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M+’s retrospective exhibition Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now, now on view in M+ until 14 May 2023, will be on tour to Guggenheim Museum Bilbao from June 2023

M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, announced today that Yayoi Kusama met with Bernard Chan, Chairman of M+ Board, and Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, on 14 March 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. During the meeting, the two M+ representatives shared with the visionary artist the overwhelming public response and critical acclaim for the museum’s first Special Exhibition Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now, the artist’s largest retrospective in Asia outside Japan.

Kusama warmly welcomed the two M+ representatives in a tea house in Tokyo on Tuesday, 14 March 2023. She expressed her sincere appreciation to the M+ team for staging the comprehensive career retrospective after four years of close collaboration with her, complemented with a rich series of public programmes that inspire the public to delve deeper into her art and philosophy. Chan and Raffel wished Kusama good health and updated her that the special exhibition has received over 130,000 visitations since its launch on 12 November 2022.

Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now to tour to Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

M+ also announced that Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now will be on tour to Guggenheim Museum Bilbao from 27 June to 8 October 2023. Co-curated by Doryun Chong, Deputy Director, Curatorial and Chief Curator, M+ and Mika Yoshitake, independent curator, Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao will be the most extensive retrospective of Kusama in Spain in the past decade showcasing nearly two hundred artworks.

Bernard Chan, Chairman of M+ Board, says, ‘We are exhilarated to meet global cultural icon Yayoi Kusama in person. Kusama gave us a warm welcome and shared that M+’s meticulously curated exhibition, covering the artist’s prolific and ground-breaking practice that resonates with her times, is truly meaningful to her. Her presence is an incredible expression of confidence in our exhibition and M+, making it a historic presentation.'

Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, says, ‘It was Yayoi Kusama's longstanding dream to have a major exhibition on Chinese soil as Chinese poetry had been an inspiration for her from the early days. We are honoured to stage Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now at M+ in Hong Kong and visit Kusama in person, one of the most celebrated and influential artists of our time and share with her the warm and positive public response to our exhibition. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is one of the most influential museums in the world and an iconic landmark among our global audiences. We are thrilled to be able to stage Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now, co-curated and produced by M+, in this internationally renowned museum in Spain for the audiences of Europe and beyond.’

Yayoi Kusama says, ‘I am grateful for the love from the M+ team and am touched by the enthusiasm of visitors and the wider public for the exhibition. I hope this retrospective will continue to spread love and good wishes to visitors in Hong Kong and beyond. I will also continue to share love and peace with my wholehearted and lifelong pursuit of art.’

Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now at M+ on view until 14 May 2023

Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now is M+’s first Special Exhibition currently on view for two more months until Sunday, 14 May 2023. The exhibition is Kusama’s largest retrospective in Asia outside Japan, featuring more than two hundred works from museums and private collections in Asia, Europe, and the United States, the M+ Collection, as well as the artist’s own collection.

Tickets to the exhibition (HKD 240 for adults and HKD 150 for concession), which include access to all M+ galleries, are available for online purchase via the M+ website, West Kowloon Cultural District website, West Kowloon Cultural District App, Cityline, China Travel Service (Hong Kong) Limited, Fliggy, Klook, KKday, and Trip.com. M+ Members and Patrons enjoy exclusive benefits and discounts.

Visitors who purchased tickets for Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now will be granted access to all M+ galleries, while General Admission tickets will entitle visitors to visit all M+ exhibitions except Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now. Admission to the museum’s basement 1 and ground floor, where Pumpkin (2022) and the exhibition Hong Kong: Here and Beyond are on view, will remain free of charge.

Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now is supported by Lead Sponsor HSBC together with Major Sponsor HKT, Supporting Sponsors Louis Vuitton, Sino Group, and The Macallan, and Cathay Pacific Airways, Airline Partner.

Remarks

About M+
M+ is a museum dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting visual art, design and architecture, moving image, and Hong Kong visual culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, it is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary visual culture in the world, with a bold ambition to establish ourselves as one of the world’s leading cultural institutions. M+ is a new kind of museum that reflects our unique time and place, a museum that builds on Hong Kong’s historic balance of the local and the international to define a distinctive and innovative voice for Asia’s twenty-first century.

About the West Kowloon Cultural District
The West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the largest and most ambitious cultural projects in the world. Its vision is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong on forty hectares of reclaimed land located alongside Victoria Harbour. With a varied mix of theatres, performance spaces, and museums, the West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances, and cultural events, providing twenty-three hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade.

• The first-ever museum exhibition in the world dedicated to the legendary Song Huai-Kuei, who shaped the landscape of art, fashion, and popular culture in China from the 1980s to 2000s
• Featuring more than 320 objects including rare archival materials, garments from prominent fashion designers, movie costumes and footage, artworks, and large-scale tapestry installations

M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, is pleased to announce the museum’s new Special Exhibition Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, which will open to the public on Saturday, 29 July 2023 in its West Gallery, following the success of M+’s first Special Exhibition Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now. Centred around the life and times of Song Huai-Kuei (1937–2006), a legend in the spheres of Chinese art, film, music, and fashion from the 1980s to the 2000s, the exhibition will feature more than 320 objects to narrate Song’s fascinating biography and her underestimated influence on transforming China through reform and opening-up in the 1980s into a cosmopolitan and culturally diverse society today.

Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China is the first-ever museum exhibition in the world dedicated to Song Huai-Kuei—widely known during her lifetime as Madame Song—whose extraordinary story offers a lens through which the audience can appreciate the significant transformation of China’s visual culture after the country’s reform and opening-up to the world. Together with her husband, Bulgarian fibre artist Maryn Varbanov, Song fostered a rich community of avant-garde artists and, in her role as Pierre Cardin’s chief representative in China, cultivated an international network of filmmakers, actors and actresses, musicians and fashion designers. In her circle were award-winning filmmakers/directors Bernardo Bertolucci, Chen Kaige, Jiang Wen, Tsui Hark, Yonfan and Zhang Yimou; acclaimed actors/actresses Chen Chong, Gong Li, Tony Leung Ka-fai and Liu Xiaoqing; fashion designer John Galliano and Eddie Lau Pui-kei and musician Cui Jian, to name but a few. Song’s extensive social network and impact on China’s contemporary cultural development made her one of the most important figures in China’s elite cultural circle in the 1980s and 1990s.

Discover Madame Song’s fascinating persona, multifaceted professional life, and influential vision for intercultural exchange

Organised thematically and divided into five sections, the exhibition brings into dialogue Song’s multiple identities as an artist, entrepreneur, fashionista, and cultural ambassador. From making and exhibiting innovative art to staging fashion shows and training the first generation of Chinese models, Song played an eminent role in cultivating a progressive creative scene and a modern, international lifestyle in China in the 1980s. Featuring a diverse array of exhibits such as rare archival materials, garments from prominent fashion designers, movie costumes and footage, artworks, and large-scale tapestry installations, the exhibition unpacks the relationships between the avant-garde spirit and commercial culture in China as well as international representations of traditional China in film and fashion.

The opening section ‘Who is Madame Song?’ explores Song’s unique public persona and captivates aura through some of the most spectacular Pierre Cardin garments worn by her, presented alongside personal documents, photographs, and video footage.

The second section ‘Artist’ illustrates Song and Varbanov’s groundbreaking practice as the couple broke away from the conventions of Socialist Realism and drew on traditional and folk cultures to develop a modernist artistic language, while fostering a younger generation of avant-garde artists in China.

The third section ‘Entrepreneur’ highlights Song’s contribution to the establishment of Pierre Cardin’s business in China, which in turn catalysed the emergence of the Chinese fashion industry and laid the ground for other foreign fashion brands to enter the market. This section also highlights Song’s instrumental role in fostering the development of a cosmopolitan lifestyle in Beijing in the 1980s, particularly through her initiative to open the Beijing branch of the Paris-based restaurant Maxim’s and serving as its manager for over two decades, which became the meeting place for the local and international cultural elites.

The fourth section ‘Fashionista’ foregrounds Song’s pioneering role in cultivating the Chinese fashion ecosystem, from training China’s first crop of professional models, organising some of the earliest fashion shows in China, to bringing Chinese models to the international stage. It also highlights Song’s important contribution to changing the perception and self-expression of a new generation of modern Chinese women through fashion and modelling.

In addition to showcasing her skilful transition between cultural identities, the final section of the exhibition ‘Cultural Ambassador’ shows how Western fashion designers from Song’s circle such as Yves Saint Laurent and Gianfranco Ferré drew inspiration from traditional Chinese imagery, while investigating how Chinese creators from film and fashion such as Guo Pei and Ma Ke incorporated elements of their own culture into their works amid China’s international branding strategies.

Coinciding with the opening of the exhibition, Thames & Hudson and M+ will jointly publish Madame Song: A Life in Art and Fashion, a biography of Song’s remarkable story written by Dr Pi Li, curator of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China and former Sigg Senior Curator and Head of Curatorial Affairs at M+. The publication contains more than 250 rarely seen images and archival materials illustrating the life and times of Song. It also includes contributions from Song’s family and friends as well as essays by the exhibition’s curators Wu Mo and Tanja Cunz.

In response to the exhibition, M+ Cinema will also feature a thematic programme in its Winter Edition from January to March 2024 focusing on cultural exchange in China during the 1980s and 1990s, as well as the changing roles of women in Chinese society. The programme will feature key works from the era including Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987) and Mi Jiashan’s The Troubleshooters (1989).

M+ will also present a series of public programmes including a free, open panel discussion by curators of the exhibition, Dr Pi Li, Dr Wu Mo and Tanja Cunz at 14:00 on Saturday, 29 July 2023. The event unveils the life of Madame Song and her influence in shaping visual culture in China. Moderated by Cici Xiang, an international model and writer, the talk will be conducted in English and Mandarin. Simultaneous interpretation in Cantonese, English, and Mandarin will be available.

Programme details of other talks, workshops, and drop-in activities will be announced in due course.

Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, underscores the uniqueness of the exhibition: ‘Madame Song may not be a household name today, yet her life and legacy continue to fascinate and inspire us. We are proud to be able to stage such a remarkable exhibition with our collections, which demonstrates the strength of M+’s interdisciplinary practice. Madame Song is a figure everyone interested in the roots of Chinese contemporary visual culture needs to know. I look forward to sharing this thoughtfully curated exhibition with audiences from Hong Kong and beyond.’

Dr Pi Li, curator of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China and former Sigg Senior Curator and Head of Curatorial Affairs, M+, highlights the exhibition’s significant relevance to our times: ‘Madame Song’s life encapsulated major milestones and turning points of contemporary China. Song succeeded in traversing political, social, and artistic boundaries to connect East and West and transform China’s cultural landscape. Her impact on the development of China’s visual culture is tremendous.’

Boryana Varbanov, daughter of Song Huai-Kuei, says, ‘My mother Song Huai-Kuei influenced many of her contemporaries and creatives of subsequent generations through her unique vision and charisma. I am very pleased to see the stories of her life unfold in front of the eyes of a global audience through the thoughtful curation of M+.’

The Special Exhibition Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China is financially supported by the Mega Arts and Cultural Events Fund of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The exhibition’s Airline Partner is Cathay Pacific while its Hotel Partner is Rosewood Hong Kong.

Ticket arrangements for Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China

Tickets to the exhibition will be available for online purchase from Thursday, 6 July 2023 via the M+ website, West Kowloon Cultural District website, West Kowloon Cultural District App, Cityline, China Travel Service (Hong Kong) Limited, Fliggy, Klook, KKday and Trip.com. M+ Members and Patrons enjoy exclusive benefits and discounts.

Remarks

About M+
M+ is a museum dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting visual art, design and architecture, moving image, and Hong Kong visual culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, it is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary visual culture in the world, with a bold ambition to establish ourselves as one of the world’s leading cultural institutions. M+ is a new kind of museum that reflects our unique time and place, a museum that builds on Hong Kong’s historic balance of the local and the international to define a distinctive and innovative voice for Asia’s twenty-first century.

About the West Kowloon Cultural District
The West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the largest and most ambitious cultural projects in the world. Its vision is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong on forty hectares of reclaimed land located alongside Victoria Harbour. With a varied mix of theatres, performance spaces, and museums, the West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances, and cultural events, providing twenty-three hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade.

About Mega Arts and Cultural Events (ACE) Fund
Mega ACE Fund targets mega arts and cultural events in Hong Kong organised by the private sector or non-governmental organisations, with a view to developing Hong Kong into an arts and cultural metropolis, providing opportunities for the arts and cultural sector to flourish, as well as fostering Hong Kong’s development as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange.

The content of this programme does not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to this programme only, but does not otherwise take part in it. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in the materials/activities (or by members of the GRANTEE’s team) are those of the organisers of this programme only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

M+, Hong Kong’s museum of twentieth-and twenty-first-century visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District, is pleased to announce the launch of the Sigg Prize, which recognises outstanding artistic practice in the Greater China region. This prize continues and expands the work the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA) has done over the past two decades.
 

The Sigg Prize evolved directly from the CCAA, established by Dr Uli Sigg in 1997 and chaired by Liu Li Anna since 2011. As the first award for contemporary art in the Mainland, the CCAA has been a leading force in steering Chinese art and artists to the world, helping to frame the international conversation on Chinese contemporary art. M+ has supported the work of the CCAA since 2012, when the Sigg Collection—the most substantial collection of Chinese contemporary art in the world—arrived at M+. A member of the M+ team has been on the jury since then. The CCAA is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year, and this is a critical moment for the award to move onto a greater global platform. To this end, the CCAA is becoming the Sigg Prize, a new M+ programme. The Sigg Prize is open to artists born or working in the Greater China region, with the intention to highlight and promote on an international scale the diverse and exciting artistic work and cultural dialogues taking place here.
 

A nominating committee composed of curators and art critics who have profound knowledge of art practices in the Greater China region will propose candidates for the consideration of the Sigg Prize jury. When making their selection, the jury will focus on each artist’s practice over the past two years, reinforcing the prize’s commitment to bringing the most current production to a wider international audience. There is no age requirement for artists to be nominated. Six artists selected by the jury will be invited to present their work in December 2019 in the Sigg Prize exhibition, curated by Dr Pi Li, Sigg Senior Curator at M+, and held at the M+ Pavilion in Hong Kong. During the exhibition, the winner of the Sigg Prize will be announced. A cash prize of HKD500,000 will be awarded to the winner, and HKD100,000 will be awarded to each of the other shortlisted artists to encourage their future practice.
 

Dr Sigg, the founder of the CCAA, emphasised the importance of the evolution of the prize: ‘I am delighted to witness this milestone achievement of the award and thrilled for the transition. My primary purposes in establishing the award were to give encouragement to artists with talent, to enhance awareness on the part of a largely uninterested Chinese public, and to bring prominent international professionals to the Chinese art scene. After twenty years, Anna Liu and I think it is time to move forward, to make the award accessible to more audiences and artists. I am looking forward to seeing the prize mature into being a global influencer.’
 

