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M+

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This article is about the Hong Kong museum. For the Canadian channel with the former station identification "M+", seeMusique Plus.
M+
M+, West Kowloon, Hong Kong
Map
Established11 November 2021(2021-11-11)
Location38 Museum Drive,West Kowloon Cultural District,Hong Kong
Coordinates22°18′03″N114°09′35″E/ 22.300958°N 114.159645°E/22.300958; 114.159645
TypeArt museum
Collection size6,421+ (2021)
DirectorSuhanya Raffel
CuratorDoryun Chong (Chief Curator), Ulanda Blair, Olivia Chow, Stella Fong, Lesley Ma, Tina Pang, Pi Li, Silke Schmickl, Shirley Surya, Isabella Tam, Pauline J. Yao,Ikko Yokoyama(design and architecture)
OwnerWest Kowloon Cultural District Authority
Websitemplus.org.hk
Construction site in December 2015
Construction site in February 2017

M+is anart museumlocated in theWest Kowloon Cultural DistrictofHong Kong.It exhibits twentieth and twenty-first century art encompassing visual art, design and architecture, and moving image. It opened on 12 November 2021.[1]

Focus

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The M+ Collections focus on twentieth- and twenty-first-century visual culture, encompassing the disciplines of design and architecture, moving image, and visual art, and the thematic area of Hong Kong visual culture.[2]The museum is intended to rival theTate Modern,New York'sMoMAand theCentre Pompidouin terms of the breadth and importance of its collections.[3]The HK$5.9 billion[4]institution is led by Museum DirectorSuhanya Raffelsince January 2019 and administered by theWest Kowloon Cultural District Authority(WKCDA). A separate subsidiary company will be set up in the future with the aim of ensuring its "independence and efficiency".[5]

The inaugural director,Lars Nittve,explained that the name is drawn from the concept of being a "museum and more", and that his team sought to move beyond the typical model of the art museum, for example, by serving as a showcase of diverse subjects like architecture, film, and all manner of moving images including animation and video games.[6]

Building design

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After an architectural competition, six finalists for the design of the M+ museum were announced in 2012, namelyHerzog & de MeuronandFarrells,Kazuyo SejimaandRyue Nishizawa(SANAA),Renzo Piano Building Workshop,Shigeru BanandThomas Chow Architects,Snøhetta,andToyo ItoandBenoy.[6]Each team was compensated with HK$1 million.[7]The winning design, byHerzog & de MeuronandFarrells,was announced by the WKCDA in June 2013.[8]As part of the Masterplan for the West Kowloon Cultural District designed byFoster + Partners,[9]the architects proposed incorporating the use of underground "found space", referring to the space surrounding theAirport Railwaytunnels running directly beneath the site, as a "radical" subterranean exhibition and performance area.[10]

The building's design has the basic appearance of an upside-down T. The main horizontal slab housing exhibition spaces is lifted off the ground, permitting pedestrian circulation underneath. Above, a tower houses "public restaurants, lounges and gardens" along with offices and research facilities. Of the structure's total 700,000 square feet (65,000 m2), plans call to reserve 185,000 square feet (17,200 m2) for exhibitions, only slightly more than MoMA.[11][12]In addition to the interior space, anLEDlighting display system is integrated into the facade, serving as a gigantic screen for works of art, visible acrossVictoria Harbour.[13]

Construction of the museum began in 2014. Atime capsulecontaining artwork of local schoolchildren, to be unsealed 100 years later, was laid on the site in 2015.[14]The museum building was completed in December 2020, with the occupation permit obtained on 24 December 2020.[15]

Activities

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Temporary sculpture park

When the museum opened on 12 November 2021, the opening displays consisted of 6 exhibitions with objects from the M+ Collections:

