Encounters with Alumni from Greater China
Tina Yee-wan Pang is Curator of Hong Kong Visual Culture at M+, a new visual art museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District Hong Kong that is scheduled to be completed in 2018. She was previously Curator at the Hong Kong University Museum and Art Gallery as well as Honorary Assistant Professor in the Department of Fine Arts. Tina holds an MPhil in Ethnology and Museum Ethnography at St Hilda’s, University of Oxford and a BA in Chinese Art and Archaeology from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She received the Asian Cultural Council - Lee Hysan Foundation Fellowship in 2010 to research museums and curatorial practices in the USA.
What are your most cherished memories of Oxford?
St. Hilda's has its own punts so it would have to be punting on the River Cherwell in summer, but also the tutorial system. I was a graduate student at Oxford so had not experienced the tutorial system before, and though the weekly readings and essay writing was intense and at times stressful, it was also a great discipline.
Why did you choose to study at Oxford? How did the University nurture your interests and talents?
I always knew that I wanted to work in museums, and had studied Chinese art history at undergraduate level. In my last year at university I took a course on art and anthropology, which introduced me to alternative interpretative frameworks, and Oxford was probably the only place where I could work in a school of cultural anthropology while also being attached to a museum.
St. Hilda's has its own punts so it would have to be punting on the River Cherwell in summer, but also the tutorial system. I was a graduate student at Oxford so had not experienced the tutorial system before, and though the weekly readings and essay writing was intense and at times stressful, it was also a great discipline.
Why did you choose to study at Oxford? How did the University nurture your interests and talents?
I always knew that I wanted to work in museums, and had studied Chinese art history at undergraduate level. In my last year at university I took a course on art and anthropology, which introduced me to alternative interpretative frameworks, and Oxford was probably the only place where I could work in a school of cultural anthropology while also being attached to a museum.
Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, home of the Balfour Library, the library of the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography. Credit: Pitt Rivers Museum
Tell us about your career since you graduated from Oxford.
I had intended to continue studies to DPhil level, but decided to break for a year after the MPhil to take a job working in a classical antiquities gallery in New York. One year became three during which I learned a lot about handling objects and connoisseurship. I also learned a lot about the relationships between galleries, collectors and museums. I conducted collection research, and authored an exhibition catalogue of art of the Central Asian and Chinese steppes. Although I had decided to return to the UK for further study at the end of three years, I was also offered a position at the The University of Hong Kong as curator and honorary assistant professor teaching Chinese material culture and museum studies, which I decided to choose. There I learned a lot about curating exhibitions, working with artists, and the role of museums to different audiences. This year I decided to move to a very different position as a curator at Hong Kong's future museum of visual culture, M+, which will be one of the earliest parts of the West Kowloon Cultural District to be completed in 2018
You have lived and worked in London, New York, Beijing, Hong Kong. What do you find most exciting about the art scene in Hong Kong, and about the work of Hong Kong visual artists in particular?
Unlike the other cities that I have lived in that can have quite developed and pluralistic artistic or cultural ecosystems, Hong Kong has until recently tended to rely on government supported infrastructure, as high rents have made the sustainability of smaller independent cultural organisations difficult. That is also why it is such an exciting time to be in the arts in Hong Kong right now as independent spaces and initiatives, international galleries, auction houses, and the success of Art Basel Hong Kong have grown up to fill in many gaps and the government is also expanding its support for both programmes and the development of skills and experience. One of the greatest and most rewarding aspects of this is in building younger more diverse audiences in Hong Kong.
Artist impression of M+. Credit: West Kowloon Cultural District
What do you hope to accomplish at M+?
The M+ project is quite possibly one of the most extraordinary museum-building projects in the past 40 years, and will celebrate the unique viewpoints and creative languages that artists, designers, architects, filmmakers, and photographers among others have developed here in Hong Kong, or have been inspired regionally. There we will have an opportunity to present Hong Kong visual culture as part of multiple narratives reflecting Hong Kong's relationships with China, Japan, S E Asia as well as the wider diasporic communities.
What keeps you awake at night?
Very little in fact, but occasionally not having enough hours in the day.
Who do you most admire?
My parents.
What would you be your one piece of advice to Oxford graduates in Hong Kong and China who would like to make their career in the art sector?
At the heart of most art careers is knowledge of a discipline or works associated with a period(s). So that would always be important but also to be open-minded about what a career in the arts might be. Gain as much experience as possible in different positions to learn what kind of work you would be best at. In the museum field many graduates tend to think only about curatorial work but there is a deficit of specialised workers in areas like education and interpretation, collection management, digital content management, etc. For this and the commercial sector it is always important to be able to communicate complex ideas well, so writing and language skills are also very important.
Interviewed in December 2014