Now in its second year, Hong Kong’s PHD Group has an interesting history—one that interacts with the city’s recent history, connecting and reviving memories, while celebrating through its programming the inherent dynamic multiculturalism that has always characterized this important hub in Asia. Observer visited the gallery, located on the top floor of a commercial building in Wan Chai not far from the convention center hosting Art Basel Hong Kong, on a hot day in early July. There, we met Willem Molesworth, who founded the gallery in 2021 with his wife Ysabelle Cheung. Cheung’s family is originally from Hong Kong, while Molesworth is from the US, and the duo’s multiculturalism runs deep.
““Ysabelle comes from a diasporic background, having been born and raised in London,” Molesworth, who has lived in Hong Kong for nearly eight years, told the Observer. “In a way, we are both immigrants to the city and have chosen to be here. Hong Kong is a place of movement and impermanence; perhaps we are both fascinated by the idea of creating a community or putting down roots in that impermanence.”Being American means questioning and challenging what that means, he added. “My family roots are in Italy and I’m also Jewish. I grew up in New York City surrounded by different cultures. My sensibilities are certainly shaped by those experiences, and conversely, perhaps the best way to understand how our backgrounds intersect is to look at the gallery.”
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The PHD Group Program forfocuses on art and artists from East Asia, with most of the gallery’s artists hailing from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. “We are constantly looking for art that tells stories about who and what we are today,” said Molesworth. “We also have a deep appreciation for the exquisite. The artworks we present combine moments of contemplation with beauty.”
The space embodies this dedication to beauty and is particularly interesting when considering the relationship between the space’s present and past. For thirty years, the gallery was a private clubhouse that served the needs of three Hong Kong businessmen in the 1970s. Once used for parties and entertaining guests, it was essentially abandoned. “We took ownership of the space when it was completely derelict,” Molesworth explained. “With the help of our good friends at BEAU Architects, we converted it into an art gallery, taking a surgical approach that preserved the fundamental aspects of the space. Through this approach, we embrace the history of the space and let it shape and contribute to our exhibitions.”
Molesworth led us into a small room – the former clubhouse kitchen. Here the gallery owners exhibit some objects they have rescued from the gallery’s previous life, in a room they consider a third space, the “allows for a natural composition and processing of our exhibitions. These objects are connected to the history of Hong Kong and contextualize contemporary art in this larger context.” Art does not exist in a vacuum, Molesworth told us. “We embrace that.”
When we visited, the gallery was showing a carefully curated solo exhibition of work by local artist Chan Ting, who occupied the space with a series of alien sculptures that interacted with the gallery walls. The artist’s practice involves collecting and appropriating found objects and pieces of furniture full of memories, filling their gaps and cracks with an eerie green substance with a slimy appearance that is reminiscent of some buildings in Hong Kong – places with a layering of historical memories – but also seems to suggest decay and something rooted and infected.
Molesworth and Cheung I first encountered Ting’s work and practice at a non-profit space called Negative Space, where she used to hang out with some artist friends. There, Ting had installed a work low to the ground, and visitors had to duck a little to see it. “It felt intimate and private,” Molesworth said. “In that moment, we didn’t have a concrete sense that the work represented Hong Kong. For us, Chan Ting’s work illustrates the broader contemporary conditions of today’s society: how we deal with the passage of time and how we process trauma. The practice is informed by a sensitivity that exposes the subconscious layers of our realities; this relates to her work as a hypnotherapist and sound healer.”
Despite this feeling of “corrosion” “Invasion” or “infection,” these green layers actually represent a space of healing and growth for Ting. All The works are the result of a careful and labor-intensive conservation of these discarded containers and other objects that are empty and in poor condition. By filling their cavities, adding layers of plaster and pigment, and then gradually drilling, sanding and polishing them, the artist brings them back to life, suggesting that this necessary process of care aims to save these vessels of memory from oblivion. “In this city and in other cities, there are cracks everywhere. Chan Ting thinks that the green fills the emptiness and nothingness. Perhaps these things have a commonality in that they grow and expand silently and it is just a matter of our perception,” Molesworth noted.
When asked if there have been many changes in the city and its cultural arts scene in recent years following the protests, Molesworth acknowledged that there have been some changes, but he is also very confident that Hong Kong’s resilience will enable it to maintain its unique position as the region’s arts centre.
Molesworth and Cheung, along with Alex Chan of The Shophouse, also founded the Supper Club, which took place during the recent Art Basel Hong Kong Art Week. Conceived as an alternative fair model, the Fringe Club brought together works from 22 galleries from around the world, with extended opening hours and a rich program to encourage conversation and exchange in a more relaxed atmosphere than a traditional fair. “Supper Club” Club was intended to be a new event for Hong Kong and the international art scene, he said. “Although it was important for many reasons, we felt that the traditional fair model needed a counterweight. We must point out that Supper Club is not an art fair in the true sense, but a hybrid between a fair and an exhibition. We hosted various panel discussions, performances and other events. We wanted to create space for experimentation.”
Experimentation also enlivens the gallery’s programme, and spaces like PHD Group are essential to keeping Hong Kong’s art ecosystem vibrant. Molesworth and Cheung are among those encouraging conversations and important reflections on the city’s recent history and its identity as a dynamic place of exchange.”It is a wonderful creative journey and we intend to stay on this path,” said the gallery owner. “We have a few other ideas; we just hope we get around to implementing them.” We expect that they will contribute a lot to exploit the potential of cultural hybridization and multiculturalism between West and East.