  • Hong Kong: Here and Beyond(G/F Main Hall Gallery) – Hong Kongs visual culture from the 1960s to the present
  • M+ Sigg Collection: From Revolution to Globalisation(2/F Sigg Galleries) – a chronological survey of the development of contemporary Chinese art from the 1970s through the 2000s drawn from the M+SiggCollection
  • Things, Spaces, Interactions(2/F East Galleries) – an exploration of international design and architecture over the last seventy years and their relevance to our lives today
  • Individuals, Networks, Expressions(2/F South Galleries) – a narrative of post-war international visual art told from the perspective of Asia
  • Antony Gormley: Asian Field(2/F West Gallery) – an installation of tens of thousands of clay figurines created byAntony Gormleytogether with over 300 villagers from aGuangdongvillage in five days in 2003
  • The Dream of the Museum(2/F Courtyard Galleries) – a global constellation of conceptual art practices at the heart of M+’s unique Asian context[16]

A special programme of live performances, talks, tours, workshops, screenings, and online events is running for three weekends following the opening.[16]

Before opening, M+ held numerous activities and exhibitions. From 2016–2020, exhibitions were held in the M+ Pavilion, a structure next to the M+ construction site built to temporarily house M+ exhibitions.

Before the opening of the M+ Pavilion, exhibitions and projects were held in different locations throughout Hong Kong. "Mobile M+: Yau Ma Tei" was held in 2012. The museum commissioned seven Hong Kong artists to create installation work scattered throughoutYau Ma Tei,an older district of Kowloon near the site of the future museum.[17]"Mobile M+: Inflation!" in 2013 was a display of six giant inflatable sculptures on the vacant lands of the future West Kowloon Cultural District.[18]

"Mobile M+: NEONSIGNS.HK" (2014) is an online exhibition of Hong Kong'sneon signage,an iconic feature of the city yet one which the museum noted is "fast disappearing". The website displays curated and commissioned written and visual submissions alongside photographs selected from more than 4,000crowdsourcedsubmissions. M+ also acquired, for its permanent collection, some neon signs that had been threatened with destruction.[19]

"Building M+: The Museum and Architecture Collection" was a showcase of the museum's growing architecture collection, held from 10 January to 9 February 2014 at the ArtisTree gallery inTaikoo Place.At the time of the exhibition, the architecture collection comprised around 1,000 items, of which over 120 were displayed. The event also showcased the future design of the museum building, as well as the other five shortlisted entries from the architectural competition.[20]

"Mobile M+: Live Art", presented in late 2015, was a live art programme and exhibition about past performance art. It was held in various venues around Hong Kong and showcased artists includingJohn Cage,Patty Chang,and several local artists.[21]

Collection

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In keeping with its mission, the M+ Collections comprise a broad spectrum of media by international artists, including "sketches, electronic media, installation, objects, painting, photography, architectural models, printed matter, sculpture and time-based intangibles."[22]

On 12 June 2012,Uli Sigg,a Swiss collector of the reportedly largest and most comprehensive collection of contemporaryChinese artin the world, announced that he would donate the majority of his holdings to M+.[23]This founding acquisition included 1,463 donated works by 325 artists, "conservatively valued" at $1.3 billion Hong Kong dollars, in addition to a purchase from Sigg of a further 47 works for $177 million.[23][24]Upon opening, the M+ Sigg collection will be presented "in isolation" within the museum building, and afterward displayed in the context of the overall collection.[24]Sigg stated that he selected the Hong Kong museum over one inMainland Chinabecause the collection includes works by artists suppressed by the Chinese government, for example 26 pieces byAi Weiwei.[25]In the same vein, the museum has acquired almost 100 photos ofLiu Heung Shing's "China After Mao" series, including photos of the bloody aftermath of the crackdown on theTiananmen Square protests of 1989.[26]Founding directorLars Nittvestated that, despite a warning frompro-BeijingLegislative CouncillorChan Kam-lam"not to mix art and politics", the museum would "not steer away" from politically sensitive issues.[27]

In 2013, the museum announced that it had acquired the "most comprehensive collection [...] by a public institution" of the performance art ofNew York City-basedTaiwaneseartistTehching Hsieh.[26]As of 2013, the museum reported that it had acquired 800 works,[22]with over 80% by "local artists and designers," including graffiti works byTsang Tsou Choi(the so-called "King of Kowloon" ), which were donated. By March 2014, the collection was reported to have grown to roughly 2,700 works.[27]In 2021, the collection contains over 6,410 objects.[2]Among the first non-Asian artists to be included in the collection isCandice Breitz.

