Annual Arts Survey Result Dashboard – 2021/22 Visual Arts

Starting from April 2021, as the COVID-19 epidemic showed a sign of easing, the limit on the number of audiences/users in exhibition venues were relaxed. However, as the cases of infection edged up again at the beginning of January 2022, the majority of exhibition venues were closed from the beginning of January to the end of March 2021, and some physical exhibitions were presented online instead. As a result, Visual Arts exhibitions in both physical and online modes were still recorded in 2021/22*.

Online exhibitions

From the information gathered, at least 229 Visual Arts exhibitions (including virtual exhibitions, online guided tours etc.) were held this year. Among them, 94 exhibitions were held in hybrid mode, being available both physical and online.

Physical exhibitions

After eight consecutive years of decline, the number of physical Visual Arts exhibitions surged to 1,261 for the first time – an increase of 38.1% compared to the previous year. The cumulative exhibition days continued to increase for the third consecutive year to 41,393 days, preceded by the 2012/13 level. After excluding permanent exhibitions, the cumulative exhibition days in 2021/22 were 39,819 days, equivalent to 31.8 days per exhibition, which was second to the 2020/21 level (36.5 days).

By medium, apart from a slight decline in the number of Photography, Performance Art and Children Art exhibitions, the number of exhibitions of other media increased. Among them, the number of Painting exhibitions recorded a 60% increase, replacing Mixed Art-forms exhibitions as the largest category. The number of Chinese Painting, Calligraphy & Seal Carving exhibitions recorded nearly an 80% surge, and that of Mixed Media & Installation exhibitions has more than doubled.

The exhibitions were categorised according to the Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook, published by the Department of Fine Arts, the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Data analysis in and before 2019 were based on the original records in the Yearbook. Starting from 2020, data of Visual Arts exhibitions were collected by HKADC, mainly obtained from public channels (such as online event calendars, official websites, social media pages) of organisers/groups that frequently held Visual Arts exhibitions or venues in which exhibitions were held.

Below is an interactive dashboard of statistics of physical Visual Arts exhibitions. Readers can click on the interested category/ year in one of the charts and the dashboard will be refreshed to highlight the respective category/ year.  All figures can be downloaded as well.

Note: “Unknown medium” is not included in the chart in bottom right side: “Number of Exhibitions by Medium (Excluding Permanent Exhibitions)”. Hence, the numbers of exhibitions in this table do not add up to the number of exhibitions excluding permanent exhibitions from the chart in top right side: “Number of Exhibitions”.

*The number of exhibitions in 2021/22 refers to the exhibitions held during the financial year from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.