International Association of Art Critics Hong Kong

Josette Balsa is French, member of AICA France and Advisor to AICA Hong Kong. Lived in Hong Kong since 1992, she was previously living in St Paulo, Brazil where she taught Philosophy for 25 years. She became curator and fund-raiser in 1980 and was active in the St Paulo International Biennale and local and national museums.

Josette Balsa has articulated the participation of Chinese artists in St Paulo and Venice Biennales and organized cultural exhibitions of Western and local artists at the University Museum, the Hong Kong Arts Centre and the Cultural Centre as well as in Macau, Shanghai, Seoul and Beijing museums. She was awarded Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 1983 and Officier des Arts et des Lettres in 2007 by the French Minister of Culture. Currently based in Beijing.

email: jobalsa@gmail.com

John Batten comments, broadcasts and writes on art, culture, heritage and policy issues for Hong Kong newspapers and overseas magazines and regularly writes art reviews for the South China Morning Post. He has run his own gallery since 1997; Organiser of the yearly charity art event, Hong Kong ArtWalk; and, curator of exhibitions in Hong Kong and overseas. A strong advocate for better urban planning and heritage conservation in Hong Kong, he is co-convenor of the Central & Western Concern Group. He is an Advisor to the Asia Art Archive and 1a space in Hong Kong; and, a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Broadsheet magazine (Australia).

Recent review & article:
> 3rd Guangzhou Photo Biennial: Sightings - Searching for the Truth

Hilary Binks is a free-lance writer and editor specialising in Asian art. Before coming to Hong Kong in 1981, she was an editor at Oxford University Press in England. She has been the Hong Kong Contributing Editor for "Asian Art News" and "World Sculpture News" and is the Hong Kong correspondent for the "Asian Art Newspaper". She has also served as a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Asia Art Archive. After managing a gallery for several years, she is currently a Consultant to Art & Antique International Fair Ltd, which organizes international art fairs in Hong Kong.

email: binks@hkstar.com

Stephen C. K. Chan is Professor and Head of the Department of Cultural Studies at Lingnan University. He was the founding programme director of Lingnan’s BA (Hons) Cultural Studies degree in 1999, and had served as Programme Director of the Master of Cultural Studies degree from 2003 to 2008.

Published internationally on Hong Kong culture, film, literature, and cultural studies, Chan’s current research interests are the transnational imagination in action cinema, cultural research and Liberal Studies education, urban creativity, cultural policy, audience development, and the pedagogy of popular culture. He is on the international editorial board of the journal Cultural Studies and Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, and has recently been elected to the Board (2008-2012) of the international Association for Cultural Studies, based in Finland. Locally, Chan is a member of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (2008-2010), and chairs the sub-group in Criticism.

email: chingkiu@netvigator.com

Johnson Chang Tsong-zung is Curatorial Director of Hanart TZ Gallery, co-founder and Board Director of Asia Art Archive, and research professor at the Visual Culture Research Centre of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Chang has also been active as an independent curator for over two decades. International exhibitions curated by Chang include the seminal China's New Art, Post-1989 (international exhibition tour 1993 -1997); the Special Exhibition at the Biennial of Sao Paulo (1994 and 1996), showcasing contemporary Chinese artists; Altra Face, the presentation of Chinese contemporary art at the Centenary Exhibition of the Venice Biennale (1995); and the Hong Kong pavilions at the Biennial of Sao Paulo (1996) and the Venice Biennale (2001), both marking Hong Kong's first official participation in these events; Power of the Word (USA tour 1999-2003) under the auspices of the Independent Curators International, New York; Half a Century of Chinese Woodblock Prints (international tour 1999-2003); Paris Pekin (Paris, 2002), the first major retrospective of Chinese contemporary art in Europe; A Strange Heaven (international tour 2003-present), a survey of Chinese contemporary photography; and Yellow Box (2005), an exhibition investigating new curatorial strategies for traditional ink painting and calligraphy.

email: tzchang@hanart.com

David Clarke is Professor in the Department of Fine Arts, University of Hong Kong . He has written extensively on C20th art and culture, and has a particular interest in American and Chinese art. His most recently published books are "Modern Chinese Art" (Oxford University Press, 2000); "Hong Kong Art: Culture and Decolonization" (Duke University Press, 2002); "Reclaimed Land : Hong Kong in Transition" (Hong Kong University Press, 2002); and "Hong Kong x 24 x 365: A Year in the Life of a City" (Hong Kong University Press, 2007). Clarke is the founder and academic director of the Hong Kong Art Archive (http://web.hku.hk:8400/~hkaa/hkaa/).

email: dclarke@hkucc.hku.hk

Valerie C Doran is a critic, curator, and translator specializing in the field of contemporary Asian art with a special interest in cross-cultural currents and comparative art theory. Her involvement in contemporary Chinese art began during the new art movements of the 1980s in Taiwan, where she worked with visual and performance artists. In the early ‘90s she moved to Hong Kong and joined Hanart TZ Gallery where she served as curatorial manager and was editor for the catalogue of the pioneering exhibition China’s New Art, Post-1989, which since has become an important reference work in the field. In 1994 she became affiliated with the Hong Kong-based Asian art magazine Orientations, of which she is currently Contributing Editor. Doran publishes frequently on contemporary Asian art topics and is also active as a curator. She is a founding member of the Hong Kong Independent Curators Association and member of the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong (CASH).

