Oi! (Hong Kong)

Last updated
Oil Street Art Space (Oi!)
Grade II historic building Oi! with its new extension.jpg
Red-brick complex of Oi! and the newly-built Oi! Glassie
China Hong Kong location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in Hong Kong
Former names Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
General information
Architectural style Arts and Crafts
Address12 Oil Street
Town or city Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
CountryChina
Coordinates 22°17′18.29″N114°11′34.17″E / 22.2884139°N 114.1928250°E / 22.2884139; 114.1928250
Designations Grade II historic building
Website
Official site
Former headquarters and clubhouse of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, at the corner of Oil Street and Electric Road, Causeway Bay. Qian Xiang Gang Huang Jia You Ting Hui Hui Suo .JPG
Former headquarters and clubhouse of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, at the corner of Oil Street and Electric Road, Causeway Bay.
Oi! building, formerly the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, along Electric Road. HK FormerRoyalHongKongYachtClub OilStreet.JPG
Oi! building, formerly the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, along Electric Road.
Exhibit area Oi! Exhibit area 201508.jpg
Exhibit area
Oi! building outside balcony Oi! View3 201508.jpg
Oi! building outside balcony

Oi! is a Hong Kong government art promotion organisation. It was developed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, and aims to promote visual arts by providing a platform for art exhibitions, forums and other art-related activities. It is situated at 12 Oil Street, North Point, at the corner of Electric Road.

Contents

Buildings

The organisation is housed in a complex that comprises a main and two ancillary buildings. The complex was built in 1908 and served as the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club headquarters and clubhouse until 1938. Built in the Arts and Crafts style, it was officially opened on 21 March 1908 by the then Governor, Sir Frederick Lugard. The site lost its initial waterfront location due to subsequent reclamation, and the Club headquarters moved to Kellett Island. [1]

After World War II, the buildings were used as a garage, government staff quarters and for storage by the Government Supplies Department. [1] Until 1998, they were part of the larger Government Supplies Department compound that included the department's headquarters. From 1998 to early 2000, the buildings of the compound were leased out on a short-term basis. They attracted a number of creative teams to develop arts in the area and housed the Oil Street Artist Village (油街藝術村). The government finally evicted the tenants, citing their lack of permits or insurance. A number of artists relocated to the Cattle Depot Artist Village in 2001, [2] [3] [4] and some relocated to Foo Tak Building (富德樓) in 2003. The buildings were used as a storehouse of the Antiquities and Monuments Office until late 2007, [1] and thereafter the site was developed into a combination of private residential buildings, a hotel and public space Oi!.

The Former Clubhouse of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (前香港皇家遊艇會會所) has been listed as a Grade II historic building since 1995. [5]

Aims and objectives

Since its inception, Oi! has aimed to inspire local communities through the experience of art co-creation, [6] including:

Activities

Since its opening in May 2013, Oi! has organized exhibitions and activities that are art-related, promoting community engagement. Activities are grouped as Y! Projects, E! Projects and A! Projects. [7]

Y! Projects provides a platform for young artists to develop creative talents through exhibitions and sharing. They can exchange their ideas with professionals, showcase their works and raise their profiles under this project. This project provides opportunities for new artists to learn and gain recognition, like "Sparkle! Art for the future", that encourages discussion and exploration of the relationship between art, contemporary life and social issues. [7]

E! Projects allows artists and community groups to exchange and create new insights through activities like "XCHANGE", "Connectivity! Urban Arc-tion". The activities provide a platform to promote arts, architecture, local issues and stories through social interactions. [7]

A! Projects provides a platform for artists and local residents to create environmental displays that merge art with the urban environment in the city. It allows participants to integrate art into daily life and make it to become a life defining attitude. "Living Art Projects" allows artists and citizens to beautify buildings under the theme "Green Art". It injects public's creativity into daily life and let participants experience art in their daily life. [7]

Impact on the community

Located in an urban area, Oi!'s historic Arts and Crafts building provides a contrast to surrounding newly built hotels and skyscrapers. It has an outdoor learning area that aims to inspire the public, particularly children's interests in the arts.

The new extension of Oi!

In order to provide more space to inspire greater imagination, Oi! rolled out an expansion project in 2019, to integrate an adjacent outdoor space of over 3,000 square feet with the original premises, developing into a community leisure space and a cultural venue. [8]

The new extension of Oi! has been opened to the public on 24 May 2022. New facilities include Oi! Glassie, Oi! Garden, Oi! Lounge and Oi! Deck.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Causeway Bay</span> District of Hong Kong Island

Causeway Bay is an area and a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern and the Wan Chai districts. It is a major shopping, leisure and cultural centre in Hong Kong, with a number of major shopping centres. The rents in the shopping areas of Causeway Bay were ranked as the world's most expensive for the second year in a row in 2013, after overtaking New York City's Fifth Avenue in 2012. When referring to the area, the Cantonese name is never written in English as "Tung Lo Wan".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PMQ (Hong Kong)</span> Historic building in Hong Kong

PMQ is the historic site of the old Hollywood Road Police Married Quarters, which is now a mixed-use arts and design venue in Hong Kong, between Aberdeen Street, Staunton Street, Hollywood Road, and Shing Wong Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fo Tan</span>

Fo Tan is an area of Sha Tin District, New Territories, Hong Kong. It was developed as a light industrial area, but this activity has declined markedly in recent years. There are residential areas to the east, alongside the MTR line, and in the foothills to the west.

