Cattle Depot Artist Village, Art colony in Kowloon City District, Hong Kong
Cattle Depot Artist Village consists of five red brick buildings along Ma Tau Kok Road that once served as a slaughterhouse and now house studios and exhibition spaces. The red facades and open layout between blocks create an accessible setting for contemporary art.
The British colonial government opened the site in 1908 as a municipal slaughterhouse that remained active until closing in 1999. Two years later the government converted the structures into an art venue now protected as industrial heritage.
The name Cattle Depot Artist Village comes from the cattle quarantine depot that operated here until 1999. Resident groups such as 1a space, On and On Theatre Workshop, Videotage, Frog King's studio and Zuni Icosahedron hold exhibitions, performances, workshops and artist talks. The Cattle Depot Book Fair is held annually, and the Cattle Depot Festival took place in 2003.
The village reopened to the public in April 2011 after the Development Bureau took over management; visitors can enter daily from 10 am to 10 pm without registration. Photography is allowed in public areas. Five of the twenty rental units remain vacant and closed for repairs.
Videotage operates within the complex as Hong Kong's main institution for video art with rotating experimental works. The name of the place recalls the cattle that were kept in pens here before slaughter.
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