The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mrs Rita Lau, said today (February 28) that the Government is dedicated to developing Hong Kong as a city of creativity in the region.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the "Response Exhibition of the 11th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice Biennale Hong Kong Exhibition", Mrs Lau said: "There are more than 170, 000 practitioners in our creative industries, with over 30, 000 establishments and a total annual value-added exceeding $60 billion, representing around 4% of our GDP. If these industries can obtain more effective support and training, their development potential will be enormous."
To co-ordinate the development of a creative economy, the Government will set up a dedicated office, "Create Hong Kong". As announced by the Financial Secretary in the Budget, an additional $300 million has been earmarked to promote the continuous development of local creative industries. Architecture, as one of the creative industry domains in which Hong Kong has an edge, will also benefit.
Regarding today's response exhibition, Mrs Lau said: "I participated in the opening and toured Hong Kong's exhibition at the biennale in Venice last September. About 33, 000 visitors were attracted by the exceptional creativity of the Hong Kong exhibition, representing one quarter of the total attendants to the biennale. It was widely acclaimed and I encourage Hong Kong people to take this opportunity to experience for themselves the meaning and creativity of this exhibition."
Adopting the theme of Fabricate Culture, the exhibition in Venice used a wider cultural spectrum to represent architecture. Featuring the works of various professionals according to the six sub-themes of object, building, landscape, city, media and text, the response exhibition aims to present the ideas that would contribute to the advancement of architecture as an art form and as an exemplary creative industry for the development of Hong Kong. A sub-theme, "Remaking Hong Kong: Architecture as Culture," was added to the response exhibition that opened today for further elaboration of architecture and culture.
From 2006, the Hong Kong Institute of Architects and Hong Kong Arts Development Council have jointly presented Hong Kong's exhibition at the Venice biennale to showcase Hong Kong's architectural art and design, as well as the unique inspirations and creative concepts that built Hong Kong's culture, economy and geographical environment.
The exhibition is now on at the Thematic Exhibition Gallery of the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre, Kowloon Park, Haiphong Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, until April 29.
Saturday, February 28, 2009