Last month, Hong Kong's most popular independent arts organization, Para Site, named its new director: James Taylor-Foster, who will lead the next chapter as the non-profit organization enters its 30th anniversary. He belongs to the generation of millennial art professionals who combine international backgrounds fluidly in their roles and move easily between disciplines. Taylor-Foster's practice encompasses contemporary art, design, architecture and digital culture, encompassing a sense of the present that can only be understood by being in the midst of it. This collaboration between fields is well suited to an organization like Para Site, which over the years has built a reputation as a leading platform for independent expression and exploration, both in Hong Kong and beyond.
“I think fluidity is really important,” Taylor-Foster told the Observer when we met during Hong Kong Art Week. “We have to embrace the texture in which artists and inventors work today: a completely removed, interdisciplinary practice.” The division of contemporary art into distinct branches—visual art, design, architecture and digital culture—is still important, he told the Observer, but dealing with each discipline now requires adopting a broader lens. “We need to see that all of these are part of modern culture, and popular culture, which is a very important thread in my work,” he added, pointing to the need to “work between the cracks.”
Before joining Para Site, he was a senior manager at ArkDes in Stockholm, where he played a key role in repositioning architectural exhibitions away from static, disciplinary presentations towards focused, cross-disciplinary formats. His management and artistic projects have embraced fluidity in different ways, exploring questions of where people belong and work at important intersections where art meets new technological developments and popular culture, all in line with today's urban conditions. His latest group exhibition—“Worldglimping” (2025-27), currently on view at ArkDes/Moderna Museet in Stockholm, with the opening of a second chapter at the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam later this year—reflects his creative approach because he explores two art forms combined: “world,” composition, and playing a different place. other versions of ourselves, such as social and political actions to imagine, practice and integrate the present while envisioning the future.
With an organization like Para Site, which always operates between the cracks in some liminal space, there is a real immediacy to this modus operandi. “Para Site can take this whole series of practices and bring them together in a way that not only touches the already rich society that makes contemporary art, but also reaches out widely,” he said, acknowledging that Hong Kong, like any big city, has its popular audience but also millions of people who are not involved in the practices related to the expression of contemporary art. “For me, the real power is in thinking across the board.”
This isn't Taylor-Foster's first time bringing her vision to Hong Kong. His traveling exhibition “WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD: The world of ASMR” (2020-25) explored ASMR as a global culture, born on the internet, launched last year at Gate33/AIRSIDE. His practice has always held both a global scope and a local focus, consistent with the context within the communities he serves.
During our conversation, Taylor-Foster described contemporary culture as operating on two levels—one focused on local and regional contexts, the other unfolding across networks of global language exchange. “The real power lies in the ability to combine those two realities,” he asserted. “When you do that, you can create something unusual, because the big themes that affect the region or the world are interpreted and reshaped by local experts.” It's about finding those complexes and forms that speak to what he describes as “public life at large”—the ways in which we all live together in an increasingly complex, mediated world. Within this context, he said, artists and creators are under increasing pressure to rethink how art production works today.
For over thirty years, Para Site has become one of the most important incubators for artistic and curatorial work and creativity in general. Looking ahead, Taylor-Foster considers how an organization can begin to integrate various processes in new ways while maintaining its forward-looking position. “Para Site has been not only an important incubator for the arts, but it has also been one step forward. I want to make sure we continue to talk about that in this next chapter.”
Para Site tends to operate in the space between nurturing and support. “I think those are two very different things,” he said, adding that any cultural organization can support, but very few can grow in an authentic and sustainable way. “Caregiving can involve long periods of time; it involves experimentation, and sometimes failure.”
This organization is entering a new phase of self-definition, building on the foundations laid during the leadership of the previous generation. “The last 30 years have been amazing, and Billy Tang's management has led to this moment. Now, I think Para Site can be more confident in being itself,” said Taylor-Foster. One of the first obstacles will be adapting to the city's evolving cultural landscape: moving from the current location may be necessary, but “in a city like Hong Kong, where real estate is expensive, it is important not to rush to a new location. Any future location must come from a clear vision and strategy so that the location itself supports what we want to do.”
From there, Taylor-Foster suggested that Para Site could begin to consolidate its name by operating more flexibly and flexibly, although he admitted that the exact path it might take remains to be defined.
Discussing institutional models, including the recent case of the ICA SF becoming a roving museum, Taylor-Foster agrees that many roving models allow organizations to reallocate resources and support artistic production with greater intensity. In Hong Kong, where financial pressures such as rent are as important as in cities such as New York or San Francisco, this allows for a different distribution of resources and flexible support for production.
“The question is where do we invest our resources,” he said. “We are not the richest organization in Hong Kong, but we have an incredibly supportive community. If you look at the budget today, recruitment takes up a large part, so the question becomes: how can we make the best use of what we have?”
He was quick to admit that leaving a fixed place would also mean losing some things; in the end, he can choose to find the right balance between stability and mobility. A key driver going forward will be the concept of “clustering”—not gathering the same people over and over again, but gradually growing and expanding communities, both locally and regionally. “What does it mean for Para Site to be 'parasitic' in Bangkok? In Seoul? What happens when we become a place of exchange in different contexts?” he thought. Collaboration is an obvious starting point, but he sees the most meaningful as “impossible alliances”—partnerships that may not seem obvious at first but open up new ways of thinking about today's culture.
And Taylor-Foster still strongly believes in the show's power. He pointed out, however, that the Para Site will probably need a bit of tweaking to show it as a medium format as, like many other cultural centers, it is defined by its architecture. “That can make it easier, but it can also be a hindrance,” he said. “After 10 years at Quarry Bay, I think the team and the artists have taken this place forward. We've hosted so many amazing shows, but now it's time to rethink the building… to change.”
The most important thing for him when he gets into the role full time at the end of the spring is that he will be listening. Instead of rushing into action, he plans to take a deliberate break to better understand the organization's community and internal dynamics—a position he admits may be at odds with the pace of Hong Kong. A period of reflection may precede any migration or temporary phase of wandering. He argued that the latter could serve as a moment of institutional review and redefinition—an opportunity to rebuild and redefine the organization's identity. “Para Site already has a strong reputation around the world, even among people who have never been to Hong Kong,” he added. “The task now is to cultivate that, while ensuring that in 2027, the organization feels refreshed and ready for its next chapter. I see myself as the manager of this next phase, but the goal is for Para Site to exist in 40 years. That means strengthening the internal structures, and creating a new generation of sponsors to support its long-term future.”
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