Curating Traditional Chinese Art as Creative Heritage

This chapter examines how unofficial curators and artists curate exhibitions of traditional Chinese art from a creative heritage approach. Based on three exhibitions in Hong Kong, I argue that their curatorial works have considered traditional Chinese art as a creative heritage that is inextricably linked to the concept of creativity, rather than the concept of continuity in the living heritage approach espoused by Poulios (2014). The study underlines the existence of a dynamic alternative exhibition discourse of traditional Chinese art in culturally contested Hong Kong. It also foregrounds its citizens’ curatorial creativity, which can engage new community collaboration and utilize an art heritage as a source of inspiration for generating new knowledge and expressions.