Tucked away on the top floor of an unassuming commercial building in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay is Property Holdings Development Group (PHD Group), a budding contemporary art gallery that opened its doors in early 2022. Its co-founders are husband and wife duo Willem Molesworth, former director of de Sarthe Gallery and Ysabelle Cheung, art writer and critic, and former managing editor of ArtAsiaPacific. The pair’s intriguing amalgamation of knowledge and experience is marked by PHD Group’s tongue-in-cheek name, which joshes the city’s indulgence in real estates and property investment, whilst alluding to the elitism and cultural gatekeeping within the art world and academia.
In the face of an increasingly hegemonic and homogenised commercial art world, PHD Group sets itself apart by challenging the boundaries between market-driven art and critical engagement. Its satirical approach elucidates the intertwining of these worlds but asserts that commercial agendas should not be entirely divorced from critical engagement. Originally a private members’ club that belonged to Cheung’s late grandfather and his two business partners in the 1970s, the gallery spans a 3,000 sq ft ‘adapted and updated’ space. Here visitors will find many characteristics from the club’s 70’s heyday salvaged and restored including the layout, furniture, memorabilia, and collections of erotica and coins. The clubhouse’s early spirit and family legacy are thoughtfully considered and embedded within the space: a visual attestation of the gallery’s refreshing sense of criticality and self-reflexivity.
Tiffany Leung (TL): Let’s start from the beginning! When and how did the idea for PHD Group come about?
Willem Molesworth (WM): They came about pretty organically, we did not ever set out opening a gallery as one of our ambitions in life. For pretty much my entire career I’ve always said I never wanted to open a gallery because I know how challenging it is. But when my time at de Sarthe Gallery had come to an end and Ysabelle had been working on her novel for about a little over a year at that point, we started having conversations about what we wanted to do.
There's a personal element to it, I really enjoy working with Ysabelle, that's how we first met—as colleagues in New York. We thought about building on a previous project Suitcase Institute, but we realised that the nonprofit model cannot serve what we wanted to do and achieve due to the lack of flexibility and agency. That’s how we came to, frankly, an unexpected conclusion that we should open an art gallery.
TL: Are there any galleries or project spaces that have inspired you?
WM: Empty Gallery in Hong Kong is definitely one, I think they have done something very different. Another local gallery that we have long admired is Hanart TZ, whose programmes are really interesting and rooted in Hong Kong in a meaningful way, which resonates with PHD Group.
TL: Both of you have lived and worked in Hong Kong, New York and London, why did you decide to open the gallery in Hong Kong, and what does it mean for you?
Ysabelle Cheung (YC): Hong Kong is where we found our strongest artistic network. And by that, I don’t just mean all the galleries, museums and curators, but also artists, other art workers and friends. We have worked various jobs in Hong Kong, and I feel like we are part of a generation that has grown up together as an artistic community, which is not easily replicated elsewhere. We feel a stronger connection here than we did in London and New York previously.
Another big factor is coming across this space that belongs to my family—we aren't constrained by a lot of financial limitations that a new gallery might have. While we do have other concerns, I think that it has been really helpful to get us off the ground. I don’t want to say it’s destiny or fate, because there’s something very mythological about that, and I’d like to think that Willem and I have worked really hard to get to this point, but it did seem like we were given a key to something special.
WM: I’ve been in Hong Kong for about 6 years now. I love this place a lot and have a deep connection with the community Ysabelle talked about. Hong Kong is in this node, we’ve gone through some serious trauma which has brought us together through deep bonds. The city has a lot to offer creatively, and I don’t think that is honoured or acknowledged enough here and abroad. We want to address and rectify that.
TL: Were your hearts set on the clubhouse from the beginning?
YC: It wasn't always the clubhouse. In fact, we had considered other experimental options including our own apartment. But when we got in touch with Beau Architects who helped adapt the clubhouse, their engagement opened up possibilities. I also suppose apartment galleries have been done before in Hong Kong, and when we came across the clubhouse, we became very interested in this idea of preservation, especially of heritage and sites in a way that's different from the Jockey Club. What they've done with Tai Kwun is beautiful, but we’re doing something different because it is the preservation of family history and alternative narratives.
TL: Can you tell us more? What was it like when you first came across it?
YC: There were many issues with it because it had been abandoned for the past 10 years or so. We brought in a few people to see the space, one of them being Beau Architects who were so enthusiastic about it. I think that was what convinced us that we could make it happen. There were certainly some days where it felt like we were dying during the renovation, but I feel like death is a kind of rebirth and through this process we've learned a lot about the space in a way that feels very intimate.
WM: It wasn’t in a good shape at all but there was something that kept calling to us.
TL: You produced a fascinating video that captured some of your late grandfather’s belongings, and collection of objects and art, which can be watched on PHD Group’s social media platforms. Can you tell us more about your process of sorting and archiving?
YC: Painful is the word I would use to describe that process, because a lot of the items were clearly damaged or neglected. But for Willem, it was a wonderful moment of rediscovery so there was this tension between us in which I was very reluctant to go through all the items and he was very enthusiastic—that's how we got it gone. Willem did everything and through him I could appreciate my grandfather's collection which was similar to hoarding.
It was around the same time I saw the exhibition Portals, Stories, and Other Journeys at JC Contemporary in Tai Kwun. It was curated by Asia Art Archive and based upon the personal archive of the late Hong Kong artist Ha Bik Chuen (1925–2009). That was very meaningful to me. The show asked the question of what it means to archive and go through somebody’s life work. AAA also published a text called The Orpheus Double Bind: What Can Writing Save?, which is about resurrecting the memory of a person or historical event. This was an interesting discussion point for Willem and I as we had no photos of how the clubhouse looked originally, so we had to reinvent the environments of each room, trying to adapt while updating it for the purpose of showing contemporary art. Every design and decisions made in the space were very premeditated, and we were always thinking about the identity of the space.