In line with the M+ museum's aspirations to present a broad spectrum of artefacts from visual cultural realms outside of traditional visual art forms, the M+ collection also includes a number of architectural works, including works byFrank Lloyd WrightandLudwig Mies van der Rohe,architectural models byMa Yansong,an architectural model and visualisation works byWOHAand an entire sushi bar designed byShiro Kuramata.[28][29]In 2019, the museum acquired the entire archive of influential British architecture collectiveArchigram,despite purported attempts to block the sale to an overseas buyer.[30]In 2022, the museum acquired the installation art work Sonic Rescue Ropes ofHaegue Yang.[31]

Impact of national security law

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In 2021, the museum came under fire from somepro-Beijingpoliticians and newspapers, who alleged that certain works in the museum's collection violated theHong Kong national security law.[32][33]These accusations were made against the backdrop of broader suppression of Hong Kong's arts sector by pro-government entities.[34]After pro-Beijing politicians accused a piece byAi Weiweiof "spreading hatred against China", the museum decided not to display the piece and also removed an image of the piece from its website. Ai criticised the decision, stating that M+ cannot achieve its ambition of becoming a world-class cultural facility if it is subject to such censorship.[35]

In response to such concerns,West Kowloon Cultural DistrictheadHenry Tangsaid that the museum must comply with the law.[36]

