Para Site

Now, based on the 22/F of Wing Wah Industrial Building in the North Point/Quarry Bay area, Para Site is a site for discovering leading contemporary practices from Hong Kong, Asia, the global South, and beyond. The institution is known for research-driven exhibitions, residencies and conferences that foreground curatorial and critical dialogue over blockbuster spectacle.

Para Site’s Curators, Director and Team

Para Site’s evolution is closely tied to its curators, directors, and landmark exhibitions. In the early 2000s, the organisation transitioned from an artist-run initiative to a curator-led model under German-born curator Tobias Berger, significantly broadening its regional footprint. From 2011 to 2022, Romanian curator Cosmin Costinaș served as executive director and curator, overseeing a major expansion and relocation while spearheading projects such as A beast, a god, and a line (17 March–20 May 2018), Garden of Six Seasons (16 May–30 August 2020) and the collaborative exhibition Curtain (15 May–25 July 2021) with Rockbund Art Museum. In 2022, curator Billy Tang took the helm, shaping Para Site’s programme with a focus on connecting Hong Kong to the global South and to wider philosophical and political debates. Following Tang’s departure for a new role, in 2026 Para Site announced that British-Swedish curator and writer James Taylor-Foster would assume the role of executive director, marking a new chapter for the institution in the lead up to its 30th anniversary.

Para Site Art and Exhibitions

Para Site has produced more than 300 exhibitions and over 1,000 public programmes, commissioning new work while supporting emerging and mid-career artists from Hong Kong and beyond. Its activities extend into publishing, including the bilingual magazine P/S (1997–2006), as well as curatorial training and residency initiatives that have helped shape Hong Kong’s wider art ecology.

The organisation’s reputation has been sharpened by conceptually ambitious projects such as A Journal of the Plague Year. Fear, ghosts, rebels. SARS, Leslie and the Hong Kong story (17 May–20 July 2013), which examined Hong Kong’s histories of contagion, fear and representation from the 1894 plague to the 2003 SARS outbreak. Tracing how epidemics intersect with colonial narratives, urban redevelopment and pop-cultural figures such as Leslie Cheung, the exhibition remains one of Para Site’s most widely discussed shows locally and internationally.

In 2026, Para Site marks its 30th anniversary with Site-seeing (14 March–14 June 2026), an exhibition that revisits and responds to its inaugural 1996 show of the same name. Bringing together commissioned and recent works by artists such as Heman Chong and Anna Sew Hoy, from the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, the exhibition returns to themes of urban space, memory and art-making, positioning Para Site as a key stop for visitors in town for Art Basel Hong Kong and the broader Art March season.

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