22 June 2012
Lee Kit to Represent Hong Kong at the 2013 Venice Biennale
The Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) and M+, Hong Kong's future museum for 20th and 21st century visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District, announced today, the selection of LEE Kit as the artist to represent Hong Kong at the 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, opening on 11 June 2013.
This is the first time the HKADC collaborates with M+ in presenting the works of a Hong Kong artist in the Venice Biennale - one of the world's most important art events.
Presiding at today's press conference, Mr Chow Yung-ping, Chief Executive of the HKADC, said, "Through the collaboration, we aim to provide the best environment for our artists to showcase their creativity and talents and to achieve the best exhibition and marketing outcome for Hong Kong's presence at Venice."
"M+ will provide expertise in the selection of the artist as well as curating and organising the exhibition, while the HKADC will share its ample experiences on project management", Mr Chow added. The HKADC has taken part in the Venice Biennale since 2001 and the past six editions have succeeded in attracting nearly 400,000 visitors.
Dr Lars Nittve, world-renowned curator and M+ Executive Director of West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, is the Lead Curator of the pavilion.
Commenting on the selection of Lee Kit, Dr Nittve said, "Lee Kit is to me one of the leading artists in Hong Kong's thriving contemporary art scene. I have during my years here been repeatedly touched by how Lee Kit so seemingly effortlessly manages to mix a deep understanding of contemporary art with something very personal and intimate. His work is at the same time uncompromising and extraordinarily open for participation, intimate and at the same time public. It truly embodies the fundamental and wonderful uncertainty at the heart of all good art - while bringing together western and ancient Asian cultural traditions. Last, but not the least, I am totally confident that Lee Kit has the capacity to make the best out of the perfectly located, but far from easy, exhibition venue that Hong Kong has in Venice!"
Lee Kit was born in Hong Kong in 1978 and during his studies (2001-2006) at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, was already selected for a solo exhibition 'Painting Furniture' in Fo Tan. Despite working in many media - painting, video, sculpture, installations and performance-like situations - his works are highly recognisable, often using a subtle pastel colour palette and reflecting on aspects of daily life. Recent solo exhibitions include: 'Something in my hands' in Aike-Dellarco Gallery at ART HK 12 where he won the ART FUTURES prize (2012); 'How to set up a room for Johnny' in Osage Gallery as the first Hong Kong artist in Art Statements at Art Basel (2011); and 'Henry' at Western Front, Vancouver (2011). He has participated in group exhibitions across the world including in leading museums, such as Tate Modern in 'No soul for sale' (2010), The Museum of Modern Art, New York in 'Print/Out' (2012) and The New Museum, New York in 'The Ungovernables' (2012).
For the first time in Hong Kong, this year's co-presentation and selection comes from the HKADC adopting a model successfully used in many other participating countries, where an esteemed local arts body or institution is given the responsibility to select the curator and the artist to represent Hong Kong at the Biennale.
Notes for Editors:
LEAD CURATOR
Dr Lars NITTVE
Executive Director, M+
West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, Hong Kong
Lars Nittve was born in Stockholm in 1953. After studies at the Stockholm School of Economics, a M.A. at Stockholm University and Post Graduate Studies at New York University, he served as lecturer in art history at the University of Stockholm during the period 1978-85. During the same period he held a post as Senior Art Critic at the daily Svenska Dagbladet, Stockholm, and contributed regularly to Artforum magazine, New York.
In 1986 Dr Nittve was appointed Chief curator at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, where he curated a large number of high profile exhibitions, among them the seminal Implosion - a Postmodern Perspective. 1990-95 he served as founding Director of Rooseum - Center for Contemporary Art in Malmö, Sweden, where he organised the whole exhibition programme, including surveys of Susan Rothenberg, Allan McCollum, Sherrie Levine and Andreas Gursky. In July 1995, Dr Nittve became Director of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaek, Denmark, where he also curated the groundbreaking exhibition Sunshine & Noir - Art in L.A. 1960-1997 and the first one-person exhibition of Cai Guo Qiang outside Asia. In the spring of 1998, he was named the first Director of Tate Modern, London, which opened in May 2000 to great acclaim. On November 1, 2001, he took up his post as Director of Moderna Museet in Stockholm where in 2004, he also co-curated the thematic exhibition Fashination about the dialogue between art and fashion in the last ten years; in 2008 he curated Time and Place: Los Angeles 1957-1968. Since January 2011, Dr Nittve has been the Executive Director, M+, the museum of visual culture in the West Kowloon Culural District in Hong Kong, scheduled to open in 2017.
Dr Nittve is the author of several books on art, as well as articles in journals and catalogues in Sweden and abroad. He has served on the jury of numerous international prizes and been on the board of large number of arts organisations as well as being awarded a number of honours and prizes. In 2009 he was awarded a Ph.D at the University of Umeå, Sweden.
Dr Nittve has attended the Venice Biennale in a professional capacity since 1980, acting as the official curator for the Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish participation in 1993; served as Expert Advisor to the Biennale Director in 1997 and commissioner for the Swedish participation in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009.