Suhanya Raffel, Executive Director of M+, commented on the connection between the prize and M+’s mission: ‘In the past two decades, the CCAA has made an undeniable contribution to Chinese contemporary art. We are pleased to grow the CCAA into an M+ programme and launch the Sigg Prize, with the ambition to establish it as the major art prize with an exhibition in this region. The Sigg Prize embodies M+’s remit as a multidisciplinary museum of twentieth- and twenty-first-century visual culture. The move strengthens the connection between the award and the M+ Sigg Collection, supporting M+ as a platform for both the recognition and the collection of contemporary art practice in the Greater China region. By introducing the prize to a wider international audience, M+ will play a pioneering role in shaping the history of contemporary art in this part of the world and in encouraging public interest in visual culture.’
 

The Sigg Critic Prize—formerly the CCAA Art Critic Award, established by Dr Sigg in 2007—will be organised by M+ every two years, starting in 2020.
 

Remarks
 

The co-chairwomen of the Sigg Prize:
Ms Suhanya Raffel (Executive Director, M+, Hong Kong)
Ms Liu Li Anna (President, CCAA, 2011 – 2018)
 

Members of the Sigg Prize jury
 

Ms Maria Balshaw CBE (Director, Tate, London)
Mr Bernard Blistène (Director, Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris)
Ms Gong Yan (Director, Power Station of Art, Shanghai)
Ms Lai Hsiangling (Curator, Taipei)
Ms Suhanya Raffel (Executive Director, M+, Hong Kong)
Dr Uli Sigg (Founder of the Chinese Contemporary Art Award, Switzerland)
Mr Xu Bing (Artist, Beijing)
 

About Uli Sigg
 

Dr Uli Sigg was born in 1946 and grew up in Switzerland. He completed his studies with a PhD from the law faculty of the Universität Zürich. He then worked as a journalist and editor for various Swiss newspapers and magazines. From 1977 to 1990 he held positions at the Schindler Group as Area Manager for Asia Pacific and later as Member of the Group Executive Committee and Shareholders Board. In 1980, he established the first joint venture between China and the West and remained its Vice Chairman for ten years. He then served on the boards of a number of global companies until 1995, when the Swiss federal government appointed him ambassador to China, North Korea, and Mongolia for four years. Upon his return to Switzerland he again assumed the chairmanship or board membership of several multinational companies. Presently he also serves as Vice President of the Ringier Media Group and as member of the Advisory Board of China Development Bank and other Chinese entities. He is Honorary Director of China Foreign Investment Association, Beijing, and Founder and Honorary Member of the Swiss-Chinese Chamber of Commerce. As a collector of contemporary art, he has formed—with 2,400 works—the most substantial collection of Chinese contemporary art in the world. In 2012, he transferred over 1,500 works from his collection to M+ through a combination of donation and sale. In 1997, he established the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA), an art award for Chinese contemporary artists living in China, and, in 2007, he established the CCAA Art Critic Award. He is a member of the M+ Board; the M+ Acquisitions Committee; the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the International Advisory Council of Tate, London.
 

About the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA)
 

The CCAA was founded in 1997 by Dr Uli Sigg, a leading collector of Chinese contemporary art, and chaired by Liu Li Anna since 2011. Established as an independent non-profit entity, the CCAA recognises Chinese artists and art critics who show outstanding achievement in the creation of art, and in its analysis and critique.
 

Granted every two years, the CCAA is an important presence in the Chinese art world, with its winners gaining significant international recognition. In addition to the Best Artist Award, the CCAA introduced the Best Young Artist Award in 2002 and the Contribution Award for lifetime achievement in 2004. Former CCAA winners include Gu Dexin (2004), Huang Yongping (2006), Ai Weiwei (2008), Zhang Peili (2010), Geng Jianyi (2012), Song Dong (2014), and Xu Bing (2016) for the Contribution Award; Zhou Tiehai (1998), Xiao Yu (2000), Yan Lei (2002), Xu Zhen (2004), Zheng Guogu (2006), Liu Wei (2008), Duan Jianyu (2010), Pak Sheung Chuen (2012), Kan Xuan (2014), and Cao Fei (2016) for Best Artist; and Sun Yuan and Peng Yu (2002), Song Tao (2004), Cao Fei (2006), Tseng Yu-Chin (2008), Sun Xun (2010), Yan Xing (2012), Ni Youyu (2014), and He Xiangyu (2016) for Best Young Artist.
 

The CCAA Art Critic Award was established in 2007. Past recipients of the award include Pauline J. Yao (2007), Wang Chunchen (2009), Zhu Zhu (2011), Dong Bingfen (2013), Yu Miao (2015), and Lu Mingjun (2017).
 

