Hong Kong’s art world has no shortage of noise. Fairs arrive with fanfare, blue-chip names dominate headlines, and the city’s commercial art machinery rarely slows down. What feels rarer — and more revealing — is the quieter work of spotting artists before the market fully does.

That is partly what makes this year’s The Hari Art Prize worth noticing.

Artist Man Mei To has won this year’s prize for her abstract sculpture Curly Breathing I, receiving a HK$100,000 cash award after impressing the judges with a work that explores the body’s relationship with the surrounding world. Made of African padauk wood, oil and stainless steel, the sculpture stood out in a field of nearly 700 applicants, the highest number the prize has received since it began.

For a city that often measures creative success in visibility, scale and speed, that figure says something. There is no shortage of emerging artists in Hong Kong. There is, instead, a growing appetite to be seen.

The Hari Hong Kong announced the winners at a special award ceremony on April 16. The cash award was donated by Dr. Aron Harilela, CEO and chairman of Harilela Hotels Limited and founder of The Hari Hong Kong.

“Man’s vulnerable, organic forms comment on fragility and resilience amid forces beyond our control,” said Dr. Aron Harilela. “The work speaks to the perpetual flow of life, tracing cycles of transformation, survival and healing, while inviting viewers to reconnect with the unseen rhythms within the body.”

It is the kind of description that risks sounding lofty on paper, but the underlying idea lands with force. Curly Breathing I is not simply interested in form. It is interested in what a body holds, resists and remembers. In that sense, the work feels aligned with a broader mood in contemporary Asian art right now: less concerned with spectacle for its own sake, more drawn to tension, vulnerability and the unstable boundary between inner life and public world.

A prize shaped by a changing creative city

This was the third annual edition of The Hari Art Prize, and the scale of response suggests it is becoming an increasingly meaningful platform for Hong Kong-based self-taught artists and recent art graduates. Nearly 700 applied this year, a striking number that points not only to the prize’s growing reputation, but also to the density of creative ambition in the city.

That matters because Hong Kong’s emerging artists often face a difficult balancing act. They are asked to be original, globally legible and commercially viable, sometimes all at once. Awards like this can help create breathing room — not only through cash support, but through visibility, validation and the chance to be placed before serious cultural gatekeepers.

The judging panel included Dr. Harilela, Charlie Smedley, founder and director of A Space For Art, Amanda Hon, managing director of Ben Brown Fine Arts, Anqi Li, Head of Arts and Culture North Asia at CHANEL, Frankie Ho, Asia retail director at TASCHEN, and Wendy Xu, managing director of Asia at White Cube. The prize is held in collaboration with London-based art advisory A Space For Art.

That panel composition tells its own story. This is not simply a hospitality-led arts initiative. It is a prize positioned at the intersection of art, luxury, publishing and global cultural networks.

The runners-up brought texture and atmosphere

Two runners-up were also recognized.

Katrina Leigh Mendoza Raimann was honored for Small Stepping (2022), a work made from burlap, wool and cotton yarn. Ailsa Wong was named runner-up for Lightning, an archival inkjet print on paper.

Dr. Harilela described Raimann’s work in tactile, almost meditative terms.

“Inspired by moss observed along a river during an afternoon walk, Katrina’s artwork is captivating, with flowing forms that feel calm yet slightly unpredictable,” he said. “Made entirely by hand using embroidery, knotting and tufting techniques, the work features a compelling soft, carpet-like surface with gentle curves and waves.”

Of Ailsa Wong’s piece, he said: “Ailsa’s work is fascinating for its shifting, atmospheric composition. The work moves between clarity and dissolution, unfolding as a fluid, fragmented field rather than settling into a single point of focus. It proposes painting not as representation, but as a site where sensation, memory, and movement briefly converge before dispersing again.”

The runners-up each received a two-day, one-night Corner Room Package at The Hari Hong Kong, inclusive of daily breakfast and a dining experience for two at Italian restaurant Lucciola or modern Japanese restaurant Zoku.

The finalists turn a hotel into a living exhibition

Beyond the winner and runners-up, the larger significance of the prize may lie in the exhibition itself.

The Hari Hong Kong is showcasing a selection of the finalists’ artworks until October, effectively turning the hotel into a public-facing encounter with emerging contemporary art. In a city where art can sometimes feel siloed inside fairs, institutions or private galleries, that kind of display changes the rhythm of who sees what.

Among the works on display are Man Mei To’s soft clay installation When the Center Point is Lost (2021), Ailsa Wong’s digital printing Hopping (2022), and Katrina Leigh Mendoza Raimann’s mixed-media textile work Head nor Tail (2022).

Also being shown are Kitty Ng’s oil on linen 15 West , 21/02/2022, 17:16 – 21/03/2022, 18:50, Cheungxuan Xie’s oil, acrylic and charcoal on canvas Donkey: Never see a flying angel (2026), Brendan Fitzpatrick’s painting In Silver, Enna Cheung’s soft-ground etching Sunlit Lovers (2026), Lily Cheung’s oil and embroidery artwork Chartres Garden, and Tobe Kan’s acrylic and oil pastel on canvas Betwixt/Arcane2 (2025).

Other displayed works include Camille Benoit’s paper art Medusa From Above (2025), Kiefer Cheung’s abstract photography Flow of Life (2025), Rivian Cheung’s sculpture Trial Piece C60St90>C100St50, Anastasia Fabritskaya’s sculpture Lama’s Hand (2024), Anton Poon’s casted bronze Mahjong Bridge (2014) and Jennifer Yue Yuen Yu’s installation The Lightness of Water.

The full list of finalists also included Alonso Odria, Anastasia Fabritskaya, Anton Poon, Brendan Fitzpatrick, Camille Benoit, Chengxuan Xie, Enna Cheung, Jennifer Yue, Kiefer Cheung, Kitty Ng, Lily Cheung, Lo Lai Lai Natalie, Rivian Cheung, Sze Wai Wong and Tobe Kan.

A hotel that wants to function as a cultural space

There is an obvious branding dimension to all of this. The Hari Hong Kong describes itself as an art hotel, adorned with a rotating selection of works curated by A Space For Art. It also hosts The Hari Art Prize and The Hari Chronicles, an ongoing series of conversations about art, design, culture and Hong Kong.

But stripped of sales language, the more interesting point is this: hospitality spaces in Asia are increasingly trying to become cultural spaces, not just decorative ones. The shift is subtle but important. Instead of art being used merely to signal taste, it is being used to create identity, dialogue and public relevance.

That does not replace museums or galleries. But it does reflect how art now travels through cities — not only through institutions, but through hotels, concept spaces, retail environments and mixed-use cultural ecosystems.

In Hong Kong, a city that still wrestles with questions about who its next generation of artists are and where they will be seen, that ecosystem matters.

And this year, at least, it belongs to Man Mei To.