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Ocula Member Galleries are selected by a committee of respected gallerists to present only the best of contemporary art on Ocula.
Read MoreWhether you want to discover contemporary art created by established artists or by emerging talents, below you will find some of the best galleries across Hong Kong's vibrant art scene presenting a range of both.
Prominent international galleries have established permanent spaces in Hong Kong's Central District since 2011, including Gagosian, Perrotin, Pace, Hauser & Wirth, David Zwirner, White Cube, and Whitestone Gallery. Many galleries and exhibition spaces are located in the 24-storey H Queen's on Queen's Road.
Asia mega-gallery Pearl Lam Galleries has maintained its flagship space in the Pedder Building since 2005. Others, like Paris-founded Gallery de Sarthe set up their home base in the Wong Chuk Hang industrial zone in the south.
Flourishing home-grown spaces have emerged in Hong Kong since the 1980s, representing local and Chinese artists, alongside international names.
Alisan Fine Arts, which opened in 1981, has represented key Chinese avantgardists such as Li Shan and Yu Youhan, and newcomers like Wang Mengsha and Chu Chu. Since 2007, Blue Lotus Gallery in the historic Pound Lane has highlighted local photographers from Fan Ho to Wing Shya and Tugo Cheng.
Explore current and upcoming exhibitions across Hong Kong's best galleries, institutions, and non-profit art spaces.
Read MoreThe small but dense city of Hong Kong is ideal for gallery hopping, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in its rich landscape of art and culture. As galleries in Hong Kong strive to present international art to audiences in Asia and increase the exposure of local innovators, one can expect a great variety of exhibition offerings. As a hub of business and culture, Hong Kong draws together various contemporary Asian and international works, making for diverse galleries, institutional shows and events.
Hong Kong is home to a vibrant art scene, celebrating the fusion of cultures and artistic influence from the Asian region (from Japan, Shanghai to Korea) as well as art from beyond.
Hong Kong Central houses art institutions and galleries with diverse works on display, creating a central hub for culture and the arts, but the contemporary art scene spreads beyond too. Street art and graffiti are a part of the urban landscape in Hong Kong, turning the city's bustling streets into an open-air gallery.
Hong Kong's art events invite residents and visitors from around the world to experience the dynamic art world of Asia. The city provides a space for street artists and established artists alike to showcase their creations. Whether art enthusiasts like to explore galleries, purchase affordable art, attend workshops, or go on art tours, Hong Kong's artscene promises a vibrant and enriching experience for all who visit.
Explore our exhibition profiles to discover what artworks are showing in Central Hong Kong and its local surrounds this year. Find out where to see the best paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings, iconic costumes, and virtual reality displays by reading about each exhibition. The profiles also provide information about the gallery site or art space where the exhibition is held and a press release to give a sense of what type of installations it features.
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Hong Kong's museums and institutions offer an exceptional arts and culture experience. Explore our selection of the best spaces to visit.
Read MoreHong Kong houses several of Asia's longest-running non-profit institutions including the UNESCO-listed Videotage, established in 1986 as one of Asia's first new-media art organisations.
Former artist's space Para Site, now a contemporary art centre in Quarry Bay, has showcased local and international art phenomena since 1996. Since 2000, Asia Art Archive has documented and placed recent developments in Asian contemporary art within an international context.
Established in 1977, Hong Kong Arts Centre, near the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, supports Hong Kong artists and local and international exchanges. Its programme rivals that of the government-run Hong Kong Museum of Art in Kowloon just across the Victoria Harbour.
M+ Museum, which opened in 2021, and the surrounding West Kowloon Cultural District development, are among new additions to the city's arts scene.
Tai Kwun – Centre for Heritage and Arts opened in 2018 following a conversion of the historic Central Police Station compound into a hub for contemporary arts at the heart of central Hong Kong.
Ocula Magazine is an online platform dedicated to publishing the best in contemporary art internationally. Explore our in-depth conversations, insights, features, news stories, and photologs covering the Hong Kong arts scene here.
Read MoreSince its launch in 2010, Ocula Magazine has interviewed some of Hong Kong's most significant artists including Isaac Chong Wai, Ellen Pau, Jaffa Lam, and Chris Cheung Hon Him (h0nh1m), and prominent figures in the Hong Kong art scene, including Asia Art Archive Co-founder Claire Hsu, gallerist Pearl Lam, and Adeline Ooi, the director of Art Basel Hong Kong.Ocula Magazine has also published features of artists such as Chris Cheung and Lee Wing Ki among others.
In any given week, you can see the works of some of the world's most exciting artists in Hong Kong. Here you will find a selection of artists whose works are currently on show in the city.
Read MoreSign up to My Ocula to follow artists and galleries, save artworks to your favourites, and be informed when new exhibitions and features are published.
Hong Kong has propelled the careers of East Asian artists and international artists looking to find a footing in Asia with its renowned galleries and museums providing a global stage for seminal exhibitions. Artists who have recently held major exhibitions in the city include Yayoi Kusama whose 1945 to Now exhibition at M+ Museum is her largest retrospective in Asia outside of Japan.
