Archives Within the Archive- Part II

 Archives Within the Archive, Part II




THE 50 GLADSTONE: Lee Ka-sing and Holly Lee Archive (Works, Objects, Artifacts, 1976 to Current)

In our early years in Toronto, Holly and I often walked through neighbourhoods where small former bank buildings stood quietly on street corners. We would look at them and imagine that it would be nice to acquire one and transform it into a modest photography museum. It was, of course, a not possible dream, and it never came to pass.

The idea, however, did not disappear. Holly later wove it into her novel Sushi Grass in Paradise, distributing this imagined museum among several of her characters. In many ways, it reflected a shared aspiration. We envisioned a place that would preserve not only our own work, but also a fragment of Hong Kong’s photographic history—a micro-history of the city’s contemporary photography in the 1990s.

The foundation of that imagined museum already existed in our minds: the original materials from DISLOCATION; the collection of vintage 8 × 10-inch prints produced by the artists through the OP Print Program; and the archives of exhibitions, publications, and collaborations that grew from those years. Just as important were the encounters and exchanges with artists from Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, and elsewhere. These relationships became part of the story as well. When we initiated the OP Print Program in the 1990s, one of its underlying ambitions was to preserve a cross-section of original works that could speak to a particular moment in the history of Hong Kong photography.

That vision eventually became one of the foundations of the Archive Project. Following the closure of our gallery, the archive gradually took shape over several years. By 2024, another possibility had emerged: transforming our former gallery—our own property—into a permanent home for the collection. Our visit to the Museum of Innocence in Istanbul reinforced this direction, offering an inspiring model of a museum rooted in memory, personal history, and everyday objects. Gradually, the idea of a home museum found its form.

Rather than calling it a museum, we chose the name Lee Ka-sing and Holly Lee Archive. The project was always intended as a long-term commitment. Beyond Holly and myself, our daughter Iris will continue to care for the archive and its collections. Alongside exhibitions presented within the archive itself, we hope to collaborate with libraries, galleries, and other institutions through research, publications, and exhibitions drawn from these materials. As previously mentioned, the archive is more than a record of two artists; it preserves a network of projects, friendships, collaborations, and cultural exchanges spanning several decades.

The exhibition THE 50 GLADSTONE: Lee Ka-sing and Holly Lee Archive (Works, Objects, Artifacts, 1976 to Current) quietly marked the inauguration of the archive. At the same time, it extended an earlier project, DOUBLE DOUBLE: Box-in-a-Valise, which had never been presented publicly in its intended form. The exhibition also incorporated artworks by various artists from our collection, displayed throughout the adjoining library and working area beside the main exhibition space. Rather than creating a separate installation, these works remained in their everyday setting, becoming an integral part of the exhibition.

A 68-page exhibition brochure accompanied the exhibition. It was never intended for public distribution, but served instead as an information guide for visitors. Only five copies were printed. Within its pages, nearly 200 exhibited items were documented with individual captions.

In this issue of ARCHIVE, we reprint the brochure in its entirety and at its original 8 × 10-inch format. It also reflects a lesson learned from an earlier exhibition publication, whose planned reference volume was never completed. This time, every exhibited object is accompanied by a concise informational caption. We hope these modest notes will provide a useful point of departure for future researchers and, in turn, become another layer of the archive itself.