email: valeriecdoran@yahoo.com

Living in Hong Kong since 1981, Gerard Henry is the chief-editor of the bilingual (French and Chinese) cultural magazine Paroles and also Deputy Director Alliance Francaise de Hong Kong. He has written on China, Hong Kong art and culture and on French visual arts for different exhibition programs and magazines including "China perspectives", "Le Monde diplomatique". Since 1997, he has been the Hong Kong and China correspondent and cultural columnist for Radio Suisse Romande La Premiere in Switzerland and in 2008, he published a book called "Chroniques hongkongaises" at Editions Zoe. He was awarded "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" in 1999 by the French Minister of Culture for promoting Cultural exchanges between Chinese and French Communities. He is currently President of the Hong Kong section of AICA.

email: g.henry@alliancefrancaise.com.hk

Oscar Ho Hing-kay was formerly the Exhibition Director of the Hong Kong Arts Centre and founding Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai. Since the late 1980s, he has curated many local and international exhibitions, including serving as guest curator for the 2nd and 3rd Asian Pacific Triennial, curator for the Asian section of the Container 96 at Copenhagen in 1996, and guest curator for HX Art Festival at Halifax, Canada in 1999. He is also the founder of the Hong Kong chapter of the International Art Critics Association, and a member of the International Committee of documenta 13. Currently he is the Director of the M.A. Programme in cultural management at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and he remains active as an independent curator.

Recent reviews & articles:
> 找尋「文件展13」藝術總監
> 繼續法西斯
> 存在的沉鬱 - 培根與羅斯科的兩個展覽

email: oscarho@cuhk.edu.hk

Graduated from the Fine Arts Department, The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1993, Jaspar Lau was a research assistant for Research Institute for the Humanities, CUHK from 1995 to 1998. Since 1998, Lau has written arts and cultural criticism for local and overseas newspapers, magazines, catalogues and journals. He is currently occasional editor for art publications and curator for art exhibitions and exchange projects, and is also responsible for the experimental projects of mMK (mini-Museum von Kaspar) since 1996.

email: jasparlkw@yahoo.com.hk

Dr. Eva Man is a professor of the Humanities Programme and the Department of Religion and Philosophy of the Hong Kong Baptist University. Her research areas include comparative aesthetics, comparative philosophy, woman studies, feminist philosophy, cultural studies, gender studies, and art and culture. Dr. Man is, at present, the Vice Chair of the Visual Art Committee of the Hong Kong Art Development Council. She contributes to newspapers and hosts a cultural programme on radio. In 2003-04, she won the Fulbright Hong Kong Scholar Program Fellowship Award to do research at the University of California, Berkeley. She became a life fellow of Clare Hall of the University of Cambridge in 2004. In 2009, she was named AMUW Woman Chair Professor of the 100th Anniversary of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

email: evaman@hkbu.edu.hk

Henry Steiner, Doctor, honoris causa, Hong Kong Baptist University; Honorary professor: University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He was born in Vienna and raised in New York. A resident of Hong Kong since 1961, he is an internationally acclaimed graphic designer and head of Steiner&Co., one of the world’s leading brand identity design consultancies. He has served as President of Alliance Graphique Internationale and is a member of the American Institute of Graphic Art, the New York Art Directors Club and a fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers. He received the Golden Decoration of Honor from the Republic of Austria in 2006. Steiner, who holds a Master degree from the Yale School of Art, is also the co-author of "Cross-Cultural Design: Communicating in the Global Marketplace" (1995, Thames and Hudson).

email: hs@steiner.hk

Jonathan Thomson is an Art Historian, Critic and Curator. He is a highly experienced Arts Administrator, a qualified Chartered Accountant, and a widely published Arts Writer. His interests are wide ranging and various, from the beginnings of modernism to contemporary Asian art. He is an expert in arts and cultural policy, strategic planning for the arts sector, curatorial services and collections development.
He holds degrees in Economics and Visual Arts from Australian Universities, and a Master of Philosophy Degree in Art History from the University of Hong Kong. He has held senior management positions with the Australia Council for the Arts, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and the Global University Alliance.
He writes extensively on all aspects of the arts and is currently Regional Correspondent for Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. He is the author of "Hong Kong: Culture and Creativity" published in 2006 by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

email: thomson@thomsonfineart.com

Wan Qingli, BA in Art History, MFA in Chinese Painting, the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, MA in Art History and PhD from the University of Kansas in USA. He has taught Chinese art history at the University of Hong Kong for 17 academic years from 1989 to 2006. He was appointed as the founding Director and Chair Professor of Academy of Visual Arts, the Hong Kong Baptist University in 2006, and the Honorary Professor in Faculty of Arts, the University of Hong Kong. Professor Wan is an authority of 19th-20th century Chinese Art. He has Published 19 books, more than 130 journal articles, revised and wrote new Asian art entries in "Encyclopedia Britannica" (extended edition 2001), Professor Wan is also a famous artist and works have been collected in museums of the worldwide.

Recent review & article:
> 從美術教育到視覺藝術教育

email: qlwan@hkbu.edu.hk

Historian, critic and curator, Wear has spent twenty years working with museums and galleries on contemporary and historical Chinese art and design, focusing on purposes, values and phenomenology. He has also advised local authorities and developers in China and Taiwan on sustainable cultural preservation. From 1989 to 2007 he was Associate Head and Associate Professor at the School of Design of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, leading the Master in Design, and the Innovation and Design Management concentration of the MBA of the Graduate School of Business. Wear was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and Goldsmiths College, London, and has a doctorate in Chinese art. He is a Director of the Asian Art Archive. Since 1989, he has contributed to various publications for Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong. Now based in Shanghai he edits a website on Chinese literati art and design: www.huancuitang.org