Hong Kong is home to Art Basel Hong Kong, one of Asia's biggest fairs. Running under its current ownership since 2013, the fair draws over 100 galleries around the globe yearly, presenting artworks to international audiences. External commissions and activations across the city accompany the fair's main sections.
Read MoreArt Central, the contemporary art fair, often runs in tandem with Art Basel Hong Kong, presenting a more local and regional focus.
New arrivals include Digital Art Fair (DAF) and DAF Xperience, which embrace digital media as a budding art form. Artists included in the young fair's catalog include Beeple, Pak, Yuga Labs, Refik Anadol, and Damien Hirst.
With a host of exciting contemporary art spaces, Hong Kong continues to be identified as a global super art city. The city's stellar selection of galleries, which includes art world heavy hitters like Hauser & Wirth, Gagosian, David Zwirner, and Lévy Gorvy, speaks for the art scene's quality. Many of these spaces are located in Hong Kong's Central district, in the Pedder Building and the William Lim-designed H Queen's building, which opened in 2017.
Read MorePedder Building Galleries
In the Pedder Building, Gagosian joins other international galleries like Pearl Lam Galleries, Simon Lee Gallery, Lehmann Maupin, and Massimo De Carlo, along with Hanart TZ Gallery. The latter is directed by Johnson Chang, who is largely accredited with igniting the city's art market. Chang founded Hanart TZ in 1983, a decade prior to his famed organisation of the group exhibition China's New Art, Post-1989 at the Hong Kong Arts Center in 1993, which contributed to the explosion of interest in Chinese contemporary art.
Asia Art Archive and Asia Society Hong Kong
In 2000, Chang co-founded Asia Art Archive with Claire Hsu, enabling comprehensive access to art historical material of the Asia-Pacific region. The Archive also hosts extensive public programming, including talks, performances, and exhibitions, while its library offers a site of quiet refuge above the bustling neighbourhood of Sheung Wan.
Nestled on the hillside near Hong Kong Park is Asia Society Hong Kong Center, an educational non-profit organisation dedicated to generating understanding of countries and cultures across Asia. A site for seminars, lectures, cultural programmes, and films, Asia Society also hosts an array of art exhibitions in its Tod Williams and Billie Tsien-designed space, ranging from presentations of work by late Hong Kong artist Hon Chi-fun (A Story of Light, 12 March–9 June 2019), to those of renowned American artist James Turrell (Yukaloo, 12 March–9 June 2019).
Wong Chuk Hang and Aberdeen Galleries
Beyond the city centre, Hong Kong Island's outlying neighbourhoods are home to some of the city's most exciting spaces. One of these neighbourhoods is Wong Chuk Hang in the Southern District, which has attracted a number of galleries in recent years due to its large, airy industrial spaces—a feature that saw Belgian Axel Vervoordt Gallery move from its Central Entertainment Building to a two-level space in the dynamic cultural hub in 2019. Other spaces in this area include Blindspot Gallery, which predominantly represents emerging and established artists from Hong Kong and Mainland China, including Isaac Chong Wai, Lam Tung Pang, Chen Wei, and Leung Chi Wo. Founded in Paris in 1977, de Sarthe Gallery opened its 10,000-square-foot space in the area in 2017, showcasing a combination European masters and young international artists.
Para Site, Videotage, M+ and more
On the other side of the island, in Quarry Bay, lies Para Site. Founded in 1996, this non-profit organisation is one of Asia's oldest, most active independent art institutions. Acting as an educational platform, the exhibition site also produces publications and public programmes that contribute to the region's critical discourse.
Founded a decade earlier than Para Site is Videotage, a non-profit organisation that began as an artist collective comprising May Fung, Ellen Pau, Wong Chi-fai, and Comyn Mo before establishing itself as a platform for the promotion, creation, and exhibition of new media art. The space has held a fundamental role in the development and preservation of the city's legacy of video art, running exchange programmes and residencies for local and international artists while building an extensive archive both online and offline.
A series of new contemporary art museums and spaces have been added to the mix in recent years, with M+—scheduled for completion by March 2020—looming at the throne. Its Pavilion space, which has been open since September 2016, has showcased an impressive line-up of exhibitions that are now complemented by high-profile presentations at the city's latest multi-million-dollar restoration project, Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts, an ex-prison complex that includes the cutting-edge JC Contemporary, where exhibitions by international artists such as Takashi Murakami attract impressive footfall.
Across the harbour, the Jordan-based hotel-cum-workspace Eaton HK has become the it crowd's latest hub, with its retro interior inflecting a combination of Memphis design and old Hong Kong while playing host to Eaton Workshop—a 'modern day community center and laboratory' that supports grassroots activism and artistic practice with an exciting programme of events and activities. Also this side of the harbour, in Tsuen Wan, is the Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile, another impressive restoration project that has seen the revival of The Mills of Nan Fung Textiles, a building that belonged to the city's once-thriving textile industry. The centre's primary aim is to regenerate this legacy by showcasing a variety of curated programmes that engage contemporary art, design, science, heritage, community, and craftsmanship.