The culture of Hong Kong is primarily a mix of Chinese and Western influences, stemming from Lingnan Cantonese roots and later fusing with British culture due to British colonialism. As an international financial center dubbed "Asia's World City", contemporary Hong Kong has also absorbed many international influences from around the world. Moreover, Hong Kong also has indigenous people and ethnic minorities from South and Southeast Asia, whose cultures all play integral parts in modern day Hong Kong culture. As a result, after the 1997 transfer of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong has continued to develop a unique identity under the rubric of One Country, Two Systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club</span> Yacht club in Hong Kong

The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club is a Hong Kong watersports club for sailing and rowing including paddling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fringe Club</span> Not-for-profit arts organisation

The Fringe Club is a not-for-profit arts organisation. Its mission is to help emergent artists, promote Hong Kong artists abroad through cultural exchange and overseas touring, and conserve and develop Hong Kong cultural heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Prison</span> Former prison in Hong Kong

Victoria Prison, was the first and longest-running prison to date in Hong Kong. It is located on Old Bailey Street in Central, Hong Kong Island. Named in honour of Queen Victoria, it was originally known as Victoria Gaol and was renamed into Victoria Prison in 1899. Victoria Prison has been redeveloped into a cultural and shopping destination generally called Tai Kwun (大館). Tai Kwun is composed of three declared monuments: the former Central Police Station, former Central Magistracy and Victoria Prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fortress Hill</span>

Fortress Hill or Pau Toi Shan is a hill and an area on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Fortress Hill includes the western part of North Point lying west of Oil Street, and the eastern part of Causeway Bay. There are a number of private residential estates, office buildings, hotels and serviced apartments in this area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Placemaking</span> Approach to public space design

Placemaking is a multi-faceted approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces. Placemaking capitalizes on a local community's assets, inspiration, and potential, with the intention of creating public spaces that improve urban vitality and promote people's health, happiness, and well-being. It is political due to the nature of place identity. Placemaking is both a process and a philosophy that makes use of urban design principles. It can be either official and government led, or community driven grassroots tactical urbanism, such as extending sidewalks with chalk, paint, and planters, or open streets events such as Bogotá, Colombia's Ciclovía. Good placemaking makes use of underutilized space to enhance the urban experience at the pedestrian scale to build habits of locals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Museum and Art Gallery, Hong Kong</span> Art museum in Pokfulam, Hong Kong

The University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) is located at 90 Bonham Road, next to the University of Hong Kong's East Gate entrance. Its exhibition galleries occupy the Fung Ping Shan Building as well as the first floor of the TT Tsui Building, where also the Museum Store is housed on the ground floor. The two buildings are joined by a bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AIA Tower</span> Skyscraper in Hong Kong

The AIA Tower is a skyscraper located in the North Point area of Hong Kong near Fortress Hill station. It was named after American International Assurance, a former member of American International Group, which occupies 12 floors of the building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asia Art Archive</span> Non-profit art organisation in Hong Kong

Asia Art Archive (AAA) is a nonprofit organisation based in Hong Kong which focuses on documenting the recent history of contemporary art in Asia within an international context. AAA incorporates material that members of local art communities find relevant to the field, and provides educational and public programming. AAA is one of the most comprehensive publicly accessible collections of research materials in the field. In activating its collections, AAA initiates public, educational, and residency programmes. AAA also offers research grants and publishes articles on IDEAS Journal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Kowloon Magistracy</span>

The North Kowloon Magistracy is a historic building and former Magistrate's Court located at No. 292, Tai Po Road, Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cattle Depot Artist Village</span> Village for artists in Hong Kong

Cattle Depot Artist Village is located on 63 Ma Tau Kok Road, Ma Tau Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The site was originally used as a slaughterhouse from 1908 to 1999. It was renovated and developed into a village for artists in 2001. It is now home to around 20 art groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre</span> Building in Kowloon, Hong Kong

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revitalisation of industrial buildings in Hong Kong</span>

The scheme of revitalisation of industrial buildings was announced by the Government of Hong Kong in the 2009-2010 Policy address of Hong Kong. The aims of the scheme is to provide more floor spaces for suitable uses in order to meet Hong Kong’s changing social and economical needs. It aims to redevelop unused and affordable industrial buildings into space for new businesses, especially for the "six pillar industries".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freespace Fest</span> Festival in Hong Kong

Freespace Fest is an outdoor arts festival held in West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade, Hong Kong. It is a two-day event held annually starting from 2012, held before the Clockenflap Music and Arts Festival in the same area. It features a number of activities such as an open market and dancing performances. Participants are also encouraged to have picnics. There is normally no charge for admission, although a special event in 2014 named 'M.U.R.S.' which charged for admission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oil Street</span>

Oil Street is a street in Fortress Hill on Hong Kong Island near Fortress Hill station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Videotage</span> Hong Kong-based art organisation

Videotage is a Hong Kong-based non-profit art organisation dedicated to nurturing emerging media artists and the development of the local new media art community.

Oil Street Artist Village was an artist community occupying the former Government Supplies Department Headquarters (GSDH) at Oil Street, Fortress Hill, Hong Kong from 1998 to 2000. It has been described as Hong Kong's first artists colony.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Brief Information on Proposed Grade II Items. Item #321 Archived February 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Uttam, Payal (May 17, 2012). "A Forgotten Enclave Comes Into View". Wall Street Journal . Retrieved January 11, 2014.
  3. "Uncatalogued: The Case of Oil Street Artist Village", Asia Art Archive press release, 8 May 2012.
  4. "Cattle Depot Artist Village", Government press release, April 22, 2009.
  5. List of the Historic Buildings in Building Assessment (as of 21 September 2012) Archived September 22, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Oi!". www.apo.hk. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Oi! , Oi! , LCSD
  8. "Phase II Development of Oil Street Art Space by Architectural Services Department". Architizer. 2022-05-14. Retrieved 2023-11-27.

22°17′20″N114°11′35″E / 22.288804°N 114.19298°E / 22.288804; 114.19298