Several artists and cultural workers have announced they will run as candidates in Hong Kong’s 2019 District Council elections, while the city-wide, pro-democracy protests show no sign of abating, Art Asia Pacific reports. Among them is artist Clara Cheung, who cofounded the nonprofit C&G Artpartament; Wong Tin Yan, an artist, journalist and broadcaster, and founder of independent art space Form Society; and Susi Law, a programmer and curator at Wan Chai’s artists village Foo Tak Building and Art and Culture Outreach organisation. Their participation was validated last week, with voters expecting to head to the polls on 24 November.
There are 18 district councils in Hong Kong, and each representative is in charge of securing public funding for community spaces and programmes, as well as advise the Legislative Council on the needs of the district. Cheung, Wong and Law are running without associations to any political party, presenting their commitment as an extension of their community-based work. ‘Art is an attitude, not just an artwork,’ Wong told AAP, ‘it’s about how to find more possibilities… Running in the elections is a further step for exploring another possibility.’
23 October 2019
