Para Site: 29 Years and Counting

My Own Words is a monthly series which features personal essays by practitioners in the Southeast Asian art community. They deliberate on their locality's present circumstances, articulating observations and challenges in their respective roles.

Photo documentation of Hot Pot, Hot Talk gathering organised by Para/Site Art Space, at its original location, 34 Li Po Lung Path, Kennedy Town, in 1996. Image courtesy of Para Site.

In September 2024, I took on the role of Deputy Director at Para Site, the longest-running independent non-profit arts organisation in Hong Kong. Prior to my move, I lived and worked in New York for eight years as Director of Tina Kim Gallery, and completed my Masters in Art History at the Center of Curatorial Studies at Bard College. My entrance into the contemporary art world actually began during my undergraduate studies at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where I had my first internship at NUS Museum. Since then, I have witnessed the growth of Asia’s contemporary art infrastructure, even while I was away. My return to Asia was precipitated by an enduring interest in contemporary art addressing Asian contexts, and my desire to learn more about how the conditions for creation have developed over the past years, especially in the wake of COVID-19. 

Today, the cultural landscape in Hong Kong continues to evolve in the face of shifting political, economic, and social changes. The city’s contemporary art scene has traditionally been considered a  “gateway to Asia”.  It was the first port of call for many Western galleries to establish their presence in the region. However, Hong Kong is still finding its feet after a major period of transition. The introduction of the national security law and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have meant an exodus of expatriates, who  had long patronised the cultural scene. The emergence of Asian cities such as Singapore, Bangkok in the contemporary art circuit has also challenged Hong Kong’s status as the cosmopolitan bridge between East and West, and as a hub for art in Asia in general. Along with these developments, many institutions and initiatives have been re-thinking their long-standing modes of programming, and also fundraising.

Afterwork, 2016, exhibition installation view at Para Site, Hong Kong. Image courtesy of Para Site.

Para Site is equally re-evaluating  our future directions. First established in 1996 by seven homegrown artists Lisa Cheung, Patrick Lee, Leung Chi-wo, Phoebe Man Ching-ying, Sara Wong Chi-hang, Leung Mee-ping and Tsang Tak-ping, the organisation was initiated to provide a space for experimentation, and a community for  artists whose practices did not necessarily fit the dominant modes of painting and sculpture, which were much more palatable for the galleries and institutions of the time. Many of the early exhibitions that were mounted at Para Site were time-based or participatory-based installations. Para Site provided a free space for artists interested in these media to further their practices and exchange ideas. Today, the reason for our existence may have changed, but the experimental ethos remains. 

A major reason for Para Site becoming  an influential art space lies in the strength of its programming. This is especially so since 2015, when  it moved to expanded premises in Quarry Bay. The institution has become known for mounting sprawling, thematically rigorous exhibitions that speak to the socio-political conditions of Hong Kong and the greater contexts of Asia. One of the exhibitions that I still remember from Para Site is Afterwork (2016), which represented a major attempt to address the issue of migrant labour through the figure of the domestic worker, usually female and racially “othered”. It remains a space for thinking about the emerging themes in the field of contemporary art that sparks debate, inquiry, and reflection into our socio-political realities.

Performance documentation of Tres Amigos: Ming Wong, Inti Guerrero, Mimian Hsu. 29 March 2025. Co-hosted by Para Site and Art Review. Image courtesy of Para Site. Photo by Ray Leung.

This dedication to rigorous contemporary discourse must continue at Para Site. At its core, the value of Para Site resides in its dedication to pushing the boundaries of contemporary art discourse through exhibitions, residencies, publications, and discursive programmes with an international and critical perspective. Many of these initiatives are led by Para Site’s curatorial team. However, as we become more global in our purview, we have also put more effort into cultivating cross-institutional collaborations. Part of this stems from the realisation that in a world which is becoming increasingly fragmented, there is a need for us to become more enfolded into the broader regional arts ecosystem. We do not believe in protectionism in the arts, because engagement has been such an important vehicle in fostering understanding, kinship, and surfacing the complex realities of our world. 

For the future, our efforts lie in expanding our collaborations in South Asia, and Southeast Asia. These geographies are relevant for us not least because of the richness of artistic practices and discourse on the ground, but also because Hong Kong actually shares many deep-rooted socio-historical relationships with communities and spaces within these regions. These connections are interesting to research, explore, and eventually communicate. We hope that initiatives like this can encourage us to think more broadly about what it means to create cultural exchanges that can be meaningful, without glossing over local context and specificities. 

At Para Site, we often find ourselves asking about the value that a project will bring not only to the curators, but also the participating artists and institutions. Para Site is a beloved institution precisely because it represents opportunities for connection: connecting communities, artists, patrons and arts professionals in order to discuss emerging issues in contemporary art. We try to keep ourselves as a flexible organisation in order to respond to the evolving artistic practices of the time, which has led us to open new spaces for exhibitions and public programmes. Furthermore, we embrace new formats of presenting works, aiming to communicate effectively each artist’s practice to the best of our ability. For this reason, we have survived as an independently-funded institution for 29 years, and—we hope—for many more years to come.