Art Writing and Its Circulation: Three Moments in Hong Kong

This essay considers the kinds of art writing that document, critically respond to and generate discourse about art. Creative writing responses to works of art are a separate discussion that beckons another piece of writing itself. Here at Asia Art Archive, art writing is one of the predominant types of content in the materials we come across. From secondary materials such as art historical volumes and essays in exhibition catalogs, to primary materials like typescripts of exhibition reviews, drafts of lecture notes, curatorial statements, personal correspondences; the list goes on.

We often use art writing to prove a viewpoint, or frame a narrative. This can sometimes be at the expense of the stories that art writing, their medium, and the circulation itself tell. The vast amount of art writing that we encounter on an everyday basis at the Archive, and the many forms they take, prompts us to try thinking the other way around – to focus our attention on the art writing itself and its circulation. How does a particular space and time shape a medium in circulation? How and why did a particular medium of art writing start, what did they actually do? What kind of ideas were beings sent out, and to whom? Did it build up a community of writers and readers / audiences, and if it did, who were / are they?