About M+
 

M+ is a museum dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting visual art, design and architecture, moving image, and Hong Kong visual culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, we are building one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary visual culture in the world, with a bold ambition to establish ourselves as one of the world’s leading cultural institutions. Our aim is to create a new kind of museum that reflects our unique time and place, a museum that builds on Hong Kong’s historic balance of the local and the international to define a distinctive and innovative voice for Asia’s twenty-first century.
 

About the West Kowloon Cultural District
 

Located on Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, the West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the largest cultural projects in the world. Its vision is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong. With a complex of theatres, performance spaces, and museums, the West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances, and cultural events, and will provide 23 hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade.

M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, is pleased to announce that the new exhibition Ay-O: Hong Hong Hong, highlighting the practice of Japanese artist Ay-O (b. 1931, Japan), widely known as the ‘rainbow artist’, will open to the public on Friday, 15 December 2023 in the Cissy Pui-Lai Pao and Shinichiro Watari Galleries. This exhibition inaugurates M+’s new Pao-Watari Exhibition Series, focusing on significant and yet underexamined figures and moments in the history of art and visual culture of Asia. It is also the first solo exhibition of the artist’s works in Hong Kong. The presentation features nearly 60 works by Ay-O from the 1950s to the 2000s, alongside a selection of works by his Fluxus collaborators and counterparts.

Born in 1931 as Iijima Takao, Japanese artist Ay-O adopted the unusual alias, which consists of two kanji characters meaning ‘cloud’ and ‘vomit’. Ay-O grew up during the Second World War, and its immediate aftermath influenced his earlier works. In 1958, he moved to New York and quickly became part of the international avant-garde art group Fluxus. These experiences shaped his firm belief that art should be accessible to all. The rainbow, Ay-O’s signature pattern, captures this universal spirit, and he has taken the motif beyond the canvas to create prints, sculptures, installations, and environments over the last six decades. The exhibition presents Ay-O as a unique artistic figure driven by unflagging humour, curiosity, and imagination.

The first part of the exhibition traces the evolution of Ay-O’s distinct visual language and includes a selection of early works that depict Japan in the post-war reconstruction period. As Ay-O searched for a more progressive artistic environment in New York, he was introduced by Yoko Ono to George Maciunas, often known as the founder of Fluxus, and became a member of this international art collective of visual artists, poets, and composers. Active in the 1960s and 1970s, the group emphasised processes and collaborations, creating groundbreaking works that often question the notion of art. Besides displaying Finger Box, Ay-O’s most well-known contribution to Fluxus, this part of the exhibition surveys his early career and includes selected works from his Japanese Fluxus peers.

The second part of the exhibition features Ay-O’s signature rainbow works. His rainbow patterns capture the colours of the light spectrum visible to the human eye and demonstrate his belief in the accessibility of art. After introducing two iconic rainbow paintings in the first room, the exhibition journeys into Ay-O’s experiments with rainbow gradations, from appropriating iconic works from art history with rainbow hues to applying his motif to readymade objects and various environments.

Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, expresses her excitement for this premiere exhibition of the new series at M+, ‘M+ continues to demonstrate our dedication to exhibiting and championing twentieth- and twenty-first-century visual culture from Asia. The curious and ebullient spirit that defines Ay-O’s life and work is the perfect beginning to the new M+ series on significant and yet understudied figures and movements in Asian art history. I hope that this new exhibition will resonate with the global audience, raising questions about traditional ways of seeing and stimulating simple joy through the work’s bursting colours.’

Doryun Chong, Deputy Director, Curatorial, and Chief Curator, M+, says, ‘Ay-O’s art serves as a proof that experimental and avant-garde can coexist with humour and sensorial pleasure. His rainbow motif has spread over numerous canvases, prints, objects, and environments over more than six decades, demonstrating his indefatigable spirit of optimism and universalism. Our focused retrospective on his career demonstrates how the Asian avant-garde has contributed to and interacted in a global, cosmopolitan space.’

Ay-O: Hong Hong Hong is curated by Doryun Chong and assisted by Ariadne Long, Assistant Curator, Visual Art, M+.

Ticketing arrangement for Ay-O: Hong Hong Hong

Visitors can access Ay-O: Hong Hong Hong with General Admission tickets* starting from 15 December 2023. Tickets to the exhibition are available for online purchase via the M+ website, West Kowloon Cultural District website, West Kowloon Cultural District App, Cityline, China Travel Service (Hong Kong) Limited, Fliggy, Klook, KKday, and Trip.com. M+ members and patrons can enjoy unlimited General Admission access. For more information on M+ ticket arrangements, please visit M+ website.

*Concession tickets are available for full-time students, children ages 7 to 11, senior citizens ages 60 or above, person with disabilities and one companion, and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients.

