Art POPS in Central

POPS — it’s a term urban planners use to describe Privately Owned Public Spaces. As NYC’s Department of City Planning explains, POPS are “areas dedicated for public use and enjoyment, [but which] are owned or maintained by private property owners.” Parks, atriums/podiums, and walkways can all be POPS.

NYC came up with the POPS concept in 1961, to “encourag[e] open public spaces in dense areas by offering developers incentives for creating plazas or arcades.” The city now has 590 of them spread over 380 buildings totaling 3.8 million square feet. Singapore’s, The Cube/City Room at Asia Square in the Marina Bay Financial District is an example of a POPS.

In Hong Kong’s busy Central District, some POPS (or as Hong Kong terms them — Public Open Spaces in Private Developments) do more than offer an air-conditioned walkway or a place to enjoy a coffee; they offer a museum-like experience for both passersby and those who want to linger longer.

The Henderson Showcases the Art of Nature

The home of Hong Kong’s newest POPS is Zaha Hadid Architects' (ZHA) and Henderson Land’s 36-story The Henderson. Built on the grounds of the Murray Road Multi-storey Carpark Building , the building’s design is an artistic tribute to nature, (specifically Hong Kong’s Bauhinia flower aka the Hong Kong Orchid Tree), as is the revitalization of the Lambeth Walk Rest Garden, which, while retaining its original name, is also now called The Art Garden.

Lambeth Walk Rest Garden, Sept. 2020. Photo by Chorzinghuam 2 at commons. m.wikimedia.org 

The Art Garden, truly a garden — there are no shops or vendors here, entices people to linger thanks to the successful collaboration of ZHA, Henderson Land, Gillespies, the LCSD, and of course the artists whose work graces and enhances the grounds. Creatively designed and comfortable, curved stone seating doubles as the edging for the islands of greenery. There are loads of plants, including those specifically chosen to attract Hong Kong butterflies, local pollinators, which help to “ensur[e] the biodiversity of our ecosystems.” The Garden’s formal art installations are not only visually appealing, their stories align with The Henderson’s goals of promoting sustainability and highlighting the beauty of nature. 

At the center of it all is “the approximately 7-metres tall” stainless steel and aluminum Breathing Tree from internationally renowned environmental artist and 2003 McArthur Fellow Ned Kahn, whose work, which is “inspired by atmospheric physics, geology, astronomy, and fluid motion, includes the four-story “kinetic art installation” at Shanghai’s LuOne Mixed Use Complex. Kahn, who has an undergraduate degree in environmental science, “strive[s] to create artworks that enable viewers to observe and interact with natural processes.”  Wind is often his focus. Here in the Breathing Tree, the aluminum vanes move like “leaves rustling in the wind.” Using air, water, and the wind, and inspired by “the Taoist text, the Tao Te Ching, which speaks of space being ‘empty, yet infinitely full’ . . . [Kahn] creates a cloud that mimics breathing.”

Close by is the temporary installation The Fractal Forest from Hong Kong artist group STICKYLINE x Leanna Lee. The oak wood and stainless-steel sculptures reflect nature’s own art, both in the primary sense of the word, the works are visually appealing, as are trees, as well as in the secondary sense of the word, in that the sculptures celebrate the cleverness of nature. According to Henderson Land Development, “The Fractal Forest marks the first use of fractal geometry and the golden ration in an art form.”

---

“Fractal Branching is the best bang for the buck, maximizing the volume that the tree can draw from without building plumbing that’s too big.”

Joe Hanson, Creator of the PBS series, Be Smart/It’s Okay To Be Smart, on YouTube.

---

Fractals are a math concept used to describe repeating patterns in nature — think of tree branches and roots. Each tree branch shoots out another, albeit smaller branch, repeating its shape so that each part of the tree looks like the whole tree. As Joe Hanson, the creator of the PBS series It’s Okay To Be Smart, explains, in the case of trees, these patterns of “self-similar shape[s]” are more than just attractive coincidences. This efficient system of fractals allows a tree to “pack a bunch of surface area in its volume” and in so doing, capture CO2 and sun without having to “expen[d] a bunch of energy” to become super tall or super wide. As Hanson says of tree root systems, “[fr]actal branching is the best bang for the buck, maximizing the volume that the tree can draw from without building plumbing that’s too big.”

At night, lighting of the plants and artworks adds an additional visual layer of interest to The Art Garden, including creating, through the technique of “projection mapping,” the nighttime artwork Hypnotic Dream. Philipp Frank uses the trunk of the garden’s 200-year-old Chorisia tree as his canvas for colorful light, which when combined with “immersive music . . . [aims to] reveal[] the tree’s inner rhythm and energy flow.”

As in traditional museums, an object board with a QR code allows viewers to learn more information about the artworks. The code by The Fractal Forest leads to auditory information about that work as well as the others in The Art Garden.

