About

Property Holdings Development Group is a critical reflection of the current art industry through the platform of a commercial gallery.

The name is a nonsensical string of words related to Hong Kong’s real estate and skyline growth; a tongue-in-cheek critique of capitalist, accelerationist growth at the expense of those building slowly and meaningfully. It implies multiple members, hinting at the collective nature of the gallery; it is a triple-negative reminder of the temporal, shifting cultural grounds around us.

When shortened to PHD Group, the name also references academia and becomes a satirical double entendre that skewers the elitist, exclusive, and narrow corridors of the art world.

Disassembled, PHD Group questions the nature of exhibitions and planning in relation to artistic practices. What property—physical or intellectual—does this group truly own?

What are we investing in? What are we developing? What constitutes us as a group? In raising these questions, PHD Group rejects monolithic gallery culture, instead foregrounding slow, rhizomic, and experimental growth.