Remarks

About Ay-O
Born in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1931 as lijima Takao, Ay-O is one of the most celebrated artists to have emerged in post-war Japan. He was part of several epochal groups and movements in Japan and the United States, before forging the internationally renowned artistic identity as the ‘Rainbow Artist.’ Ay-O joined the Demokrato Artists Association in 1953 while he was a student in the art department of Tokyo University of Education. In 1958, he moved to New York, and he later joined the Fluxus group through the introduction of Yoko Ono. Ay-O remained active within an international network, which pioneered a number of areas such as intermedia and cross-disciplinary experimentations and performance. By the early 1960s, Ay-O began to develop a unique visual language based on rainbow colours, which would become his signature style and encompass a wide range of mediums including paintings, prints, sculptures, and installation.

About M+
M+ is a museum dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting visual art, design and architecture, moving image, and Hong Kong visual culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, it is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary visual culture in the world, with a bold ambition to establish ourselves as one of the world’s leading cultural institutions. M+ is a new kind of museum that reflects our unique time and place, a museum that builds on Hong Kong’s historic balance of the local and the international to define a distinctive and innovative voice for Asia’s twenty-first century.

About the West Kowloon Cultural District
The West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the largest and most ambitious cultural projects in the world. Its vision is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong on forty hectares of reclaimed land located alongside Victoria Harbour. With a varied mix of theatres, performance spaces, and museums, the West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances, and cultural events, providing twenty-three hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade.

The Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) is pleased to announce the arrival of 52 masterpieces from the National Gallery, London that will be on display at the upcoming special exhibition “Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London” to be opened on 22 November 2023. The HKPM and the National Gallery, London teams have been working closely together to perform condition checks and install the newly arrived paintings in Gallery 9 of the Museum.

The first eight precious paintings unveiled at the Museum today are: Long Grass with Butterflies (1890) by Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), as well as masterpieces in the exhibition’s “Sacred Images” section– Three Miracles of Saint Zenobius (about 1500) by Sandro Botticelli (about 1445–1510); The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (“The Garvagh Madonna”, about 1510–1511) by Raphael (1483–1520); The Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Four Angels (about 1506–1509) by Quinten Massys (1465 or 1466–1530); The Virgin in Prayer (1640–1650) by Sassoferrato (1609–1685); Saint Mary Magdalene (1634–1635) by Guido Reni (1575–1642); Virgin and Child (probably 1480–1490) by Giovanni Bellini (about 1435–1516); and Saint Jerome in His Study (about 1475) by Antonello da Messina (active 1456; died 1479).

The exhibition is co-organised by the HKPM and the National Gallery, London, with AIA Hong Kong & Macau as the Lead Sponsor and Centurion from American Express as the Major Sponsor. This exhibition is one of the events receiving funding support from the Mega Arts and Cultural Events Fund (Mega ACE Fund), a fund newly launched by the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the HKSAR Government in 2023 to support international and large-scale arts and cultural events in Hong Kong.

The HKPM is the first cultural institution in Hong Kong to partner with the National Gallery, London; and the special exhibition will be the first time the Gallery’s prestigious painting collection are showcased in Hong Kong. The exhibition in Hong Kong follows successful runs at the Shanghai Museum and the National Museum of Korea earlier this year. Dr Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery, London, will make his inaugural visit to Hong Kong to officiate at the opening ceremony for the new exhibition on 21 November 2023. As part of the learning programme accompanying this exhibition, Dr Finaldi will give a public talk on the Gallery's collection titled “Nearly 200 Years Old: The National Gallery, ‘A Collection for the Use of the Public’” on 23 November (Thursday) at 4pm at the HKPM. Please refer to the Museum’s website for more details.

The 52 masterpieces on display in the exhibition are in essence a “National Gallery in miniature” and HKPM will adopt a unique curatorial approach to highlight the essence of this exquisite collection. The exhibition will offer audiences a concise history of Western European art as uniquely told by the Gallery’s collection. These masterpieces, painted over the course of more than four centuries, from 15th to the early 20th centuries, represent the significant turning points in the history of Western art, from Renaissance to impressionism and post-impressionism. Works by some of the world’s most celebrated artists, including Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Goya, Turner, Constable, Monet, and Van Gogh, will be on view.

The exhibition will be open to the public from 22 November 2023 to 11 April 2024. Tickets for this special exhibition, priced at HK$150 for adults and HK$75 for visitors eligible for concessions*, include access to thematic exhibitions in Galleries 1 to 7.

The HKPM’s special exhibition “Gazing at Sanxingdui: New Archaeological Discoveries in Sichuan" is on display in Gallery 8 until 8 January 2024. A special combo ticket, priced at HK$240 for adults and HK$120 for visitors eligible for concessions*, will be available to visitors who wish to visit both special exhibitions—“Gazing at Sanxingdui” in Gallery 8 and “Masterpieces from the National Gallery” in Gallery 9 on the same day, in addition to all thematic exhibitions ( featuring treasures from the Palace Museum and other collections) in Galleries 1 to 7. Please refer to the Museum’s website for more information.

*Concessions are available to children aged 7 to 11, full-time students, seniors aged 60 and above, persons with disabilities (with one companion), and CSSA recipients.

