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Following is the speech by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Stephen Lam, at the opening ceremony of "Vision of Nature: Lost and Found in Asian Contemporary Art" exhibition organised by Hong Kong Arts Centre this evening (December 9):
Cissy (Pao Watari), Michael (Lynch), Mr Patel, friends, ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening.
I am very honoured and actually very happy to be invited to join you tonight for the official opening of the "Vision of Nature: Lost and Found in Asian Contemporary Art" exhibition.
Just now Connie (Connie Lam, Executive Director, Hong Kong Arts Centre) has done me a great service by escorting me through the exhibition of eight artists who have been invited from different parts of Asia to showcase some of their best works here in Hong Kong. I think this is doing Hong Kong a great service in terms of building Hong Kong into an even more advanced art and cultural hub.
Also, we are very pleased that we have been able to invite as guest curator for the exhibition, Mr Nanjo. This just goes to show how Hong Kong has the honour of being able to co-operate with some of the best artists from around the world.
This is an initiative which has been supported by many parties in Hong Kong and in Asia. On tonight's occasion, I wish to convey to you three thoughts of mine.
Firstly, I think Hong Kong stands an excellent opportunity of being able to realise and actualise our potentials as the pre-eminent arts and cultural hub in Asia. This is because Hong Kong is both East and West. As you can see from the exhibits shown here tonight, there is an element of East and there is an element of West. As all the exhibits shown on these floors, this is the place where we put together cultures from all origins. Hong Kong is also the place where we have some of the most advanced and attractive art auctions throughout the year. This is not just an international financial centre, this is fast becoming an international art centre of Asia. Because of this, I am very honoured that Hong Kong has been able to invite these eminent artists from different parts of the world to join us in tonight's exhibition.
Secondly, this is about contemporary arts and this is precisely the sort of artwork we want to showcase across the harbour in West Kowloon within the next five to ten years. The Hong Kong Government has established by statute the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority. We are investing HK$21.6 billion to the infrastructure. We are going to have more than 11 institutions constructed over the next five to ten years. In that place across a site of 40 hectares, we will have opera house, London West End musicals, Xiqu centre - demonstrating and performing Beijing and Cantonese operas. Also, we are going to have M+, a modern art museum with 60 000 square metres of exhibition space. We very much hope once that place is ready, Cissy will be able to showcase, with your support, many more of these works all year round in Hong Kong.
So, with West Kowloon Cultural District, we hope to upgrade and enhance Hong Kong's position as an international arts and cultural centre of Asia even further.
Thirdly, in any business, in any service, it is important to have hardware but it is even more important to have software. In arts and cultural development, it is particularly important for us to have local arts groups. That is why, for myself and my colleagues in the Government, Michael's colleagues in the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, we have been putting our heads together to make sure that as we proceed with West Kowloon Cultural District development, we build into our programmed plans, sufficient room and opportunities for local artists to develop and to be groomed.
Cissy, that's why I am particularly honoured to say, on behalf of Hong Kong, you and your friends have done Hong Kong a great service by inviting three Hong Kong artists out of eight to showcase artworks in Hong Kong. This is wonderful and is a very interesting collection of artworks - the sun, the forest, the waterfall, traditional Chinese arts elements and, over there, something to show Hong Kong's environment I think we're in good shape, but this is just a small start of what we hope to achieve for Hong Kong in the next decade and beyond. So I am very grateful to you and your friends for putting this together for the HKSAR.
So long may these efforts continue and succeed. Thank you very much.
Ends/Friday, December 9, 2011
Issued at HKT 20:52
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