Foo Tak Building: Wanchai's hidden artist hub

From the street, there's no indication that the Foo Tak Building is any different from the other aging buildings on this noisy stretch of Hennessy Road. Venture inside, however, and you’ll find 14 floors of art studios and cultural groups -- a creative oasis in an unlikely setting. 

Inside aco.

Kobe Ho.

The first stop for any visit to the Foo Tak should be aco, the bookstore and art gallery on the building’s first floor. That’s where you’ll find the soft-spoken Kobe Ho, who manages the bookstore and coordinates the Foo Tak’s creative space.

Originally, she says, the building was a typical mixed-use tower from the 1960s, with some units rented out to businesses and others subdivided into tiny dormitories and cubicle apartments. Then, in 2003, the building’s landlord Foo Tak had a change of heart. After she attended a conference about creative clusters in Hong Kong and heard from artists who desperately needed space, she sought out the artist May Fung, who helped her convert most of the units in the Foo Tak into low-rent space for artists, cultural and community organizations.

Now, says Ho, “there is so much positive energy flowing between units. People are doing really productive and creative work.” She prints out a building directory and puts it on her desk. Among the Foo Tak’s tenants are independent film groups, publishers, visual artists, musicians and the publishers of Klack, a new magazine on photography and culture.

Each 500 square foot unit rents for just HK$2,500 per month, but to qualify, its occupants have to be “really poor,” as Ho puts it. Once artists become established, they are respectfully given the boot to make way for emerging talent.

Erin Chan

Five floors up from aco, Erin Chan and Karden Chan (no relation) share a studio with three other artists. Karden works mainly with wood-block printing, a technique used by student activists in the 1930s. Activism is a big theme in her work -- her 2006 print of the Central Star Ferry clock tower became a symbol of the movement to save it -- but so is literature and gender.

Karden occupies a small, tidy corner of the studio where she hangs her tools and taps away on a computer. “I used to work at home, so I’d be working all the time,” she says. “I wanted to have a place to work and a place to sleep.” Working in a shared studio also means avoiding the isolation of home. “This is like a workshop for us to brainstorm and catch up with each other,” she says. “We have the same interests, even though we’re not doing the same thing.”

Erin, who sits at a desk facing the windows where she can take advantage of the afternoon light, has been doing Chinese calligraphy since she was 10. It’s an art form that requires years of training and practice but isn’t nearly as popular or accessible as contemporary art. “If you want to be creative you have to learn the technique first,” says Erin. “Many people will do something more contemporary only to get stuck and realize they have to go back and relearn the traditional to go forward.”

Karden Chan and her artwork.

Chu Hoi-dick.

Another three floors up is the office of In-Media, an independent news website that covers Hong Kong with a critical eye. It was launched on the eve of the World Trade Organization summit in 2005 by several journalist activists, including Chu Hoi-dick, the former international news editor of Ming Pao and a member of Local Action, a group that has made a name for itself by protesting the demolition of the Star Ferry pier in 2006 and Choi Yuen Village more recently.

“In Hong Kong, the mainstream media cover very narrow angles and a lot of business news,” says Damon Wong, In-Media’s main organizer and its only paid employee. “Our reports are meant to push the issues forward -- it’s an activist mindset. But we do make a distinction between reporting and protesting.”

With volunteer editors and reporters who work mainly from home, In-Media has a lot of leftover space in its Foo Tak office, so it hosts regular discussions, film screenings and other events. Around the office are mementos from its first five years: a paper sculpture of the old Star Ferry pier; protest stickers; black-and-white photos of In-Media’s reporters and activists.

Damon Wong.

The directory of Foo Tak Building.

Foo Tak Building's rooftop.

From the street, Foo Tak Building (the tenament in off-white) doesn't stand out among other aging buildings.

The stairwell of Foo Tak Building.

The Foo Tak’s roof opens onto a vista of trams ding-dinging in the streets below and boats gliding by on the harbor. Like many of the spaces in the building, the roof is sometimes used for concerts or parties.
Here’s where to keep tabs on the latest from the Foo Tak:

● 14/F: Klack, an arts and photography magazine

● 13/F: Pep!, a non-profit arts and culture events group

● 12/F: Happy Corner, a musical workshop run by Ho Shan, of Pixeltoy and Forever Tarkovsky fame

● 11/F: Xex Grp, a group of six new media artists

● 10/F: InD Blue, an independent film group that organizes regular mini-festivals; and Emergency Lab, home to experimental musician Samson Young

● 9/F: Media artist and curator Hung Keung; and In-Media

● 8/F: Hong Kong Institute of Aesthetic Education, an arts education group; and Joao Vasco Paiva, a media artist

● 7/F: 29s, an independent publisher

● 6/F: Artists Complex, home to Karden Chan, Erin Chan, Yuenjie and Cally Yu

● 4/F: Ying e Chi, an indie film group that hosts regular free screenings

● 3/F: Visible Record, a documentary film promotion group

● 1/F, aco, a bookstore/gallery and Foo Tak’s spiritual hub