The Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC), in collaboration with the School of Crafts of the China Academy of Art (CAA), proudly presents Beyond Tangible Objects–Hong Kong Exhibition of Faculty Works from the School of Crafts, China Academy of Art, which officially open today with a grand ceremony held at the Pao Galleries, 5/F, Hong Kong Arts Centre. The exhibition officially opened to the public free of charge from today to February 20, 2026, showcasing over 60 representative works by nearly 50 faculty professors and artists from the Academy’s four major disciplines–Department of Ceramics, Crafts, Cultural Heritage Conservation, and Design Studies. With a combined value exceeding 20 million Hong Kong dollars, the exhibition presents a diverse array of media, exploring the endless possibilities of object-making through contemporary lens.
Marking the School of Crafts of CAA’ first major exhibition in Hong Kong, this collaboration signifies a new milestone in cultural and artistic exchange between Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong. It also aligns with the Hong Kong SAR Government’s “Blueprint for Arts and Culture and Creative Industries Development”, reinforcing the city’s role as a dynamic intercultural hub, and fostering deeper academic and institutional partnerships between higher education institutions in both regions.
“Beyond Tangible Objects”–Transcending Past & Present, East & West through Craftsmanship Titled “Beyond Tangible Objects”, the exhibition emphasises on the symbiotic philosophies of craftsmanship, objects and their creative inspirations. This close-knit trinity signifies that objects can only be realised with craftsmanship. Objects are also the vessels for creativity, without which would deem craftsmanship a soulless endeavour. Through the work of nearly50 faculty professors, the exhibition highlights the enduring, symbiotic nature of craftsmanship. It reflects the school’s academic mission in handcrafted arts, capturing key developments in contemporary practice and the transformation of traditional Chinese crafts. The works also open new possibilities for dialogue between Eastern philosophy and handcrafted art.
This exhibition showcases more than 60 works from the Department of Ceramics, Crafts, Cultural Heritage Conservation, and Design Studies. Each distinguished by their unique styles, the exhibits explore the endless possibilities of handcrafted objects in a contemporary lens through diverse artistic media.
The Department of Ceramics feature works in clay and porcelain, supplemented by materials such as wood and glass. Drawing inspiration from Eastern philosophies, the pieces reflect on the relationship between man and nature.
Rooted in minimalist form, Dai Yuxiang’s Vessels of Stillness embodies the Zen philosophy of “emptiness and serenity”. The work also draws on Constructivist and Abstract Expressionist languages found in Western modern art, creating a cross-cultural resonance in aesthetics. For this exhibition, the artist breaks formal boundaries by employing bolder geometric structures and linear compositions to enhance the work’s sense of form and tension. While maintaining the meditative quality of “stillness”, the new pieces introduce dynamic elements that suggest latent vitality–quiet yet charged with subtle movement and energy.
Xiong Kaibo’s Three Rams Bring Prosperity is enamoured with the pottery and bronze creations of ancient times The artist observes the understated, unadorned aesthetics of traditional vessels with innovative techniques so to integrate historical pieces with contemporary creations. In Zhou Wu’s Mountain Gaze, the artist depicts wintery mountains and vistas with contemporary ceramic art in dialogues with nature. In Zhong Kui, Liu Zheng embodies the wish for universal prosperity and auspiciousness.
The Department of Crafts has employed a diverse range of materials, including enamel, sterling silver, buffalo bone, agate, marble, and digital imagery, focusing on the dialogue and reinvention between objects and contemporary life.
Duan Yanli’s Dreaming Back to Yungang Series No.2 emphasises ethnic culture with diversified forms and distinctive metal techniques, highlighting their experimental and individualised features. Drawing from the cultural imagery of the Yungang Grottoes, it depicts the Buddha, architectural elements, and decorative patterns in a figurative manner. By challenging the conventional boundaries of the cloisonné enamel, the work refocuses the spotlight onto the intrinsic qualities of the medium, textures of Eastern colours and the evolution of painted lines. It also explores the contemporary significance of Chinese traditional culture and cloisonné’s intangible heritage.
Ni Xianou believes that our vision of the world is composed off ragments of scenery refracted through light; the very moment of seeing already belongs to the past. Inspired by this reflection, Refracted Landscapes deconstructs the traditional Chinese garden within a contemporary framework. The geometric silver lines draw from modern spatial composition—cool, restrained, and succinct. “Conflict, contradiction, and balance” remain enduring propositions of the world, and this work approaches these relationships through the lens of traditional gardens, probing the interplay between time and space. Through the combination of different materials, “Refracted Landscapes” offers a rich sculptural and visual experience. The depth of history and the breadth of time are condensed together, unfolding like a quiet, compact chronicle of spacetime.
