Junni Chen appointed Deputy Director

Para Site announces the appointment of Junni Chen as its new Deputy Director today. As the institution nears the thirty-year mark in its history, Chen will play a major role in developing strategic partnerships, building on its current success, and establishing collaborations between cultural producers and diverse audiences locally, regionally, and internationally. Chen comes to Para Site from Tina Kim Gallery in New York, where she served as a Director. In 2022, she completed a graduate degree from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, and also previously held curatorial positions at the National Gallery Singapore. Chen begins her role at Para Site in September 2024.

In a joint statement, Alan Lau, Chair of Para Site Board, and Billy Tang, Executive Director and Curator, remarked, “We're thrilled to welcome Junni Chen during this moment of renewed energy and vision of Para Site’s future direction. Chen's collaborative spirit will be crucial in realising our ambitions to commission and amplify new initiatives, propelling our pursuit of innovative ideas and redefining what an institution can be. Her extensive experience working with artists, galleries, and museums will be imperative to the enhancement of Para Site’s capabilities, global visibility, and long-term growth.” 

Chen's appointment comes at a pivotal moment for Para Site, as the institution builds upon its recent expansion of a new floor within its current building in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong, adding diversity to its programming. Moreover, Para Site has significantly enhanced its educational offerings: its long-standing Workshops for Emerging Arts Professionals returns after a four-year hiatus this September, and it has also initiated The Alternative School, a month-long syllabus of artist-led workshops focused on ecology. Both programmes are broadly aimed at nurturing emerging talent from the Asia-Pacific region, emphasising a uniquely experimental ethos. The institution is also set to usher in its annual Fundraising Gala, a fixture in the art-world calendar, in late November.

Chen said, “I am thrilled to join an institution with an outsized heart for championing and centering artistic voices. At a time when personal and global divisions are rising, contemporary art remains a critical space through which we connect with each other. Para Site provides a space for artists and curators to envision and share their perspectives on our collective future, encouraging us to re-examine and broaden our understanding of one another and the world around us. This mission cannot be more important today. I look forward to working alongside friends and colleagues in various artistic communities—both in Hong Kong and abroad—precisely to advance opportunities to create and extend the impact of our highly regarded programmes.” 

About Para Site 
Para Site is Hong Kong’s leading contemporary art centre and one of the oldest and most active independent art institutions in Asia. It produces exhibitions, publications, discursive and educational projects aimed at forging a critical understanding of local and international phenomena in art and society. Founded in early 1996 as an artist-run space, Para Site was Hong Kong’s first exhibition-making institution of contemporary art and a crucial self-organised structure within the city’s civil society. Throughout the years, Para Site has grown into a contemporary art centre, engaged in a wide array of activities and collaborations with other art institutions, museums, and academic structures in Hong Kong and the international landscape.