 Hong Kong Land POPS with Paintings and Sculptures

Hong Kong Land, long a supporter of local, regional, and international artists, with a collection, dating back over a century, believes it “ha[s] a responsibility to promote art and culture across a wider community,” and so it offers those walking through its public hallways, waiting in its public lift lobbies, and sitting outside its buildings, numerous opportunities to experience art and culture.

Exchange Square beckons with its waterfall and plant-edged escalator as well as its airy tree-lined atrium with its sweeping views of the IFC and Kowloon beyond. Don’t let the panorama lead you to overlook Han Xin’s four large, beautiful paintings of “majestic doors from the Forbidden City,” meant to symbolize "Hong Kong’s position as the gateway to China.” Also on display are quite a few works from Australian artist Sir Sidney Nolan, including Reflections, which its object board explains, is part of a series "inspired by a trip to Guilin, the Yangtze Rivers, and the Himalayas.” The LANDMARK PRINCE’S building lift lobby may lack soaring windows, but it still has two amazing views. Gracing the space are Han Xin’s monumental works Jade Pool Mirror and Golden Sweep. Using striking, yet different color palettes, both paintings celebrate the willow, which is “a recurring motif in Chinese art and a tree of great mythological significance.”

Gleaming and massive sculptures in bronze, marble, and stainless steel are always on exhibit in Hong Kong Land’s buildings. The Forum’s indoor artworks include Chu Hon Sun’s marble sculpture Mankind. The lovely fountain-filled outdoor sitting area between The Forum and Exchange Square currently hosts Ren Zhe’s stainless steel Above the Clouds and Ju Ming’s Bronze Tai Chi-Single Whip Dip among others. Outside Jardine House by the fountain is Double Oval from “one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century,” British artist Henry Moore.

What is equally a highlight of Hong Kong Land’s POPS art and what helps to make viewing these paintings and sculptures in a POPS setting such a museum-like experience are the QR codes on the metal object labels. Just like in a traditional museum, the object labels, in Chinese and English, connect viewers to additional Chinese and English online auditory content, which can be enjoyed on personal electronic devices while viewing the art. The recorded narration, often supplemented with music and other sound effects and typically with more information than the object labels, enhances the viewing experience. To share just a few examples, the recorded narrations for Han Xin’s Jade Pool Mirror and Golden Sweep are different from one another — each has some details about the artist’s life that the other does not and they each feature different music to emphasize different times in the artist’s life. The soundtrack for Ren Zhe’s Noble Tranquility, currently residing in The Forum’s lobby, fittingly includes music since the warrior is playing “an ancient wooden instrument.”

Hong Kong Land offers a catalogue of the Hong Kong POPS-displayed paintings and sculptures.  Separately, just as a museum would, in its online extensive catalogue entitled ART COLLECTION, written in both Chinese and English, Hong Kong Land offers a deeper art history dive into “a curated selection of [its] art collection,” including background information on topics like Chinese export art from the 1800s.

Sotheby’s Invites You to POPS In to Their Immersive Experience

Thousands of Hong Kongers use the LANDMARK CHATER podium corridor as part of their daily walking commute in Central. Following in the footsteps of its landlord Hong Kong Land, Sotheby’s has turned its retail space ringing the first floor of this POPS into an opportunity to explore art, decorative objects, collectibles, and luxury goods.

According to Hong Kong Land, the 24,000 sq. foot Maison, which opened in July 2024, has 1.3 monthly visitors. The first floor space has seven Salons offering items on a buy now for a set price basis. The objects can be viewed from the corridor through the Salons’ glass walls or you are welcome to walk in to enjoy a closer look even if you are not interested in making purchase. On any given day, people are taking photos from both inside and outside the Salons. The objects on display change. When the Maison first opened you could view objects ranging from first edition books like Shogun, to a Marc Chagall painting to the work of internationally celebrated Korean potter Lee Kang Hyo. There is also the other-worldly ground floor exhibition space (accessed from one of the Salons), with its dark black walls, creative lighting and wooden staircase. Exhibits have ranged from the iconic masterpiece The Giant Lotuses to prized calligraphy from The Poon Family Collection to Andrew Rothko’s Untitled (blue and yellow).

Currently, because it is auction season, the Salons are hosting auction "previews." Again, even if you are not interested in bidding, you are free to stroll in and enjoy the artwork. Salons may be closed intermittently on a temporary basis. The traditional viewing opportunities are scheduled to resume shortly.

Read more about the Maison's Salons and learn about the other-worldly ground floor space. Read how even during construction, Sotheby’s created an art history experience for passersby. Learn about the technique of Chinese ink grinding at the heart of Chang Dai-Chen’s The Giant Lotuses.