WM: The process of adaptation is the key to how we've conceived the place. We’ve tried to preserve the function of it being a space of gathering and sharing, and did not take down any walls nor put up new ones. We made as few surgical changes as possible and just worked with the pre-existing form of it.
TL: These ideas around archiving, preservation and personal relationships, do they feed into your modes of working with artists and collectors?
YC: I would say, although not intentional on our part, all of our artists have practices that are very much research-based. Also, a lot of them are deeply interested in this idea of collective practice or collaborations, which we’re also very interested in. I think that's very reflective of Hong Kong and the artistic community here as well.
WM: We really try to embrace that within the program. We represent two artists duos and a lot of the artists we work with are interested in engaging with others to create their artworks. Even our name PHD group, while it is a pun, is also a nod to the fact that we think of ourselves as something like a collective. We want to be conscious of that in everything we do.
TL: How do you create a meaningful space within a commercial gallery setting? I feel that there is inherent tension between artists, collectors, and the public, in terms of what art means and how it is consumed.
YC: This is an interesting question, and one that we have talked about before even we decided to open the galley. I think tensions are inevitable, but given both of our experiences in the field, we can meet those tensions and challenges in an interesting way. This means having conversations that are uncomfortable. For example, we had a textile piece consisting of menstrual blood by Hong Kong artist Michele Chu displayed in the viewing room, which is the most sales-oriented space in the gallery. We had some adverse reactions from collectors, some of them were disgusted or offended by the piece. And so for us, instead of removing it or agreeing with them, we decided to have a conversation and stay in the room with them, because the longer that somebody stayed with the work, the more they realised that there's nothing offensive about the material. It's just preconceived notions about what menstrual blood is, and social expectations around women and their bodies.
I think this is a good example of how we’re approaching the gallery. There are going to be works that are not considered suitable for collections or readily consumed by a larger demographic, but we're ready to take on that challenge. I wouldn't say we always enjoy it because it is difficult, but we're willing to engage with that discomfort and, hopefully, be a platform for people to discuss ideas.
WM: It's about trying to ask more of the market and question everything we can. We want to hold up a magnifying glass and ask ‘how could we do this better?’, ‘how could we engage with this and have conversations with collectors about that?’ Also, I want to talk about a space within the gallery called The Study where people can converse, hang out and share ideas outside of the traditional structures of a commercial gallery.
YC: It’s similar to the history of cafes in Hong Kong—similarly explored in the exhibition Café do Brasil curated by Qu Chang at Parasite in 2019—as a kind of radical social space. Of course, we are a commercial gallery, but I do hope that there can be some collaboration between being commercially-led and critical, that's pretty interesting to me.
TL: Can you tell us more about your upcoming plans for exhibitions and programmes?
WM: After our current exhibition Virtue Village: Village Porn, we may be exhibiting some of Ysabelle’s grandfather’s antique erotica collection during the summer. In September we’ll be showing Sasaoka Yuriko’s new videos and paintings. The exhibition will be carnivalesque, and is all about mental health and fish heads. In her videos, Yuriko creates puppets and dolls using the heads of the fish that she eats, as a way to give them a new life, it’ll be wild! After that we’ll be working with Dylan DeRose in November, and Zheng Mahler and Michele Chu the following year.
TL: Can I ask you what is it like to work together? How are you similar or different in your approaches?
WM: I think the two of us are very much of the same mind in terms of how we perceive certain things, our goals, and our moral compasses. But she's just so much more eloquent than I am. I’ve tried writing but when compared to hers, the feeling of inadequacy is so deep! it's been really incredible to riff off her creativity as the co-founder. Both of us have crazy ideas and we’re able work through them together.
YC: We might have the same vision for something, but have very different approaches partly because of his background in galleries and front-facing roles. Whereas I am very comfortable behind the scenes, taking my time to mull over certain concepts or themes. I'm actually very introverted and can become exhausted quickly when talking to new people, so I’m happy that Willem is comfortable being the front-facing identity of the gallery. There are definitely some days when we clash, but we're so committed to the project and always try to work through them. I think that also means the gallery will never be a monolithic, one vision, one model, kind-of space. It is always changing, and when you add artists, friends and others into the mix, it becomes like an evolving collaborative process.
WM: A few months ago I wasn’t comfortable with asking people for help or advice, but now I do it all the time.
YC: The process of giving and receiving feedback is very common in academia and the media industry. In the gallery world it seems to be much more competitive, you might share ideas but there's an edge of competition about it.
TL: To conclude, can you tell us about the most surprising or unexpected aspect(s) of running PHD Group so far?
YC: The first instance is when the idea of opening a gallery was still floating in our minds, we received some negative feedback from people we thought were our friends and allies, it almost stopped us from going ahead. Secondly, it was surprising that we continued, and stayed so committed to the project. The third thing was how wonderful it was when other people saw the gallery as a serious place, and they saw our commitment to the space. It felt life-affirming to see museum curators, artists and collectors impressed by the effort we have put in, and enjoyed the thoughtfulness we embedded into every detail of the space.
WM: Absolutely, another surprising element was just how hard we pushed ourselves. We’ve both worked very hard our entire career but renovating this space was insane, it’s hard to fully describe the experience.
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