Para Site Fundraising Auction 2015
Oct 22 – Oct 27, 2015
Preview Exhibition: Oct 22 – Oct 26, 2015
Bonhams Hong Kong Gallery Suite 2001
One Pacific Place
88 Queensway
Admiralty, Hong Kong
Online Auction
Oct 13 – Oct 27, 2015
Para Site, Hong Kong’s leading contemporary art centre and one of the oldest and most active independent art institutions in Asia, held its annual auction on October 27, 2015. Over 100 lots were made available including works by leading artists
. The lots were previewed at Bonhams Hong Kong Gallery (Oct 22 – 26) in Pacific Place, and bids were placed online on Paddle8 (Oct 13 – 27). All proceeds from the auction support Para Site as it continues to grow and engage in a wide array of activities and collaborations with other art institutions, museums, and academic structures in Hong Kong and internationally.Para Site’s Executive Director and Curator remarked, “The auction is the culmination of an exceptional year for Para Site during which we shifted space and expanded our programming to both critical success and community acclaim. The larger space has allowed us to hold more museum-standard exhibitions, more public programmes and residencies, more support schemes for Hong Kong artists, and launch more new publications than ever before. We saw a considerable increase in visitor numbers, and our impact on the local arts community has been commensurately bigger.”
“The auction, in keeping with Para Site’s commitment to the region’s new potential, features diverse works from some of the most promising emerging artists as well as some major international figures, comprising a unique perspective on the current local and international art scene and a rich selection for collectors and art lovers alike. The funds raised will allow Para Site to continue supporting Hong Kong and Asia’s new and leading talent and engaging with the local community through ground-breaking exhibitions and educational outreach.”
Since moving to its 2,500-square-foot exhibition gallery earlier this year, Para Site has hosted five exhibitions as well as its international conference, which was once again a major destination on the global arts agenda. It also launched several major new educational programmes, taking advantage of its dedicated education space, including an intensive programme for emerging art professionals from Hong Kong and abroad, a new long-term project that engages with Hong Kong’s domestic workers community, and an innovative format for producing large-scale works focused on Hong Kong artists.
Para Site’s expanded exhibition programme was very well received this year. Its new space’s debut exhibition, A Hundred Years of Shame, welcomed more than 3,000 visitors and received feature reviews in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Other exhibitions included
s first solo exhibition in East Asia, Imagine there’s no country, Above us only our cities, and A Luxury We Cannot Afford. Previous exhibitions continued to travel internationally. Of note, A Journal of the Plague Year featured at the prestigious Kadist Art Foundation and The Lab in San Francisco, while Great Crescent travelled to Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. There are plans for other exhibitions to tour to Manila, Paris and Mexico City, a.o.“None of this could have happened without the tremendous generosity of our Patrons and supporters. We are thus extremely grateful to all of you for supporting us, as well as to all the artists, galleries, and friends who have donated this unprecedented set of works and experiences, as well as to our expanding family of Founding Friends, Friends, and Associates, to our renewed Advisory Council, and to the Board and Staff, who have made our last year possible,”
continued.Donated works of art include pieces by
Supporting galleries include