The Works：HK Palace Museum controversy & tribute to John Berger

A little before Christmas, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam told Hong Kong it was getting a surprise gift as she signed a memorandum of understanding with the Palace Museum in Beijing to construct Hong Kong’s own version … in the West Kowloon Cultural District. The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority will collaborate with the Palace Museum to develop the Hong Kong Palace Museum in the district. The HK3.5 billion cost of the initial construction will be borne by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which has enabled the government to fund the project with no legislative oversight or consultation. That, and the direct appointment of architect Rocco Yim without tendering, sparked a public outcry, and accusations that it is a political rather than cultural decision. As first envisioned, as far back as 1998, the West Kowloon Cultural District was to be a major cross-cultural hub for bringing the international arts to Hong Kong and introducing Hong Kong and China’s arts to the rest of the world. Now, with the disappearance of an internationally oriented mega performance venue and its replacement by a Hong Kong version of Beijing’s Palace Museum, the emphasis seems to have changed.
For those interested in art and human creativity, 2017 did not get off to a good start with the death in Paris of cultural commentator, novelist, poet, and artist, John Berger at the age of 90 on January 2nd. John Berger was best known to many for his 1972 TV programme and book Ways of Seeing. The book, which examined the relationship between art, social structures, and capitalist production, has never been out of print since. It’s also long been useful reading for generations of art students. Berger was an avowed Marxist, which undoubtedly explains the somewhat snotty tone certain newspaper obituaries took after hid death. But apart from being an art critic, he was certainly much more.