Para Site: 30 Years

“The dominant group will have a well-planned strategy to guard its field. Instead of using a complete and overall strategy, the Para-site takes calculated actions of tactics only at [a] certain time and [a] certain place.” — Warren Leung Chi Wo, “Para/Site 1996”

For three decades, Para Site has operated within the ever-evolving artistic ecosystems of the broader Asia-Pacific. Established in 1996 by seven Hong Kong artists—Lisa Cheung, Patrick Lee, Leung Chi-wo, Leung Mee-ping, Tsang Tak-ping, Phoebe Man Ching-ying, and Sara Wong Chi-hang— Para Site was founded as an artist-run space, eventually developing into one of Hong Kong’s most enduring contemporary art institutions dedicated to contemporary visual art. Today, Para Site remains committed to its mission of championing original developments in contemporary art. Collaborating closely with practitioners from both local and international contexts, Para Site enables new works, initiatives, and ideas to come into being by producing benchmark exhibitions, commissioning transformative projects, and cultivating new talent.

Engendering a spirit of reflexivity, responsiveness, and flexibility, Para Site as a non-profit has continuously adapted its organisational structure to meet the evolving needs of both itself and the artistic community. It has remained relevant by constantly reinventing itself: first as an artist-run space, and later as a curator-run organisation. The thirtieth anniversary poses an opportune chance for Para Site to explore new exhibition formats, partnerships, and thematic programming that simultaneously honour its legacy as an independent alternative art space, whilst collectively thinking through emergent themes in contemporary art today.

Since 1996, Para Site has mounted over 300 exhibitions locally and globally, hosted over 80 international residents, and delivered over 1,000 public programmes. Its programmes remain free and accessible to the public.

Para Site Programmes in 2026

Envisioned as a year-long series of exhibitions, performances, public programmes, and residencies, ‘Para Site: 30 Years’ takes its cue from the first operational logic to be manifested within its space. In its initial, experimental space in Kennedy Town, Para Site mounted exhibitions by pairing artists whose works responded to each other. In the same vein, the year’s programme is a series of bookends: by continuously inviting artists to respond to each other, organisations to interact, and past histories and futures to come into conversation, the programme seeks to uncover the possibilities that emerge when disparate spirits and ideas are brought together.

Site-seeing
Onsite exhibition
March–June 2026

‘Site-seeing’ takes its point of departure from an exhibition of the same name presented in 1996, the first year of the institution’s operation. While the original exhibition explored questions of urban space, memory and art-making, this iteration explores how these concerns have evolved as we navigate today’s cities. Through commissioned and recent works, ‘Site-seeing’ features a generation of artists born between the 1970s and 1990s. Their works collectively address the complexities of near-constant redevelopment that define much of contemporary urban life. By placing Hong Kong in dialogue with neighboring and distant cities, the works probe into the myriad of public and private interests that drive urban change, staging the city as a space shaped by regulation, control and alienation. Yet, many of the works attend to the moments of wonder, humor, and meaning that persist within the cracks of the built environment. Across these shifting environments, memory, desire and anxiety circulate and gather through what is built, erased and remade.

This exhibition is organised by Junni Chen and Yuanyu Li.

Artists: Tolia Astakhishvili (b. 1974, Tbilisi), Heman Chong (b. 1977, Muar), Covey Gong (b. 1994, Changsha), Ko Sin Tung (b. 1987, Hong Kong), Nawin Nuthong (b. 1993, Bangkok); Anna Sew Hoy (b. 1976, Auckland); Bo Wang & Lu Pan (duo, based between Amsterdam and Hong Kong); Tianyi Zheng (b. 1995, Wuhan); Stella Zhong (b. 1993, Shenzhen)

Elsewhere in Me
Off-site live programmes
May–November 2026

‘Elsewhere in Me’ is a series of off‑site live programmes that explore wayfinding through performances and interventions. Inspired by the multiple relocations and the lineage of artists who have presented works in public spaces throughout Para Site’s chronicle, the series also signals the institution’s continuous adaptation. Participating creators will articulate notions of mobility, liminality and relationality within the contexts of urban history, cultural heritage and the more‑than‑human realm, sharing a motive for finding footing in today’s world of detours and crossroads. In keeping with Para Site’s experimental ethos, the series unfolds across various venues in Hong Kong, welcoming diverse audiences.

This programme is organised by Celia Ho and Jessie Kwok.

International Conference + Workshops for Arts Professionals
August 2026

The 2026 International Conference and Workshops for Arts Professionals explore the relationship between art and technology today. As digital influence grows, the programme examines how technology shapes our lives, our ideas, and the way we live together.

Returning for the first time since 2019, the International Conference brings together artists, researchers, and academics to analyse the current state of our technological world. The sessions focus on understanding how and why rapid tech developments have changed the art landscape, exploring the impact of these changes and how to critically engage with the digital infrastructures that now surround us.

Over seven days of intensive exchange, this year’s workshop series invites arts professionals from around the world to focus on the underlying systems that dictate how art is produced, managed, and accessed in a tech-driven world. Through a mix of lectures, workshops, and site visits, participants will explore new ways of working together and tackling the most urgent technical and ethical issues facing our industry today.

International Residency Programmes
July-September 2026

Cheng-Lan Foundation, Delfina Foundation and Para Site are joining forces to pilot the ‘Harbour Exchange Fellowship Programme’, a new residency exchange programme providing opportunities for UK-based and Hong Kong-based arts professionals. In this unprecedented collaboration structure, the programme will offer nominated two arts professionals—one from Hong Kong, and the other from the United Kingdom— the opportunity to undertake two-month residencies hosted by Delfina and Para Site in London and Hong Kong respectively. Supported by Cheng-Lan Foundation, this residency programme is designed to cultivate long-term critical dialogues and artistic exchange between the two art communities, opening up new opportunities for future shared projects.

September–November 2026

Triangle Network and Para Site announce a new residency partnership for emerging Hong Kong-based artists. With Triangle Network’s global network of over twenty residency-hosting institutions, Para Site will award one Hong Kong-based artist per year the opportunity to live and work for an extended period at a selected Triangle Network partner organisation. The inaugural residency will take place in collaboration with HANGAR, Lisbon. Also an artist-founded organisation that hosts exhibitions and residencies, HANGAR is an independent space managed by artists and curators. It is a place for experimentation, research, and reflection artistic practices.

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