Hong Kong artists show experimental works at art museum on the China-North Korea border

This summer, Hong Kong artists Tsang Kin-wah and Mark Chung escaped their hometown’s stifling heat by heading up to Dandong, the mainland Chinese frontier city best known for its border crossing with North Korea.

Far-flung and with fewer than a million citizens, Dandong has become an unlikely magnet for contemporary artists and art lovers from all over the world.

The reason is the Yalu River Art Museum, perched on a resort island just 500 metres (0.3 miles) from North Korean soil.

The museum was founded in 2006 by businessman Ji Dahai, a Dandong native now based in Hong Kong.

Over the years, the museum has built a solid reputation and is today considered one of the most cutting-edge contemporary art institutions in mainland China. Artists who have shown there include Beijing-based Song Dong, Robert Zhao from Singapore, and Swiss sculptor Katja Schenker.

The two Hong Kong artists are the first from the city to exhibit at this singular institution, and they are creating some of their most experimental work there.