See also

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References

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  1. ^Enid Tsui (12 November 2021)."M+ opens at last, a museum of contemporary art and design for the world, amid a culture war in Hong Kong, where some wonder if it belongs".South China Morning Post.Retrieved12 November2021.
  2. ^ab"M+ Collection | M+".mplus.org.hk.Retrieved8 November2021.
  3. ^Euan McKirdy."Can M+ change the way Hong Kong sees art?".CNN.Retrieved18 June2019.
  4. ^Grundy, Tom (12 November 2021)."In Pictures: Hong Kong's new HK$5.9bn M+ museum offers stunning showcase for the arts, organisers play down censorship fears".Hong Kong Free Press HKFP.Retrieved27 June2023.
  5. ^Chow, Vivienne (19 July 2014)."Declaration of independence for M+ – but museum won't open until 2018".South China Morning Post.Retrieved4 September2014.
  6. ^ab"Design of M+ museum, west kowloon cultural district hong kong shortlist".Designboom.10 December 2012.Retrieved5 September2014.
  7. ^"Executive Summary"(PDF).M+ Architectural Competition Brief.WDCDA. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 March 2016.Retrieved4 September2014.
  8. ^"M+ Building Design Team Appointed as WKCDA Charts the Way Forward for Arts Hub".West Kowloon Cultural District Authority. 28 June 2013.Retrieved5 September2014.
  9. ^"Second time lucky for Foster in West Kowloon arts hub".South China Morning Post.Retrieved18 June2019.
  10. ^Rosenfield, Karissa (28 June 2013)."Herzog & de Meuron Win Competition to Design Hong Kong Museum".ArchDaily.Retrieved5 September2014.
  11. ^Chin Leong, Kathy (18 April 2017)."Amid Delays, Hong Kong's Ambitious Museum Plan Takes Shape".New York Times.Retrieved27 November2018.
  12. ^Dobnik, Verena (2 June 2017)."MoMA expanding its Manhattan space, view of NYC outdoors".AP NEWS.Retrieved18 June2019.
  13. ^"M+".Herzog & de Meuron.Retrieved5 September2014.
  14. ^"M+ Building Construction Update".West Kowloon Cultural District Authority. 29 January 2015.Retrieved9 April2015.
  15. ^"M+ Museum Building Completed".Farrells.Retrieved8 November2021.
  16. ^ab"M+—Asia's first global museum of contemporary visual culture—to open this November in Hong Kong | M+—Asia's first global museum of contemporary visual culture—to open this November in Hong Kong".West Kowloon Cultural District.Retrieved8 November2021.
  17. ^Luong, Hillary."Mobile M+: Yau Ma Tei".ArtAsiaPacific.Archived fromthe originalon 24 July 2014.Retrieved10 September2014.
  18. ^"150,000 visit Mobile M+: Inflation! The 4th M+ nomadic exhibition ends successfully with fan-fare".West Kowloon Cultural District Authority. 9 June 2013.Retrieved10 September2014.
  19. ^"About" Mobile M+: NEONSIGNS.HK "".neonsigns.hk.West Kowloon Cultural District Authority.Retrieved8 September2014.
  20. ^Le Dung, Sylvia."Building M+: The Museum and Architecture Collection".Macaron Magazine.Retrieved10 September2014.
  21. ^"Mobile M+: Live Art".West Kowloon Cultural District.
  22. ^ab"Learn about The Collection".M+.West Kowloon Cultural District Authority.Retrieved4 September2014.
  23. ^abRodriguez, Miryam (13 June 2012)."Uli Sigg's gift bolsters Hong Kong's M+ museum vision".ArtAsiaPacific.Archived fromthe originalon 8 September 2014.Retrieved4 September2014.
  24. ^abNittve, Lars (12 March 2013)."Sigg art collection the foundation for world-class M+ museum".South China Morning Post.Retrieved4 September2014.
  25. ^Chow, Vivienne (13 September 2012)."Uli Sigg's Gift to Hong Kong".Sotheby'sMagazine.Archived fromthe originalon 13 July 2018.Retrieved4 September2014.
  26. ^abLau, Joyce (20 March 2014)."Bringing a Flagship of Contemporary Art to Hong Kong".The New York Times.Retrieved8 September2014.
  27. ^abChow, Vivienne (4 May 2013)."M+ chief Lars Nittve vows museum won't steer clear of politics".South China Morning Post.Retrieved8 September2014.
  28. ^"M+ Collection".M+.West Kowloon Cultural District Authority.Retrieved6 January2015.
  29. ^Corkill, Edan (30 May 2014)."Shiro Kuramata's iconic sushi bar heads to Hong Kong museum".The Japan Times Online.ISSN0447-5763.Retrieved18 June2019.
  30. ^"M+ museum acquires Archigram archive for £1.8 million".Dezeen.25 January 2019.Retrieved18 June2019.
  31. ^"홍콩 엠플러스(M+) 박물관, 양혜규 작가의 'Sonic Rescue Ropes' 소장 결정".데일리홍콩(in Korean). 19 August 2022.
  32. ^Pomfret, James (12 November 2021)."Hong Kong opens new modern art museum under national security cloud".Reuters.
  33. ^Kwan, Rhoda (17 March 2021)."Hong Kong's Lam vows 'full alert' for art endangering national security, as artist warns of 'devastating' crackdown".Hong Kong Free Press.
  34. ^Wang, Vivian (26 March 2021)."'Insult to the Country': Hong Kong Targets Art Deemed Critical of China ".The New York Times.
  35. ^"Hong Kong's M+ museum opens amid censorship controversy".Associated Press.11 November 2021.
  36. ^Grundy, Tom (12 November 2021)."In Pictures: Hong Kong's new HK$5.9bn M+ museum offers stunning showcase for the arts, organisers play down censorship fears".Hong Kong Free Press.
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