As part of the Hong Kong Art Workshop, this year ran by Michelle Wong of Asia Art Archive (AAA) and Dr. Koon, in March, the students took part in AAA’s Open Platform Booth at Art Basel and talk to some of the experts and players who attend the fair.

The conversations used a speed-dating formula as a way for students to get to the point quickly and to enable a range of experts to participate. The theme of their discussion was on how non-profit organisations can shape public discourses about art at a time when attention is increasingly focused on the for-profit art market.

Guests were invited from eight organisations, including the Tate Public Programmes in the UK, the global Delfina Foundation, Casco Office of Art, Design and Theory in the Netherlands, and locally, Para/Site, 100ft Park, Robert HN Ho Family Foundation, Hong Kong Museum of Art, the artist Marysia Lewandowska and AAA. They each sat in the hot seat for 10 minutes.

The students quizzed the Director of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Eve Tam, on the difference between Hong Kong art and art from China. Marko Daniel of Tate was asked how art can be used to bring together people from different walks of life. Para/Site, 100ft Park and AAA were asked about the impact of politics on their organisations. Many other topics were covered too, such as the boundaries between profit and non-profit, how curators select artists, and how location affects a gallery’s impact. As one student responded: “It was a new way of learning and every single one of us was involved.”