project. It invited participants to join three local artists in screening and camping event held in the village.

Medium: Collorative art

Organizer: Organized by Asian Art Archive in collaboration with the General Education Unit, HKU, and the Visual Arts Society of Hong Kong Baptist University Student's Union.

Location: Sai Wan Village, Sai Kung

Reference: https://aaa.org.hk/tc/about/press/the-third-space-1-sai-wan-winter-camp-asia-art-archives-alternative-space-to-re-imagine-art-education

December

The launchment of the Ng Tung River Art Festival (梧桐河藝術節)

The program, held for three consecutive Sundays since 13 December, brought citizen participants to the New Territories, where they are introduced to the history and culture of the rural villages through guided tours, theatre, interactive exhibition, oral histories, and art workshops.

Medium: Art Festival

Organizer: Mapopo Community Farm, the theatre group Tomato, and

Location: The area surrounding the Ng Tung River

2016

n.d.

Rooftop Institute (天台塾 )

Rooftop Institute is an art pedagogy platform and a multifunctional art space that holds exhibitor and educational activities. It invites artists to initiate research and practice projects that engage local communities. Through these initiatives, Rooftop Institute responses to current social affairs within the local and the broader contexts of Asia.

Medium: Art & pedagogy pogram

Organizer: Artists Yim Sui Fong, Law Yuk Mui & Professor Frank Vigneron

The foundation of Green Wave Art(碧波押)

The community-based art space was run by the Centre for Community Cultural Development, who took over the management of 404 Shanghai Street with commision from the Hong Kong Art Development Council. It is dedicated to exhibition projects related to current social affairs and other community-engaging events such as screening and workshops.

Medium: Community-based alternative space

Organizer: the Centre for Community Cultural Development (CCCD)

Location: 404 Shanghai Street

The whole year

The launchement of "Dialogue of Places" (不 . 同城誌)

This project invites no-professional filmmakers, including students and grassroots neighbours, to explore their shared experineces of living in old districts through dialogical filmmaking. It hopes to elicit reflections on the relationship between habitation, community, and old district spaces.

Medium: participatory filmmaking

Organizer: v-artivist

Location: Multiple location in Hong Kong

Reference: https://dialogueofplaces.wordpress.com/

January & April

Sustanible Fest (源野生活節)

The program searched for and promoted sustainable way of living by collborating with local small businesses and community civic organizations in performative and festival art events.

Medium: Art Festival

Organizer: Art Together

Location: Kai Tak Runway Park, Kowloon City & Cattle Depot Artists Village, To Kwa Wan

Reference: https://www.sustainablefest.org/story

February

The 2nd Emptyscape Art Festival "Beyond the Village School" (第二屆空城藝術節：坪輋·村校·之外)

Continuing the method of the First EmptySCape Art Festival, the 2nd edition of the festival ventured beyond the space of the public school to bring participants into the surround rural spaces through art events.

Medium: Art Festival

Organizer: EmptySscape & Ping Che-Ta Kwu Ling Save Our Home Alliance

Location: Ping Yeung Public School, Ping Che, N.T.

Reference: Programme website: https://emptyscape.wordpress.com/?fbclid=IwAR0e1K7jP6U6WozSx7iG5eyKDSgEMiHqIkj7Qz4yFQvhDF8yU4RDo8MCdBs

March

The Urban Renewal Authority announced the Bailey Street/Wing Kwong Street Development Project (KC-009) in To Kwa Wan

May

The Urban Renewal Authority announced Chun Tin Street/Sung Chi Street Development Scheme [KC-008(A)] in To Kwa Wan

June

The Urban Renewal Authority announced the Hung Fook Street/Kai Ming Street Development Project (KC-011)

September

Chu Hoi Dick won a seat in the Legislative Council election, after which he called for the public’s attention to land justice issues regarding the public housing plan in Wang Chau.

2017

n.d.

The launchement of "Earth, the Multitude" (土載四方眾)

It is a collective documentary making project involving v-artivist members, volunteers, and villagers of the new Choi Yuen Village. The project hopes to capture the everyday life and community network of the village after its relocation.

Medium: Participatory documentary making

Organizer: v-artivist

Location: New Choi Yuen Village, Yuen Long

Reference: https://earththemultitude.wordpress.com/

The foundation of Play Depot (土炮遊樂場)

The program is based in the Cattle Depot Artist Village. It aims at cultivating a commnual space for chidren and adults in To Kwa Wan where they can creatively transform recycled materials and traditional handicrafts into objects and games of playfulness. The project also hold art residencies that encourage creative individuals to explore the interrelation between play and art.

Medium: Art organization & community-based art space

Organizer: Founded by a group of local artists, academics, and administrators

Location: Cattle Depot Artist Village, To Kwa Wan

Reference: https://earththemultitude.wordpress.com/

July

The 1st Annual Wang Chau Jackfruit Festival 2017 (第一屆橫洲大樹菠蘿節2017)

The festival was held to draw the pubilc to the three villages around a greenbelt in Wang Chau, which was to be evicted and demolished for building public housing. The festival introduced the treasurous natural resources and culture of Wang Chau to the citizens to highlight the ecological value of the place as a buffer zone.

Organizer: Wang Chau Green Belt Development Concern Group

Location: Fung Chi Tsuen, Yuen Long

November

“Breathe in the Nature” Land Art Camp 2017 (「源野呼吸」大地藝術營 2017)

The program intends to bring urbanites to the natural envrionment through the practice of "Land Art."

Meduim: Art Festival

Organizer: Hong Kong Arts Development Council & Art Together

Location: Nam Shan Campsite, Lantau Island, NT; Sai Wan, Sai Kung, NT; Pak Lap Wan, Sai Kung, NT; Lo Kei Wan, Lantau Island, NT; Long Kei Tsai, Sai Kung, NT

Reference: https://www.sustainablefest.org/campingorgin

2018

January

Fishpond Sustainable Arts Festival (魚塘源野藝術節)

The program takes the advance of the Hong Kong Fishpond Conservation Scheme, which was intiated by the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society in 2012, to introduce to the public about the ecology of fishponds in North West New Territory

Meduim: Art Festival

Organizer: Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Art Together & Hong Kong Bird Watching Society

Location: Tai Sang Wai, San Tin, Yuen Long

Reference: https://www.sustainablefest.org/aboutfishpond

March

Hi! Hill (邂逅！山 川 人)

The project partnered a group of local artists, designers, and photographers with the community of Chuen Lung Village in Tsuen Want to revist the history of the place, with special attention to societal role the former Chuen Lung Koon Man School. The project led to site-specific art making and an exhibition in November.

Meduim: Collorative art & exhibition

Organizer: The Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Art Promotion Office & MaD (Make A Difference)Development Council, Art Together & Hong Kong Bird Watching Society

Location: Tsuen Wan

Reference: https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/APO/zh_TW/web/apo/hi_hill.html

August

The 2nd Annual Wang Chau Jackfruit Festival 2018 (第二屆橫洲大樹菠蘿節2018 )

The 2nd edition of the festival continued the method of the 1st edition.

Meduim: Art Festival & activism

Organizer: Wang Chau Green Belt Development Concern Group

Location: Fung Chi Tsuen, Yuen Long