News - Hong Kong Cultural Centre is a No-Go - World

While Hong Kong’s masses stampede across the recently opened Disneyland ticket barriers, the area’s real estate moguls have given a definite no-no to building a cultural museum. This enterprise would have, and should have, been one of the largest of its kind. In fact, it would have filled a wide gaping hole. Hong Kong may well be alive and kicking, but the place is lacking in the ‘fine art-museum’ side. Sure, there are many small galleries worth their weight on Central’s Hollywood Road, but the larger enterprises are somewhat thin on the ground. There’s the Hong Kong Museum of Art in Tsim Tsha Tsui, but really, that’s about it… And that’s pretty shocking, especially given Hong Kong’s position in the world today. Importantly, this would have been an international venture as MOMA, the Pompidou and Guggenheim have been contending for the right to run museums within the mega-centre. But, under the bright lights of various arguments, including the usual financial gripes, the project has now come to a spluttered end. Nevertheless, the government has revealed that this is not the grand finale of Hong Kong’s cultural yearnings, just a, shall we say, rearrangement of sorts.