M+ of West Kowloon Cultural District acquires new work by Tiffany Chung with the Brown Family Annual Acquisition Fund

M+, the new museum of visual culture of the West Kowloon Cultural District, announces the acquisition of two works by Tiffany Chung from her series, the unwanted population, The Vietnam Exodus – Hong Kong chapter (1975-2000).

1. HKSAR statistics on yearly arrivals and departures of V-refugees from 1975-1997
   2016
   acrylic, ink, and oil on vellum and paper
   79 x 100 cm (31 x 39 ½ in.)
    
2. flotsam and jetsam
   2015-2016
   watercolor, ink, acrylic, vinyl, plexiglass, video and text
   28 works on paper, 40 text pieces on plexiglass panels, videos and text on electronic tablets. Dimension of 28 paintings: 30 x 42 cm (11 ¾ x 16 ½ in.); dimensions of 40 text pieces [on plexiglass] variable; dimensions of tablets: 15 x 26 cm (6 x 10 ¼ in.) [painting Illustrations by Ho Hung, Le Nam Dy, Nguyen Van Du, Nguyen Kim To Lan]

These purchases were made possible by the Brown Family Annual Acquisition Fund.

Tiffany Chung was born in Vietnam and continues to live and work there. Her work was most recently featured in the Venice Biennale's curated exhibition, All the World’s Futures in the Arsenale. There, she showed an installation of 40 map-based drawings relating to the ongoing crisis in Syria. Her documentation of the Syrian conflict and refugee crisis parallels her ongoing investigation of the post-1975 mass exodus of refugees from Vietnam, of which she herself was a part.

Now in its third year, the Brown Family Annual Acquisition Fund was conceived in 2014 to facilitate acquisitions of contemporary art for the M+ collection over a ten-year period. Each year during Art Basel in Hong Kong, a work (or works) with a total price not exceeding HKD 500,000 is selected for the M+ collection.

The selection process is carried out by a jury committee consisting of M+ curators and two outside jurors. The 2016 jury committee comprised Tina Pang, Curator, Hong Kong Visual Culture, M+, with outside jurors Mami Kataoka, Chief Curator, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, and Reto Thüring, Curator of Contemporary Art, Cleveland Museum of Art.

The cornerstone of the ambitious West Kowloon Cultural District Project, M+ is Hong Kong’s new museum for visual culture, encompassing 20^th and 21^st-century art, design and architecture, and moving image from Hong Kong, China, Asia, and beyond. In the run-up to the official opening of M+ in 2019, the museum has been consistently building its collection, which currently houses over 4,000 works, as well as presenting diverse public programmes and exhibitions. The Brown Family Annual Acquisition plays an integral role in the continued growth and development of the M+ collection.

Said Rosamond Brown, “I established the Brown Family Annual Acquisition Fund to support the M+ Museum's ambitions to build a world class collection for Hong Kong. I very much hope that others will be inspired by and follow my example. This year the jury selected a work with great historical significance, from a time that I lived through. Art Basel Hong Kong goes from strength to strength and I look forward to supporting M+ in their acquisitions next year.”

Doryun Chong, Acting Director of M+, added, “Tiffany Chung's, HKSAR statistics on yearly arrivals and departures of V-refugees from 1975-1997, and flotsam and jetsam, are powerfully affecting works that have grown out of the artist's long-term research with the history, geography, and lived experiences of former Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong, as well as a new generation of artists in Vietnam who have not been taught the painful past of their nation's history. It is an important topic that should be remembered, and Chung's approach handles it with grace, thoughtfulness, and commitment. Her works remind us how art can be a crucial document of, and witness to forgotten histories. We are honoured to have her works in the M+ Collection.”

Reto Thüring, Curator of Contemporary Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, said, “The quality of Tiffany Chung's work lies in the way it addresses issues of the past, but it is as impressive in the way it relates to current developments.”

“Tiffany Chung’s new research-based work 'The Vietnam Exodus' represents the important political and historical relationship between Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, while also echoing the recent humanitarian crisis in Europe,” said Mami Kataoka, Chief Curator, Mori Art Museum. “In inviting a group of young artists in Vietnam who have been less exposed to the history of their own country, the artist also plays a part in ensuring that their collective memory will be passed on.”

In 2015, the fund was used for the acquisition of the painting S. S. Rajputana leaving the port of Bombay – 29th August 1931 by the contemporary Indian artist Atul Dodiya.

West Kowloon Cultural District

Located on Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, the West Kowloon Cultural District will be 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, performing spaces and the M+ museum, the West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances and cultural events, as well as provide 23 hectares of public open space, including the future park and a two-kilometre waterfront promenade.

M+

M+ is Hong Kong’s new museum for visual culture, encompassing 20th and 21st century art, design, architecture and the moving image from Hong Kong, China, Asia and beyond. Located at the centre of the WKCD, M+ will stand at the boundary between the urban sector and the Park in the overall conceptual plan of the WKCD. From its vantage point in one of the world’s most dynamic regions, M+ will document the past, inform the present and contribute to the future of visual culture within an ever more interconnected global landscape. The museum will take a multidisciplinary approach that both challenges and respects existing boundaries, while creating a meeting point for a diversity of perspectives, narratives and audiences. M+ has already embarked on a number of public programmes and exhibitions, and has begun to assemble its permanent collection to be housed in the Herzog & de Meuron/ TFP Farrells/ Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong designed museum.

Brown Family

Charles (1937-2012) and Rosamond Brown (b.1937) moved together to Hong Kong in 1963. While living in Hong Kong they have supported a number of important art projects across the city, and have been important advocates for the thriving local art scene. Rosamond Brown still resides in Hong Kong, dividing her time between here and the UK.