Remarks

About the Hong Kong Palace Museum
The Hong Kong Palace Museum aspires to be a leading cultural institution committed to the study and appreciation of Chinese art and culture while advancing dialogue among world civilisations. The Hong Kong Palace Museum is a collaborative project between the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority and the Palace Museum. The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust made a donation of HK$3.5 billion for its establishment. It is also funded by some of the annual exhibitions and education programmes in 2023–2031.

Embracing new curatorial approaches, the Museum offers a Hong Kong perspective and a global vision, presenting the finest objects from the Palace Museum and other important cultural institutions around the world. Through research, exhibitions, and educational and professional exchange programmes, the Museum will build international partnerships and help position Hong Kong as a global hub for art and culture. At heart a resource that belongs to the community of Hong Kong, the Museum will inspire community engagement, foster dialogue, and promote creativity and interdisciplinary collaboration. 
https://www.hkpm.org.hk/

About The National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is one of the greatest art galleries in the world. Founded by Parliament in 1824, the Gallery houses the nation’s collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the late 13th to the early 20th century. The collection includes works by Artemisia Gentileschi, Bellini, Cézanne, Degas, Leonardo, Monet, Raphael, Rembrandt, Renoir, Rubens, Titian, Turner, Van Dyck, Van Gogh and Velázquez. The Gallery’s key objectives are to care for and enhance the collection and provide the best possible access to visitors. Admission is free. More at https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/

About Mega Arts and Cultural Events (ACE) Fund
Mega ACE Fund targets mega arts and cultural events in Hong Kong, those organised by the private sector or non-governmental organisations, with a view to developing Hong Kong into an arts and cultural metropolis, providing opportunities for the arts and cultural sector to flourish, and fostering Hong Kong’s development as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange.

About the West Kowloon Cultural District
The West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the largest and most ambitious cultural projects in the world. Its vision is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong on 40 hectares of reclaimed land located alongside Victoria Harbour. With a varied mix of theatres, performance spaces, and museums, the West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances, and cultural events, providing 23 hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade. 
https://www.westkowloon.hk/

*The special exhibition “Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London” is financially supported by the Mega Arts and Cultural Events Fund of Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The content of this programme does not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to this programme only, but does not otherwise take part in it. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in the materials/activities (or by members of the GRANTEE’s team) are those of the organisers of this programme only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) today announced that the auditorium in the museum will be named “The Hong Kong Jockey Club Auditorium” in recognition of the HK$3.5 billion donation made by The Hong Kong Jockey Club through its Charities Trust towards the establishment of the museum.

The naming ceremony was held today at The Hong Kong Jockey Club Auditorium and was officiated by Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Henry Tang Ying-yen, Chairman of the Board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA),  Philip N L Chen, Chairman of The Hong Kong Jockey Club, Jack Chan Jick-chi, Acting Secretary for Home Affairs, HKSAR Government, Bernard Charnwut Chan, Chairman of the Board of the HKPM, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer, The Hong Kong Jockey Club and Betty Fung, Chief Executive Officer of the WKCDA.

Funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust’s (the Trust) donation of HK$3.5 billion, the HKPM is a collaboration between the WKCDA and the Palace Museum. Construction of the museum commenced in March 2019 and was completed in December 2021. The HKPM announced today that the museum was completed on schedule and within budget, targeting to open to the public in July 2022. Part of the Trust’s donation will support some of the major exhibitions and educational projects of HKPM in the coming nine years to help realise the museum’s vision to promote Chinese arts and culture locally and globally, while developing Hong Kong into an East-meets-West Centre for International Cultural Exchange, as outlined in the National 14th Five-Year Plan.

Jockey Club supports HKPM’s vision to promote Chinese culture to future generations

The Trust’s donation will support a series of creative initiatives to be launched by HKPM between 2023 and 2031 to strengthen its efforts in promoting Chinese arts and culture, including:

• Major Exhibitions: to support the presentation of one major exhibition each year to showcase arts and culture from China and other parts of the world.
• Talent Development: to support the museum’s collaboration with local artists to launch experimental and innovative exhibitions annually. By offering local artists unique opportunities in dialogue with Palace Museum’s collections, the exhibitions will facilitate new interpretations of Palace Museum culture and provide a platform for HKPM to nurture local talent in different fields, including curation, design, education and cultural enterprise.
• Art & Technology (Artech) Education: to support HKPM to launch annual educational programmes integrating arts and technology while focusing on Chinese arts and culture. Working in collaboration with experts and organisations from various fields, this project will provide unique opportunities for students and the public to learn more about Chinese art and culture through creative and interactive methods.

Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of the HKSAR, said that with the teamwork and untiring effort of the HKPM team, the museum has been successfully completed without any budget overruns or delays, even in the midst of the pandemic over the past two years. In fact, there is a surplus of around HK$260 million. Together with The Hong Kong Jockey Club, the Government announced today that the surplus will be used for future operational expenses for the HKPM, especially to support exhibitions and educational activities for the museum. Mrs Lam said, “Leveraging the strengths of Hong Kong to serve the country's needs, the HKPM aims to promote the excellence of traditional Chinese culture to the world through exchange and partnerships with international cultural institutions. Through these cultural exchanges, the museum also aims to foster international friendships and showcase the development of Chinese culture.”

