CHAT | Centre for Heritage, Arts & Textile
Hong Kong Learn more about what's on at CHAT | Centre for Heritage, Arts & Textile and the artists shaping its programme.CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile) is a non-profit art centre on the 2nd floor of The Mills, a revitalised former cotton-spinning factory of Nan Fung Textiles in Tsuen Wan, New Territories, Hong Kong. Opened in 2019, the institution is dedicated to textile culture, connecting Hong Kong’s manufacturing history with contemporary art, design and community programmes.
Through exhibitions, co-learning programmes and workshops, CHAT explores the social, technological and artistic dimensions of textiles—from industrial cotton-spinning to craft, fashion and socially engaged practices. A permanent highlight is Kato Izumi’s garden-like installation, first developed for CHAT’s Spring Programme in 2020, in which stone-headed figures are given bodies of living plants grown with Hong Kong farmers; as the plants change over time, the work quietly stages the intertwined lives of nature, labour and art. Visitors encounter such commissioned installations alongside archival displays and hands-on activities that foreground labour histories, regional craft traditions and experimental approaches to fibre, colour and pattern within a wider global conversation.
Art and Exhibitions at CHAT
CHAT’s programme combines a permanent experience of Hong Kong’s textile industrial history with changing exhibitions that reframe textiles as a contemporary art medium. Past highlights include the inaugural exhibition Unfolding: Fabric of Our Life (16 March–22 July 2019), which brought together works by 17 contemporary artists and collectives responding to labour, memory and global textile networks; the Jakkai Siributr survey Jakkai Siributr: Everybody Knows — Let the Paint Dry (16 March–14 July 2024), spanning two decades of the Thai artist’s politically charged textile practice; the and the fifth-anniversary project Factory of Tomorrow (16 March–14 July 2024), which invited artists to imagine new futures for post-industrial sites like The Mills.
In 2026, CHAT opened its Spring Programme including contemporary exhibitions that anchor the centre within Hong Kong’s March art season. Bringing together the work of 14 artists from across Asia, Threading Inwards (21 March–28 June 2026) invites visitors to slow down with textiles that act as ‘spiritual maps’, weaving connections between people and place, ancestors and ecologies, while The Spirit of Labour (21 March–19 April 2026), places contemporary practice in dialogue with lived histories of care, play and work in the city.
CHAT | Centre for Heritage, Arts & Textile FAQs
What is CHAT?
CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile) is a non-profit art centre at The Mills in Tsuen Wan that connects Hong Kong’s textile industrial heritage with contemporary art, design and community programmes. It offers exhibitions, workshops and co-learning activities focused on textiles’ cultural, social and material histories.
Where is CHAT and how do I get there?
CHAT is on the 2nd floor of The Mills, 45 Pak Tin Par Street, Tsuen Wan, New Territories, Hong Kong. It is reachable on foot from Tsuen Wan and Tsuen Wan West MTR stations and by multiple bus and minibus routes serving The Mills.
What are CHAT’s opening hours and is admission free?
CHAT is typically open daily from 11:00 to 19:00, with free admission to its exhibitions. Visitors should check the centre’s website for up-to-date information, as opening hours and access may change for specific programmes, holidays or maintenance periods. Over Art Basel in Hong Kong, the institution has indicated it will have increased opening hours.
Does CHAT offer residencies?
CHAT’s Artist-in-Residence (AiR) programme invites international artists to work closely with Hong Kong’s textile histories, communities and material cultures. Launched in December 2015, it supports artistic research and production through collaborations with local practitioners, public talks and workshops, encouraging cross-cultural exchanges of ideas and techniques. Residents are invited to develop new work from these encounters, with outcomes presented in exhibitions at CHAT and, in some cases, partner institutions abroad, extending the centre’s textile-focused conversations beyond The Mills.
How does CHAT relate to The Mills and Hong Kong’s textile history?
CHAT forms part of The Mills’ broader revitalisation of the former Nan Fung cotton-spinning mills, which operated from the 1950s to 2008. Through its exhibitions and programmes, the centre preserves and reinterprets this industrial legacy, highlighting textiles’ role in Hong Kong’s economic and social development.
A respected voice in contemporary art discourse.
Focusing on ambitious storytelling and insightful art-world commentary. Ocula Magazine publishes in-depth interviews, critical essays and timely analysis on the artists, exhibitions and ideas driving the global art world.
Learn more about Ocula Magazine
Showcasing the best of the art world.
Ocula partners with galleries from around the world to highlight their artists, artworks and exhibitions. Gallery membership is by application and invitation, with each member vetted by an independent panel.
Learn more about Ocula Membership
Specialises in the sale of major artworks.
Led by a team with deep ties to the world’s leading auction houses, galleries and collectors. Ocula’s advisory team offers bespoke services to high-net-worth clients from around the world who are looking to acquire the best of contemporary and modern art.
Learn more about our team and services