(From left) Florian Knothe, director of University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong; Joost Schokkenbroek, director of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum; Louis Ng, director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum; and Jiao Tianlong, head currator of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, attend the art forum at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on Nov 19, 2022. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

The maiden edition of Art Hong Kong — a festival that seeks to “enhance cultural exchange between the East and West through the lens of art” and hopes to see Hong Kong play a pivotal role in that process — came to a close on Saturday.

Hosted by the Bauhinia Culture Group, the four-day festival featured art by modern Chinese masters such as Xu Beihong, Qi Baishi and Wu Guanzhong, and contemporary stalwarts like Wang Tiande, Lam Tianxing and Zhang Enli. 

The sight of young docents enthusiastically walking tour groups — from schools, mostly — through the exhibition, explaining the nuances in the paintings and sharing anecdotes about them, bodes well for the future of art and culture in Hong Kong. 

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All three panelists of the day’s first forum on “The Internationalization and Contemporaneity of Museums in Hong Kong” agreed that investing in the city’s future generations was on the top of their agenda. 

Florian Knothe, director of the University Museum and Art Gallery at the University of Hong Kong, Joost Schokkenbroek, director of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum and Hong Kong Palace Museum director Louis Ng seemed to speak in one voice, expressing their eagerness to share resources with institutions in Greater Bay Area as well as the rest of the world. 

As Ng put it: “Hong Kong is well-positioned to act as a museums hub to the world.”

Louis Ng, director of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, speaks at the forum on Nov 19, 2022. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

Florian Knothe, director of University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong, speaks at the forum on Nov 19, 2022.(CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

Joost Schokkenbroek, director of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, speaks at the forum on Nov 19, 2022. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

Jiao Tianlong, head curator of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, speaks at the forum on Nov 19, 2022. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)