Hong Kong Arts Development Council
Established in 1995, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) is a statutory body set up by the government to plan, promote and support the broad development of the arts including literary arts, performing arts, visual arts as well as film and media arts in Hong Kong. Aiming to foster a thriving arts environment and enhancing the quality of life of the public, the HKADC is also committed to facilitating community-wide participation in the arts and arts education, encouraging arts criticism, raising the standard of arts administration and strengthening the works on arts policy research.
To achieve the goals of fostering the development of arts groups, raising the level of artistic standards and exploring development opportunities for artists, the following development strategies will be adopted:
- Supporting promising artists and arts groups for artistic pursuits
- Promoting arts administration to improve the management of arts groups
- Focusing on the arts environment and proposing policy recommendations
- Enhancing public participation and exploring arts space
- Fostering strategic partnerships and bringing arts resources together
WEST KOWLOON CULTURAL DISTRICT
The West Kowloon Cultural District is the largest arts and cultural project in Hong Kong to date. Its vision is to provide a vibrant cultural quarter for the city; a vital platform for the local arts scene to interact, develop and collaborate; and major facilities to host and produce world-class exhibitions, performances and arts and cultural events. The District will include 17 core arts and cultural venues and 30,000 square metres of space for arts education. It will be a low-density development, providing ample open green space and embracing two kilometres of a vibrant harbour-front promenade, 23 hectares of open space and a green avenue, and closely connected with the neighbourhood.
The project will be developed in phases with construction scheduled to commence in 2013. The venues to be commissioned in Phase 1 include phase 1 of M+ (20th-21st century visual culture museum), the Xiqu Centre (main theatre and Tea House), a Freespace with an outdoor stage, a Lyric Theatre, a Centre for Contemporary Performance, Medium Theatre I, a Music Centre with a Concert and Recital Hall, a Musical Theatre, a Mega Performance Venue and an Exhibition Centre. A host of ancillary facilities including a Resident Company Centre, other creative learning facilities and a number of Arts Pavilions for visual arts exhibitions will also be constructed in this phase. Phase 2 will involve the commissioning of the Great Theatre, a small theatre as part of the Xiqu Centre, Medium Theatre II and phase 2 of the M+ development.
WKCDA's first cultural event was the West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre which was staged at the future site of the Xiqu Centre near Canton Road during the Chinese New Year in 2012. Mobile M+: Yau Ma Tei marks the second program presented by WKCDA and the first in the series curated by M+ scheduled to occur leading up to the opening of the M+ museum in 2017.
M+
M+ will be the new museum for visual culture in Hong Kong, as part of the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD), focusing on 20th- and 21st- century art, design, architecture and the moving image. From day one, M+ is set to develop content from a Hong Kong perspective, the perspective of the "now", and with a global vision, from the "inside out". M+ will be shaped around the ideas, vision and, eventually, contents formulated now and in the coming years through programs such as the recent 'Mobile M+: Yau Ma Tei' exhibition. The scale of the building, at around 60,000 square metres, will be on par with the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It is a project with a strong public service ethos, fundamentally as a museum for the more than seven million people living and working in Hong Kong, firmly rooted in the location and its unique culture.
More on LEE KIT
1978 Born in Hong Kong
2003 Bachelor of Fine Art, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
2006 Master of Fine Art, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Solo Exhibitions
2013 Hong Kong Pavilion, Venice Biennale, Italy (June)
Solo at Project Fulfill, Taipei (Aug)
2012 'Mary, sometimes I misunderstand the things you said.', Chi-wen Gallery, Taipei
(Nov)
Solo at Artissima, Turino, Italy (Nov)
Solo at Min Sheung Modern Museum, Shanghai (Oct)
Solo project at The Pavilion, Beijing (Aug)
'Something in my hands' in Aike-Dellarco Gallery at ART HK 12
'How to set up an apartment for Johnny.', Osage Gallery, Hong Kong
'It's not an easy thing.', Arrow Factory, Beijing
2011 Henry, Western Front, Vancouver
'In purity, I silently reach for you.', Hot Spot, SHcontemporary 11, Shanghai
'How to set up an apartment for Johnny?', Art Statements, Art Basel 42,
Switzerland
1, 2, 3, 4..., Lombard Freid Projects, New York
Watching Soap (I can't recall the day that I last heard from you), Osage Gallery,
