M+ celebrates its first anniversary and public opening of Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now today

M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District, celebrates its first anniversary today with the public opening of the museum’s first Special Exhibition, Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now. To mark the special occasion, Betty Fung, Chief Executive Officer, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, and Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, greeted visitors at the museum’s Artist Square Entrance, while staff gave away M+ First Anniversary tote bags to the first two hundred ticketholders of the day.

Suhanya Raffel says, ‘We are all thrilled by the unprecedented success of M+’s first year. The museum has become a must-visit cultural landmark for the Hong Kong public, and we are truly grateful to the community for their sincere welcome and strong support. Notwithstanding the temporary closure of the museum from January to April this year due to the pandemic, we have welcomed more than two million visitors in the first year. As Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now opens to the public today, we will continue to present meticulously curated exhibitions and programmes here in Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture. We look forward to receiving visitors from all over the world in the not-too-distant future.’

Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now is the largest retrospective of renowned artist Yayoi Kusama in Asia outside Japan, featuring more than 200 works from major collections from museums and private collections in Asia, Europe, and the United States, the M+ Collection, as well as from the artist’s own collection.

Tickets to Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now, which allow visitors access to all M+ galleries, are available for purchase online. Visitors are encouraged to purchase tickets ahead of their visit for Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now (HK$240 for adults and HK$150 for concession), which will grant access to all M+ galleries; or General Admission tickets (HK$120 for adults and HK$60 for concession). Admission to B1 level, as well as Pumpkin (2022) and Hong Kong: Here and Beyond on the museum’s ground floor, remain free of charge.

In addition to Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now, M+ has an exciting programme of exhibitions for its second year:

New General Admission Attractions

• Beeple: HUMAN ONE, Focus Gallery from 9 December 2022 to 30 April 2023
  HUMAN ONE is a groundbreaking digital-and-physical artwork by the pioneering American artist Mike Winkelmann (a.k.a. Beeple). This will be the first presentation of the work in Asia.

• The return exhibition of Angela Su: Arise, Hong Kong in Venice (title to be announced later) co-organised with Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Courtyard Galleries from 17 June 2023 to 7 January 2024
  Artist Angela Su’s acclaimed exhibition representing Hong Kong at the 2022 Venice Biennale will be showcased at M+ in 2023 with an adapted and site-responsive presentation.

Special Exhibitions Opening in 2023

• Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, West Gallery from 29 July 2023 to 14 April 2024
  Song Huai-Kuei (1937–2006), widely known during her lifetime as Madame Song, was a legend in China’s elite cultural circles in the 1980s and 1990s. Organised thematically and divided into five sections, Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China traces Madame Song’s life and practice from the 1950s to the early 2000s and unveils her thus-far overlooked and underestimated influence in transforming a largely closed China into today’s cosmopolitan and culturally diverse society.

• The Sigg Prize 2023 exhibition, Main Hall Gallery from 23 September 2023 to 18 February 2024
  M+ will present the Sigg Prize 2023 exhibition of six shortlisted artists for this prestigious recurring prize. This is the second time M+ is exhibiting the work of leading contemporary artists born or working in the Greater China region and selected by an international jury. The Sigg Prize winner will be announced in early 2024.

In addition, M+’s opening displays will continue to bring visitors to the world of contemporary visual culture. Holders of General Admission tickets can visit the following exhibitions:

• The Dream of the Museum, on view in the Courtyard Galleries through 23 April 2023
• M+ Sigg Collection: From Revolution to Globalisaton, on view in the Sigg Galleries through 23 July 2023
• Individuals, Networks, Expressions, on view in the South Galleries through 19 November 2023
• Things, Spaces, Interactions, on view in the East Galleries through 9 June 2024
• Hong Kong: Here and Beyond, on view in the Main Hall Gallery through 11 June 2023 (Free admission)

Members of the public can book tickets to visit M+ now on the M+ website, West Kowloon Cultural District website, West Kowloon Cultural District App, Cityline, China Travel Service (Hong Kong) Limited, Fliggy, and Klook. M+ Members and Patrons can 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. Located in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, M+ 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. Our aim is to be 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.