AUSTIN BELL
SHOOTING HOOPS
ALL 2,549 BASKETBALL COURTS OF HONG KONG
an exhibition & book launch at blue lotus gallery
17 Jan - 23 Feb, 2025
Upon his first visit to Hong Kong in 2017, photographer Austin Bell was struck by the color and design of the city’s basketball courts—starkly contrasting the bland asphalt surfaces in his native USA.
Despite living in one of the highest-density cities in the world, most Hong Kong residents can find sports and recreational facilities within walking distance. Surveys have consistently found basketball to be the most popular sport among young people, contributing to small-scale ‘pocket parks’ being the most frequently visited types of open spaces in Hong Kong.
Intrigued, Bell returned in 2019 with the goal of capturing ALL of the basketball courts in Hong Kong. Scouring Google Maps and using his drone, Bell discovered that the sheer number of outdoor courts in Hong Kong exceeded that of any city worldwide, even major U.S. cities like New York and Los Angeles. His project expanded to include multiple visits, 140 days of shooting and over 40,000 photos, culminating in his documentation of 2,549 courts. Bell was drawn to these courts not only for their ubiquity but also for their vivid designs, often featuring bright colors that accompany the colorful housing estates and schools nearby. This vibrancy becomes even more pronounced from above, providing a striking contrast to the city’s vertical density.
As Austin Bell notes: “I often shot from dawn to dusk, tallying months of full days of shooting. Because of the density, I routinely shot upwards of 100 courts in one day. I decided to test my limits, and meticulously planned a route. At the end of a single day, I had captured 475 unique courts. The insane became mundane. I had become an obsessive completist, unable to rest until I found every court in the city. My obsession was fuelled by two desires: to show an unseen perspective of Hong Kong and to fully explore a city that I feel so captivated by.”
His quest led him to discover nearly every developed area of Hong Kong, from outlying islands to tourist hubs. As Sarah Greene observes, “What makes this fun project so interesting is that it not only shows the diversity and scope of these courts but also paints a comprehensive picture of Hong Kong's unique topography. Very few artists have captured Hong Kong so extensively and completely.” Catherine Philips, who wrote the afterword adds, “For Austin Bell, photographing basketball courts is a game in itself. In the 1960s, Guy Debord coined the term dérive to refer to this type of playful and intuitive urban exploration. Debord and The Situationists envisioned the city as a playground of sorts, using the dérive as a means to dissociate from their everyday relationship with the built environment and study the terrain, other aspects of physical geography, along with their psychological responses to it. The city is Austin’s playground too, as opposed to the playground itself. Instead of shooting hoops, he shoots the courts.”
The “Shooting Hoops” book includes every one of the 2,549 courts, organised into grids by district, with the most visually interesting courts represented in full-size spreads from multiple angles. It also includes additional statistics, a written reflection from Bell, and architectural and photographic commentary on the project.
Through this meticulous documentation of an otherwise ordinary feature, Bell invites viewers to see Hong Kong through a new lens, ensuring they will never look at its basketball courts the same way again.