Hong Kong
2010 'Well, that's just a chill.', ShugoArts, Tokyo
Hands, MiArt 2009, Milan
2009 Someone singing and calling your name, Osage Soho, Hong Kong
Suit-case, Galleria Dell' Arco, Palermo
'I'm missing someone but I don't know who's that someone.', Seoul
2008 Remains from several days, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia.
' My Pillow seems like a bed, a pillow seems like my bed.', Cheng Ming Building,
the Chinese University of Hong Kong
(Ready-made) Everyday, Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
2007 3 / 4 suggestions for a better living, Para/Site Art Space
2001 Painting Furniture, Yiliu Painting Factory, Fotan
Group Exhibitions
2012 The Ungovernables, New Museum Triennial, New York
Print/Out, the Museum of Modern Art, New York
ART HK 12
Sigma Asia 2, Osage Gallery, Hong Kong
2011 Frieze Art Fair, London, United Kingdom
The Wedding Banquet, Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong
ArtHK 11, Hong Kong Conventional and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
Except why not just come right out and say it, Collector House, Heerlen,
Netherlands
MiArt, Milan, Italy
Art Stage 11, Marina Bay Sand, Singapore
2010 Popping Up, Hong Kong Art Centre
ShContemporary 10, Shanghai Exhibition Centre
Art Taipei 10, Taiwan
Exhibition Experiment, Experimental Exhibition, Wrong Place, JCCAC, Hong Kong
No Soul For Sale, Tate Modern, London
The Burden of Representation: Abstraction in Asia Today, Osage Kwun Tong,
Hong Kong
Inventory: New Art from Southeast Asia, Osage Singapore
Jane Lee | Lee Kit | Donna Ong, Osage Kwun Tong,
Hong Kong
2009 Pulse Art Fair, Miami, United States of America
1 Degree of Separation, Chinese Art Centre, Manchester
Pickups, Magic Mountain, Home, Okay, A pretty intense long drawn out game,
Y3K, Melbourne
The Pawn Shop, The Shop, Beijing
Art Verona 2009, Verona, Italy
Platform 2009, Kimusa site, Artsonje Center, Seoul
Louis Vuitton: Passion of Creation, Hong Kong Museum of Art
Hong Kong International Art Fair 2009, Hong Kong Conventional and Exhibition
Centre
Portrait of Self Exile, The Shop, Beijing
CIGE - China International Gallery Exposition, China World Trade Centre Hall,
Beijing
Emporium, Fabicca Borroni, Milano, Italy
Friends of the Divided Mind, Royal College of Art, London
Some Rooms, Osage Shanghai
Hong Kong Art Walk 2009
Charming Experience, Hong Kong Museum of Art
Re-animation, JCCAC, Hong Kong
Love Simply, Hang Fat Studio, Fotan, Hong Kong
2008 Lala Land, Blue Lotus Gallery, Hong Kong
The Shop - 1st Edition, The Shop, Beijing
Frieze Art Fair, London, United Kingdom
Beijing Art Salon, Beijing
Domestic Affair, Galleri 21, Malmo, Sweden
Sprout from White Night, Bonnier Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden
3th Guangzhou Triennial, Guangzhou, China
Something Trivial, Korkos Gallery, Hong Kong
Inside Looking Out, Osage Singapore
The Un-realized, Cheng Ming Building, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Colour-blind, Cheng Ming Building, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong International Art Fair 2008, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition
Centre, Hong Kong
HK Unveiled-Contemporary Art in the SAR, Atting House, Hong Kong
Exchange Exhibition, Off Ground Gallery, University of Virginia, United States of
America
Sun of Beach, Wong Wai Wheel Art Space, Hong Kong
2007 The Preview of West Kowloon Exhibition Venue, C&G Artpartment, Hong Kong
14QK, Para/site Art Space, Hong Kong
Histori-City, Asia Art Achrive, Hong Kong
The 1st Hong Kong International Contemporary Art Fair, Hong Kong Exhibition
Centre
Inside Looking Out-Art and Life, Osage Beijing
Time After Time, Hollywood Centre
Reversing Horizon, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai
A Separate Domain, Hui Gallery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Inside Looking Out, Osage Kwun Tong, Hong Kong
Pearl River City, the Contemporary Art Centre, Lithuania
Prison Art Museum, Victoria Prison, Hong Kong
Fotanian, studio open days at Fotan Studios, Fotan studios in industrial district,
Hong Kong
2006 The Pearl River Delta, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Germany
aWay- Group Exhibition of Hong Kong Visual Artists, 1a Space, Cattle Depot,
Hong Kong
2005 Hong Kong Art Biennial 2005, Hong Kong Museum of Art
Metropolis Strip(p)ed, The Substation, Singapore
2004 Fotanian, studio open days at Fotan Studios, Fotan studios in industrial district
Intimate Re-collection, Hanart T-Z Gallery, Hong Kong
Painting、Un-painting, 1a Space, Cattle Depot, Hong Kong
2003 Fotanian, studio open days at Fotan Studios, Fotan studios at industrial district.
Hong Kong Art Biennial 2003, Hong Kong Museum of Art
Graduation: Moving Forward, Looking Back, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
2001 Hong Kong Art Biennial 2001, Hong Kong Museum of Art
Demonstration Flat, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
2000 Untitled, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
'sh...', paintings by Au Hoi Lam, Lee Kit, Fringe Club
Artist in Residence
2007-08 Bolton Street Artist in Residence, Wellington, New Zealand (One month)
Awards
Cheung's Fine Arts Award (painting), The Art of CUHK 2003
Finalist of the Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2009-10
ART FUTURES prize, ART HK 12
Collections
Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst
The Hong Kong Museum of Art
Private collection (Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan)