1aspace

homepage : http://www.oneaspace.org.hk
e-mail : admin@oneaspace.org.hk
address : Unit 14, Cattle Depot Artist Village, 63 Ma Tau Kok Road, To Kwa Wan,Kowloon, Hong Kong
phone : (852) 2529 0087
language : English

FROM SITE

1a space is a non-profit-making contemporary visual art organization and art venue founded and operated by a collective of Hong Kong artworkers. Its aim is to promote the critical dissemination of contemporary visual arts practices and affiliated artforms through the 1a space program of works drawn from Hong Kong and the international arena.

1a space is operated by the Program Committee, governed by a Board of Directors and augmented by an Advisory Panel of local and international artworkers. Operation funding of 1a space has been assisted by grants and private donations. 1a space's administration is partially supported by Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

Forward-looking Programmes in Visual Arts
1a space has organised programmes that feature a wide spectrum of visual arts. It is hoped that critical thought can be nurtured and will lead to enrichment and reconsideration of art media. Painting HK (1998), Painting°BUnPainting (2003-04), Sculpture°BNon-Sculpture (2004), Too Much, Too Little, Too Late (1999), siXhibition (1999) and Video Ensemble (1999) attempted to re-interpret painting, fashion photography, architecture and video art.

To provide an exhibition and dialogue platform for artists of different stage is an objective of 1a space. Tree . Man (2003) is a selected retrospective and exhibition of new work by veteran artist Danny Yung. In flash! (1999 & 2000) and Expectation to Expectation (2001), young artists were at the centre stage. The latter also tried to look at the relations between art creation and education system. Corner of Dialogue, an exhibition series started in 2002, has engaged experienced and emerging artists in dialogue through exhibition.

International Exchange
In 2001, 1a space initiated IN-BETWEEN: International Conference-Exhibit Program on Independent Art Space, which invited over 30 artworkers from 15 cities to Hong Kong. The project gave birth to the first international network of art spaces in Asia. IN-BETWEEN will continue in the form of conference and art exchange, to be hosted in different cities.

In the area of overseas program exchange, Bad Rice (1998-99) traveled from Australia, Hong Kong to Taipei. At 1a space's invited to show in Hong Kong are Synchronize: Time-Based Art from China and Germany (2001), Compound Eyes: Contemporary Video Art from China (2002), Urban Anxiety (2003) from Australia. 1a space co-presented the large-scale exchange program Festival of Vision: Berlin in Hong Kong in 2000 and curated Cities in Amnesia exhibition, involving artists from Berlin, Taipei and Hong Kong.

1a space also runs an artist-in-residency program. Previous participating artists included Japanese artist Ichi Ikeda (1999), Taiwan artist Allen Tao (2000), Korean artist Yeondoo Jung (2002) and Finnish artist Erkka Nissiner (2003). On the invitation of 1a space, artists create and exhibit, as well as host talks, workshops and exchange with Hong Kong art community and the public.

Creative Interaction with the Community
1a space aims to encourage a creative interface between art community and the public. Home Affairs, initiated by 1a space, was the Provisional Regional Council Cultural Ambassador Scheme in 1999. Teaming up household members and artists for creation, the project attempted to review the positions of artists and the public. Behind The Eyeballs of 2000 was a collaboration between 1a space and the visually impaired. The project started from non-visual aspect of art. The project is further developed in 2002 to become an exhibition and school touring education program Beyond Visualization. Objects of Demonstration (2002) was an interesting exhibition on the artifacts in social movements.

As a community group, 1a space provided venues for cultural activities organized various social groups, such as the elderly, children's centres and the hearing impaired. Some of these were also incorporated into 1a space's regular program, thus fostering the merge of arts and daily life.

Cultural Activities
1a space often collaborated with other cultural organisations on programming. One of the examples is Cattle Depot Book Fair 2003. Performing arts and concerts are also held in the venue.