There's No Art Without Freedom — Hijacking Art Basel Hong Kong

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Project: EXH-016
Date: 22 May 2021
Press: Hong Kong Free Press — “No art without freedom”: Art Basel “hijackers” install mini protest statues

Artist: Lady Liberty Hong Kong
Title: There's No Art Without Freedom
Medium: 3D printed, 4.5cm tall
Edition: 4 works, placed at 4 locations within Art Basel Hong Kong 2021

On one side, Hong Kong's Beijing-backed government grows ever more authoritarian, and citizens' freedom of expression narrows by the day. On the other, the wealthy and the famous continue to mingle at international art fairs while galleries earn exorbitant sums — as if Hong Kong were two parallel worlds.

Lady Liberty HK created an installation titled There's No Art Without Freedom: four miniature Lady Liberty HK statues, each 4.5cm tall and 3D-printed, independently placed at four different locations across Art Basel Hong Kong. The work brought the voice of Hongkongers onto the international art stage — unannounced, unauthorised, and quietly present among the world's most expensive art.