The Works：New art space "Casphalt", art in convenient stores, Lee du Ploy & African American art at

There’s no doubt Hong Kong is one of the world’s most densely populated cities, and our government often tells us that there’s a land shortage here. In his Policy Address this year Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying continued to insist on the idea of developing our country parks for housing. Green groups and other organisations have pointed that there is in fact quite a bit of so-called “brownfield” land here that could be developed. And the Audit Department has revealed that land is also occupied by as many as 234 vacant schools, 80% of them primary schools, some of which have been left empty for decades. To stop at least part of that space being wasted, one group of likeminded people has made use of one of those schools, a former village school that used to belong to the Ching Leung Nunnery in Tuen Mun, by converting it into an art space.
Convenience stores are an inevitable part of Hong Kong, as of any city that never entirely sleeps. One particular chain has over 900 convenience stores in Hong Kong, with one outlet every 1.16 square kilometres. But convenience stores are not just an outlet for things you feel you desperately need in the middle of the night. At least not any more. How about a little “convenience store” art?
Born in South Africa to European parents, Lee du Ploy has since lived in Paris, Amsterdam and London before coming to Hong Kong. In all that time he has followed twin passions: art and psychology. In Hong Kong, one of those obsessions led him to set up his own gallery, the ZZHK Gallery. Organised by Blue Lotus Gallery until 24th of this month, you can see how his own art reflects his other obsession in “The Glass Façade” which focuses on, he says, “flawed troubled human beings”.
Look at images of Barack Obama’s administration and his supporters, and Donald Trump’s administration and his supporters, and you can’t help but notice one thing: a marked reduction in the number of non-white faces. The ascension of Barack Obama to the White House was perhaps the most potent acknowledgement so far of the contribution that African-Americans have made to the history and culture of the United States, and an exhibition at the Hong Kong University Museum and Art Gallery called “Rising Above: The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection” aims to reflect not only the hard and dark times of slavery and the past, but also the fact that without its African-American population the United States would not be the nation that it is today. The exhibition is the first privately owned collection to have been displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and has been seen by over six million people in 24 cities across the United States. This is the first time it has travelled outside America.