12 November 2015, Hong Kong – On 27 October 2015, more than 250 closest friends of Para Site’s gathered for an auction gala supporting the Hong Kong’s premier contemporary art organisation and one of the oldest and most active independent art centres in Asia. Hosted by Yana and Stephen Peel, the dinner was held at PMQ’s the QUBE, and featured the auction of an unprecedented number of artworks generously donated by the Para Site’s family of artists and gallery supporters.

Guests including Para Site co-chairs Yana Peel and Alan Lau, Shirley Hiranand, Yenn Wong and Alan Lo, Lavina and William Lim, Reyna Harilela, Claire Hsu, Reina and Kevin Chau, Paulo Pong and Sonia Cheng, Goodwin and Yama Gaw, and Benjamin and Mariko Lee watched with anticipation as Jehan Chu led an exciting Live Auction with lots that included works by highly sought after young artists Maria Taniguchi, Tianzhuo Chen, and Charwei Tsai; international names Paul Chan, Martin Creed, Antony Gormley, Ai Weiwei, and Thomas Ruff; and Chinese art stars Cao Fei, Wu Shanzhuan, Liao Guohe, Jiang Zhi, and Song Dong.

With some works selling at more than twice the estimated price, Para Site raised over HK$6 million before the evening was over. With the funding secured for 2016, Para Site will begin to develop further as well as formalising many of the programmes it initiated in 2015. Early next year, Para Site will open a major exhibition that looks at the migrant domestic workers community in Hong Kong, which will also include the launch of a publication that will be an anthology of texts related to migration and labour and available in Chinese, English, Indonesian, and Tagalog. The year will also see the commissioning of an artwork by Hong Kong artist Samson Young, which follows one year of research into the formation of orchestra as a community-based practice in Hong Kong. New works will also be commissioned for a solo exhibition in mid-2016, followed by the next iteration of Para Site’s new series of exhibitions working with emerging Hong Kong curators, as well as the annual international conference and workshops for emerging professionals.

Since moving to its 2,500-square-foot exhibition gallery earlier this year, Para Site has hosted five exhibitions as well as its international conference, which was once again a major destination on the global arts agenda. It also launched several major new educational programmes, taking advantage of its dedicated education space, including an intensive programme for emerging art professionals from Hong Kong and abroad, a new long-term project that engages with Hong Kong’s domestic workers community, and an innovative format for producing large-scale works focused on Hong Kong artists.

Para Site’s expanded exhibition programme was very well received this year. Its new space’s debut exhibition, A Hundred Years of Shame, welcomed more than 3,000 visitors and received feature reviews in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among many others. Other exhibitions included Sheela Gowda’s first solo exhibition in East Asia, Imagine there’s no country, Above us only our cities, and currently on view, A Luxury We Cannot Afford. Previous exhibitions continued to travel internationally. Of note, A Journal of the Plague Year featured at the prestigious Kadist Art Foundation and The Lab in San Francisco, while Great Crescent travelled to Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. There are plans for other exhibitions to tour to Manila, Paris and Mexico City, a.o.

Para Site Executive Director/Curator states, “None of this could have happened without the tremendous generosity of our Patrons and supporters. We are thus extremely grateful to all of you for supporting us, as well as to all the artists, galleries, and friends who have donated this unprecedented set of works and experiences, as well as to our expanding family of Founding Friends, Friends, and Associates, to our renewed Advisory Council, and to the Board and Staff, who have made our last year possible.”

The event was kindly sponsored by Bonhams, with support from Aesop, Altaya Wines, Aviation Gin, AXA ART, Casamigos Tequila, Chivas, Clockenflap, G.H.Mumm Champagne, Gübelin, Helutrans, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, Paddle8, and The Peninsula Hong Kong.