Stories of Hong Kong Artists—Interview Manuscripts from 1998 (traditional Chinese edition)

BY LEUNG CHI-WO

What was the art world like in Hong Kong before the arrival of the art fairs and M+?

These 26 artist interviews, quietly preserved on a hard drive for two decades, record not only the individual development of the featured artists but also the collective anxiety around the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China in 1997, thoughts on the Tiananmen Incident, migration, the overseas pursuit of art, the everyday struggle to be an artist in an extreme pragmatic society, and all sorts of dilemmas that are unimaginable in the booming art scene of today.

Unpretentiously written by Hong Kong artist Leung Chi Wo in 1998, the book is also an account of a young artist searching for the meaning of being an artist, and is perhaps a prequel to Leung’s 2012 video installation Untitled (Words about Memory but Not Exactly) about fragments of local art history. 

286 pages, 146 illustrations including 31 in full colours, 17 × 23 cm, paperback, published by ArtAsiaPacific and supported by Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

《香港藝術家故事—1998年訪談手稿 》

沒有西九和藝博，香港的藝術界原來是怎麼樣的？

這二十六篇類民族誌的藝術家故事，給藏在光盤的迷宮中廿年。誌記著的，不僅是受訪者的個人經歷，還有香港社會在九七前後的集體徬徨。六四事件、移民留學、文化認同，以至藝術家如何在功利社會掙扎求存⋯⋯進退兩難的處境，與今時今日方興未艾的藝術界不可同日而語。

平實的文字紀錄，亦是梁志和當年初踏藝壇，思考如何去當藝術家的上下求索。是為繼《無題（不盡及記憶的描述）》碎片式重拾之後，另一部失而復得的前傳。

梁志和　著　　梁寶山　編
286頁，插圖146幅 (31幅彩色)，17 x 23厘米，平裝。

ArtAsiaPacific 亞太藝術 出版

香港藝術發展局 資助