In 1990, the Hong Kong Arts Centre’s Exhibition Department invited residents from all over Hong Kong to photograph the people and events of their daily life within a 24-hour period on September 7 of that year. Three months later, these photographs, representing first-hand experiences of Hong Kongers, were collected and exhibited as One Day in Hong Kong.

Today, thirty-three years later, using research on Hong Kong art histories as a framework, Asia Art Archive organises Another Day in Hong Kong, raising the question: Given that a record of a day in the future was able to be documented, can we similarly reconstruct a day that has already passed?

Earlier this year, AAA conducted a comprehensive review of its Hong Kong collections. Compiling statistics on all the dates in our database, we identified a median day: October 19, 1996.

We interviewed over a hundred individuals from Hong Kong’s art community regarding their recollection of this particular day. Initially, few could remember how they had spent it. However, since it was asked seemingly out of the blue, people’s memories of this day—or rather, their imagination—gradually became more vivid and concrete.

Countless insignificant things and trivial matters happen on any given day. Our researchers’ greatest pleasure is encountering these so-called “trivial matters” absent from records in mainstream history. These “trivial matters” allow opportunities for identifying with the life of another time and place, infusing history with humanity.

Through archives, personal memories, imagination, as well as artistic interventions, this exhibition aims to trigger fresh perspectives on art and history, allowing us to get closer to this one day in Hong Kong.

October 19, 1996, Hong Kong. Just another ordinary day.