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With the support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Berlin (HKETO Berlin), IAM international art moves, a network of international art schools and art academies, is bringing students of the Hong Kong Baptist University to Berlin's art centre, Kunstquartier Bethanien. The young Hong Kong talents are presenting their visual arts exhibition "from here to there" to the Berlin audience from January 9 to 16.
With the help of IAM, the young artists are not only presenting artwork which they started creating during a workshop in Hong Kong in June last year, they also take care of the overall organisation in Berlin, including curating and preparation of the exhibition venue.
At the opening of the exhibition on January 8, the Director of the HKETO Berlin, Ms Betty Ho, expressed her appreciation that art students of the Hong Kong Baptist University's Academy of Visual Arts came to Berlin for the second time since 2013, presenting their work to international audience.
"This is a great opportunity for Hong Kong's creative talents to gain practical experiences by actively participating in an intercultural exhibition project. Moreover, the young artists are laying important bricks for the ever-strengthening cultural bridge between Berlin and Hong Kong," she said.
It is a top priority for HKETO Berlin to foster cultural exchange between Hong Kong and Germany like it is achieved with this exhibition. Ms Ho also outlined the importance which the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG) attaches to the development of creative industries in Hong Kong. In particular, the HKSARG has set up funding schemes, developed creative clusters and provided support to creative industry start-ups.
These efforts are bearing fruit as Hong Kong has developed a leading edge in key areas of creative industries like film, television, music, design, architecture, comics and animation, games, digital entertainment, and others. The city is also home of international signature art events such as the Art Basel Hong Kong. Being one of the most influential art fairs in Asia, the 2015 edition welcomed a total of 60,000 visitors and presented a line-up of 233 galleries - the strongest to date for the Hong Kong show. This year's Art Basel Hong Kong will be held from March 24 to 26.
Hong Kong has around 39 200 cultural and creative industry-related establishments, with about 207 500 practitioners engaged. In 2013, the value added of cultural and creative industries stood at EUR 11.4 billion, representing around 5.1 per cent of Hong Kong's Gross Domestic Product.
More information about the exhibition at the Kunstquartier Bethanien, including opening hours, can be found at www.international-art-moves.net .
About Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Berlin
HKETO Berlin is the official Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government representative in commercial relations and other economic and trade matters in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia.
Ends/Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Issued at HKT 00:07
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