In Insulation & Connection, Zheng Wenqing integrates the form of electrical insulators with mold structures, utilising the insulating properties of glass and specialised techniques to construct a new conceptual framework from a contemporary perspective. The work reveals the care hidden behind the austere landscapes of industrial society. The artist employs a highly challenging glass-making technique—multiple casting processes—to control the internal forms of the “insulators” and the rising bubbles, symbolising the rich social landscape implied by the form and semantics of the insulator. The reconstructed mold structures are enriched with glass powder and glaze to create layered textures, producing a strong and solid overall presence. The Chinese characters “绝” (insulation, separation) and “缘” (connection, affinity) carry multiple layers of meaning in different contexts, prompting diverse interpretations. The work invites viewers to engage their subjective awareness and enter a unique dialogue with the piece.
In Wang Zhenghong’s Taking Off, the “Angel Wang Doll” is a symbol of inclusivity, embodying those who lend a helping hand while also reflecting beneficiaries giving back to society. Like an angel sounding the trumpet of happiness, the piece conveys good fortune and hope to everyone.
Huang Xiaowang’s Mirror Mirror is grounded in an interdisciplinary research perspective combining digital humanities and traditional craftsmanship. Its core creative logic emphasises technology-enabled cultural translation. The artist constructs a contemporary expression of traditional symbols by integrating digital imaging with traditional metalworking, precious metals such as gold and silver, acrylic, and digital transfer techniques. Using Chinese traditional patterned symbols as the visual cultural genome, the work employs the reflective and refractive properties of the mirror medium to explore the intertextual relationship between traditional cultural symbols and popular culture. It examines their symbiotic logic and tensions in the mediated era, as well as their profound influence on contemporary community identity, self-conception and evolving social behaviours. As the central expressive device, the mirror’s textured details follow a media-archaeology-inspired design path, transforming the viewer’s visual experience into an ontological self-inquiry, and prompting philosophical reflection on the dialectical relationship between individual traits, behavioural motivations, and outward presentation.
In addition, the Department of Cultural Heritage Conservation’s exhibits offer fresh perspectives to cultural relics through masterful restoration techniques, technology and contemporary artistic approaches. The Department of Design Studies presents multiple installations inspired by imagery from traditional Chinese literary paintings. These works promise a novel visual experience by reinterpreting classical motifs through contemporary techniques such as lacquer grinding and indigo dyeing.
About Hong Kong Arts Centre
Since 1977, the Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) has been a platform for nurturing and supporting artists, and infusing art into everyday life. Its unique arts and educational programmes aim to make the arts accessible for all. The HKAC believes in the transformational power of art for people from all walks of life. Established for more than four decades, the HKAC endeavours to bring arts to the people of Hong Kong by presenting programmes in diverse art disciplines, such as visual arts, performing arts, moving images,media arts, comics, animation, arts education, lecture forum, public art, art festival and community art. With the vision of inspiring creativity in the local and international art community, HKAC focuses on five key areas of art development, including Global Arts Explorations, Community Engagement, Voices of Diversity, Artistic Empowerment, and Art for Life.
About The China Academy of Art
Founded on moral cultivation, The China Academy of Art pursues world-class excellence with a distinctively Chinese edge. With aims to revitalise traditional craftsmanship with a focus on Eastern aesthetics under contemporary lens, the Academy prizes interdisciplinary integration and an educational ethos that balance breadth and depth, cultivating versatile talents proficient in ancient and modern knowledge, theory and practice, character and academia as well as Chinese and Western cultures. The Academy’s roots date back to 1928, when renowned educator Cai Yuanpei founded its pattern design discipline by the West Lake in Hangzhou, offering handcrafted arts-related courses that made up the foundation of today’s China Academy of Art. Over the subsequent 9 decades, the programmes underwent substantial change and improvement to now make up the four major disciplines of Ceramics, Crafts, Cultural Heritage Conservation and Design Studies.
Venue
Hong Kong Arts Centre, 2 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, Pao Gallery 5/F
Artists
50 Faculty Professors and Artists
Exhibition Dates
28 January, 2026 – 20 February, 2026
Gallery Hours
Monday – Sunday | 8 AM – 11 PM
Website
Hong Kong Arts Centre
Instagram
@hongkongartscentre
(Text and images courtesy of Hong Kong Arts Centre and The China Academy of Art)
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