While American and European counterparts in the arts establishment have been making a commendable, if somewhat belated, effort to embrace diversity since the late 2010s—particularly in the wake of the long-overdue racial reckoning that followed in 2020—one cannot help but ask: when will the Asian continent experience its own existential upheaval, casting off the shackles of a colonialism-induced inferiority complex and joining the ranks of those cultivating more inclusive exhibition-making?

During Art Basel Hong Kong, a question reverberated among artists and curators, employed and independent alike: who is James Taylor-Foster? The incoming Para Site director has scarcely graced the lips of those in Asia, given his absence from the curatorial gig economy of the region. This was made even more perplexing by the revelation that he is, in fact, a curator of architecture and design. What, then, could have been the deciding criteria among Para Site board members, and what fate awaits this crucial site of art production under his enigmatic guidance? 

The age-old adage “same same, but different” might very well resonate within the former prison courtyard of Tai Kwun, as its board deftly plucked Philip Tinari from his longtime Beijing perch and transplanted him in the Fragrant Harbor. An American curator of considerable repute and eloquent in Putonghua—having honed his skills as director and CEO of China’s most internationally visible private museum, UCCA—Tinari appears to have landed squarely on his feet, and the Jockey Club astutely identified a worthy successor to Pi Li, who has ventured forth to the verdant pastures of Shenzhen. The Chinese art historian assumes the mantle of founding director of the exceptionally well-endowed Tencent-funded Róng Museum of Art.