Art Attack
Fo Tan’s industrial space is gaining popularity among artists but can they survive the rising rents?
| Text : Alex Frew McMillan | Photo : www.stockxpert.com |
Thousands of art lovers flocked to a shabby industrial block in Fo Tan, as local artists opened the heavy metal gates that guard their studios for their annual open days. The event, Fotanian Open Studios 2010 (www.fotanian.com), saw 59 studios opened to the public on 16, 17, 23 and 24 January. It offers a glimpse of one of the few artists’ colonies in Hong Kong, a city so often criticised for favouring money and commerce at the expense of culture.
But money is starting to become a factor even in Fo Tan, a heavily industrial neighbourhood next to suburban Sha Tin. When the first otanians moved in 10 years ago, the attraction was cheap real estate. The heart of the scene, Wah Luen Industrial Centre, has some 80 studios in the two blocks and neighbouring buildings. It is where artists have gravitated in search of 1,200- and 1,500-square-foot studios that now rent or
HK$6,000 to HK$8,000 per month.
As a result, many share the space. Painter Casper Chan pays HK$1,000 per month for her share of a 1,200-square-foot studio. “You can’t work at home and my paintings are pretty huge, so I need the space to work in,” she says.
But prices are quickly rising. The government recently announced a change to its policy on industrial space, allowing it to be repurposed for “other uses”. Although the move was initially warmly received, and even offered the promise of freeing up more space for artists, it has had the side-effect of driving up prices in Fo Tan.
Studios that originally cost around HK$250,000 when the colony started a decade ago are now changing hands for HK$1.25 million. Many artists are worried that the government policy will inadvertently push industrial space out of their reach.
Gaylord Chan, a private tutor who has taught art for 25 years, recently bought a studio with his wife, Josephine Chow. They’ve called it C.C. Studio” after the initials of their family names. “I need a big space to work,” says Chow. “If I do a big piece, I need a certain distance to view the work.” And having watched prices go up, they decided the aftermath of the financial crisis was the time to act, and spent HK$1 million on a 1,200-squarefoot studio.
Cornelia Erdmann, a German artist who recently bought a studio for HK$1.1 million, says that she had an offer accepted on a studio three times, only for the owner to back out. “If you ask, every week the price is going up,” she says. “The government’s announcement made all the
owners put their spaces on hold. But I’ve got my space now so I’m happy.”
Fo Tan’s close proximity to the Chinese University of Hong Kong, with its reputation for fine-arts education, was the initial reason for its popularity. One of the first settlers in Fo Tan was Lui Chunkwong,a CUHK fine-arts professor. And over time many of his students followed suit.
The cluster of artists, which organised its first open day in 2003, has grown each year. Sarah Van Ingelgom, a transplant to Hong Kong from Belgium, opened the Blue Lotus Gallery in the Wah Luen Industrial Centre two years ago to represent local artists. It’s one of the few Fo Tan
art establishments that open through the year: Thursday to Sunday from 1pm to 7pm. “I like to discover the bohemian area in each city I live in, but in Hong Kong you’re struggling because it’s all so commercial,” Van Ingelgom says. “I was looking to discover that subculture and when I discovered Fo Tan, I said ‘Uh huh, this is it!’”
In many ways, Fo Tan is a victim of its own success. It is the open days that drive not only foot traffic but also hungry artists to find studios in the area, hoping to thrive on the creative culture there. “Aside from Fotanians, I have a lot of people also asking me where they can get space,” Van Ingelgom says.
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