How Hong Kong Airport is using art as a different form of connectivity

by Martin Moodie |
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Martin Moodie

Martin Moodie

Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

I have long contended that airports have a critical role in showcasing their city’s, region’s or country’s culture. And what better expression of culture is there than art?

Airports often – as I noted when I launched a column on The Moodie Report.com called Airports as Artports – offer visitors the first and last impression of that locality, while for the city’s citizens they provide (or should) a source of civic pride.

Image: Kiran Ghattaura for The Moodie Davitt Report

An arts & culture programme connects passengers to a place in the same way an airport connects them to the world.

So it was with much delight yesterday after bidding farewell at Hong Kong International Airport to some Kiwi friends who were returning to Christchurch, my original hometown, that I stumbled across an almost archetypal example of an airport living triumphantly up to that responsibility.

It came in the form of the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) Arts and Culture Festival 2024, which launched last week.

The four-part exhibition highlights the diversity of the local arts scene {Photo: Airport Authority Hong Kong}

The Festival, which runs until 31 October, features a series of art exhibitions that simultaneously showcases Hong Kong artists and other creative talents while promoting the Special Administrative Region’s culture to travellers from around the globe.

Airport Authority Hong Kong has partnered with M+, MobArt Gallery, Art Promotion Office of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, and Hong Kong Arts Centre to present exhibitions that highlight the diversity of the local arts scene.

Airport Authority Hong Kong Acting Chief Executive Officer Vivian Cheung got it just right at last week’s opening when she said, “The Arts and Culture Festival will enrich the journey of every traveller passing through the airport.”

Airport Authority Hong Kong Acting Chief Executive Officer Vivian Cheung: “As the gateway to Hong Kong, HKIA stands as an ideal venue to showcase the diverse cultural landscape of our vibrant city” {Photo: Airport Authority Hong Kong}

Here, local traditional craftsmanship – nicely defined as Hong Kong’s intangible cultural heritage – is presented with life-sized replicas of items such as bamboo steamers and mahjong tiles.

Visitors can personalise their own postcards of Hong Kong street scenes by using stamps made with ‘Lee Hon Kong Kai’ fonts, a signature calligraphy commonly deployed in Hong Kong’s signage since the 1970s {Photo: Airport Authority Hong Kong}

I’ll let the pictures – not only of the exhibition (one of a four-part series) but of the encouraging consumer engagement it is generating (below) – tell the story. It is one that so richly deserves to be told. ✈

(Above and below) Consumers at Hong Kong International Airport interact with the exhibition {Photos: Martin Moodie}