Archive as Detour: Historical Re-Enactment in Artist Archive and Archival Art Practices of Contemporary Hong Kong

The book brings a new approach to see the art history of Hong Kong as a historical mediator and offers alternative perspective to discern the current hype of archive research and archival art practices, which informs the commitment in the constant production of socio-political meanings through arts. The book addresses the current social-political crises of Hong Kong by connecting art, memory, history, and political participation together through the site of archive and contextualises in both local and global perspectives, it also focuses on the artist archive, namely Ha Bik Chuen Archive, and archival art practices of contemporary Hong Kong, particularly in the social and political unrests, however, it ripples resonance and reflection not only in the local context but also to the region. The book is intended to the readers who are interested in both representational and interpretational nature of art and searching for alternatives means to perceive histories.

Vennes Cheng, Sau Wai is a scholar, writer, and Associate Curator, Hong Kong Visual Culture, M+, Hong Kong Hong Kong based independent curator and scholar; she received a Ph.D. of History of Chinese Art from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and MA in Cultural Studies from Goldsmiths, University of London. Cheng’s research areas include modern and contemporary art of Hong Kong and China, artist archive, archival art practices, and historical and mnemonic contingency.