From the East End of London to the outer boroughs of New York, arts-led neighbourhood regeneration has been one of the major dynamics in the evolution of the modern city. In some cases, most notably Shoreditch and Brooklyn, this has been a slow-burn ground-up phenomenon, with young artists taking over decaying post-industrial buildings and transforming them into studios and galleries.
In other parts of the world, though, it’s been more organised, notable examples being the Southbank Centre in London and Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island and, more recently, Hong Kong’s hugely ambitious West Kowloon Cultural District, which is both a case study in urban renewal, and confirmation of the city’s emergence as Asia’s cultural big hitter.
Despite its reputation as a hard-headed financial hub, all commerce and bustle, there has always been another Hong Kong: one that is cooler and more creative, a regional centre for Cantonese opera and fine art. West Kowloon Cultural District has brought the best bits of this Hong Kong to the fore, transforming an area of reclaimed scrubland into a Norman Foster-masterplanned modern neighbourhood with parks, waterside walks and a number of innovative contemporary buildings that are destinations in and of themselves.
The positive impact on the city’s cultural life has been considerable, as Elaine Kwok, Managing Partner, Asia at Hauser & Wirth, notes: “I feel very fortunate that my children will be growing up in a Hong Kong where the cultural life has become much richer than for my generation. I cannot wait for tourists from all over the world to come to Hong Kong and discover all that West Kowloon has to offer – the visitors have always known Hong Kong for our dynamic energy, and fabulous dining and shopping – now there is a new cultural dimension to their visit.”
A pioneering hotel
The cultural district was built on the back of the first strikingly contemporary building to appear: the 484m ICC building, which kickstarted the transformation of the area when it was completed in 2010. Within the ICC is The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, which occupies floors 102–118, and has some of the greatest views of Victoria Harbour and the Hong Kong skyline.
One man who knows this well is the hotel’s longstanding General Manager, Pierre Perusset, who has had a bird’s eye view of the evolution of the district. “Since the opening of The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, back in 2011, I have been observing daily, through my 117th floor office’s window, the incredible development of the West Kowloon Cultural District. It has been an amazing journey to witness the opening of the high-speed train linking Hong Kong to Guangzhou-Shenzhen and other cities in China. Then, as time went by, the further development of the cultural district, which has flourished beneath my eyes and created a lot of excitement. I am extremely grateful to have been able to witness the evolution of this area into a place where locals and overseas guests will have the chance to experience something that is unique, within such a short walking distance from our hotel.”
It’s not merely proximity and that thrilling perspective that make The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong the obvious place to stay when visiting the cultural district: the hotel’s pioneering aesthetic complements perfectly the arts hub below. Take, for example, the hotel’s Ozone bar, the highest in Asia. Its avant-garde interior was created by Japanese design studio Wonderwall, and its honeycomb cellular shapes and dramatic lighting combine to give it the quality of an immersive art installation.
A dynamic cultural hub
This kind of attention to detail is also much in evidence throughout the West Kowloon Cultural District. It’s certainly there at the Herzog and de Meuron-designed M+, an epic space that exhibits the best of contemporary art – a major Yayoi Kusama retrospective is running until May 23 – and also features design, fashion, film and architecture. M+ museum director Suhanya Raffel is aware of the role her space is playing in reshaping Hong Kong’s cultural standing: “This landmark museum building, together with a unique collection, has established our vision – to build a global museum culture in Hong Kong, as a new kind of public institution that reflects our unique time and place, and looks at the world from a Hong Kong perspective. I believe that the future history of the art museum will be rewritten to a significant degree in Asia, with M+ crystallising this ambition.”
A short distance along the waterfront from M+ is West Kowloon’s purpose-built showcase for the region’s beloved Cantonese Opera, the Xiqu Centre, a towering space designed to evoke Chinese lanterns. Those looking for a memorable introduction to the art form should book the Tea House Theatre Experience, which ranges across different musical styles and features romance, comedy and martial arts.
Other spaces to visit include the Hong Kong Palace Museum, with its incredible collection of pieces from the Palace Museum in Beijing, among them exhibits that explore life in the Forbidden City, and Freespace, an immersive contemporary performance space with VR installations, soundscapes, jazz festivals and live gigs. In 2024, the Lyric Theatre complex will open, a home for international theatre and dance.
This raft of major new spaces has elevated Hong Kong to the first rank of global cultural big hitters, as Elaine Kwok explains: “Over the past two decades, Hong Kong has become the leading hub for the art market in Asia – with Art Basel Hong Kong, a growing gallery scene with both international and local players, as well as major auctions sales. The museums that have recently opened in West Kowloon, such as M+ and Palace Museum Hong Kong, will add to the city’s public institutions, a critical component of the overall arts eco-system. Both M+ and Palace Museum have grand ambitions, and I believe that they will reframe existing art historical narratives in a way that puts Asia front and centre.”
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