Philip N L Chen, Chairman of The Hong Kong Jockey Club, said: “The establishment of the HKPM will enable exquisite national treasures to be displayed in Hong Kong, reflecting the importance of our city and the nation’s staunch support for it. The Club is delighted to fund the construction of this new cultural landmark and is pleased to lend its support to the exciting programme of exhibitions the museum has planned, as well as its talent development and educational outreach activities. Art and history is a gateway to connect with our heritage. I firmly believe that the Club’s support for the HKPM will enable visitors to understand and appreciate more about Chinese art and culture, further strengthening Hong Kong’s position as a world-class city and an international cultural hub.”

Henry Tang Ying-yen, Chairman of the Board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, said: “Promoting Chinese traditional culture is at the heart of HKPM’s mission. With an aim of becoming an innovative leader in museum education, our vision is to promote the inheritance of Chinese culture and history to the public, and future generations in particular, by developing quality educational content and creative programmes, leveraging innovative technology, and collaborating with various local and international cultural and academic institutions. We are hugely grateful for the Trust’s generous donation and its recognition of our effort, which allows us to promote, realise and orchestrate such a vision.”

Promoting Chinese arts and culture in the community through the Palace Academy

Education and community engagement are among HKPM’s top priorities. Spanning the entire lower floor of the museum, the 1,600-square-metre Palace Academy will be the largest dedicated museum learning space in Hong Kong, comprising the 400-seat Hong Kong Jockey Club Auditorium and three activity rooms – Merit Hall, Magnus Hall and the Learning Resource Centre. Following the opening of the HKPM, the academy will offer a variety of educational activities, including film screenings, public lectures, student exhibitions, workshops for families, training for teachers, and courses on Chinese art, history and culture.

The HKPM is committed to building long-term strategic partnerships with local schools and other educational institutions with the aim of bringing the museum’s learning programmes and cultural resources to campuses and communities. The museum is currently developing educational resources while working to promote collaboration and innovation in the education sector. To foster young people’s interest in Chinese arts and culture, the museum will undertake a series of educational programmes, namely:

• Teaching Resources: Collaborating with the Education Bureau of the HKSAR Government, the HKPM will develop teaching resources to help students learn history through art. The materials will be specifically designed to complement the secondary school curriculum on Chinese history.
• Thematic Workshops on the Forbidden City’s Culture and History: Working in collaboration with scholars and experts from different fields, the HKPM will design thematic workshops for primary and secondary school students focusing on the life and culture, ceramic treasures and costumes of the Palace Museum and the Forbidden City.
• Volunteer & Docent Training: The HKPM is currently training volunteers and docents to assist in day-to-day operations and educational projects following the museum’s opening.

The HKPM will play a vital role in fostering Hong Kong’s future arts and culture development and strengthening the city’s connection with the Mainland and the rest of the world. The opening of the museum will be a highlight to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR this year. The Hong Kong Jockey Club has already announced a donation of HK$630 million to support a series of community initiatives as part of the anniversary celebrations.

Remarks

About the Hong Kong Palace Museum
The Hong Kong Palace Museum aspires to become a leading institution on the study and appreciation of Chinese art and culture while advancing dialogue between world civilisations. The Hong Kong Palace Museum is a collaborative project between the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority and the Palace Museum, which is funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust with a donation of HK$3.5 billion for its establishment, as well as some of the annual exhibitions and education programmes in 2023-2031.

Embracing new curatorial approaches, the museum combines a Hong Kong perspective with a global vision to present precious artefacts from the Palace Museum and other important cultural institutions around the world. Through research, exhibitions, and educational and professional exchange programmes, the museum aims to build international partnerships and position Hong Kong as a global hub for art and culture. At heart a resource that belongs to the local community, the museum strives to inspire community engagement, foster dialogue, and promote creativity and interdisciplinary collaboration.
www.hkpm.org.hk

About The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Founded in 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club is a world-class racing club that acts continuously for the betterment of our society. The Club has a unique integrated business model, comprising racing and racecourse entertainment, a membership club, responsible sports wagering and lottery, and charities and community contribution. Through this model, the Club generates economic and social value for the community and supports the Government in combatting illegal gambling. In 2020/21, the Club returned a total of HK$29.4 billion to the community. This included HK$24.9 billion to the Government in duty, profits tax and Lotteries Fund contributions and HK$4.5 billion in approved charity donations. The Club is Hong Kong’s largest single taxpayer and one of the city’s major employers. Its Charities Trust is also one of the world’s top ten charity donors. The Club is always “riding high together for a better future” with the people of Hong Kong. Please visit www.hkjc.com.

About the West Kowloon Cultural District
The West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the largest and most ambitious cultural projects in the world. Its vision is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong on 40 hectares of reclaimed land located alongside Victoria Harbour. With a varied mix of theatres, performance spaces, and museums, the West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances and cultural events, providing 23 hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade.
https://www.westkowloon.hk/

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