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Hong Kong adopts the phrase “Asia’s World City” as its official slogan. With its incredibly free market and proximity to China’s booming economy, the metropolis has certainly lived up to its status as a bustling financial hub. A perfect union of East meeting West, Old meeting New, cart pulling noodle hawkers and traditional medicinal stores neighbour towering glass skyscrapers and shiny luxury shops. In all these aspects, Hong Kong certainly lives up to its status as a global city, one worth having its own clock in the lobbies of posh hotels around the world. Yet, Hong Kong is greatly lacking in one area that a city should excel in—the arts. Overshadowed by New York, London, Paris, and threatened by the increasing emphasis on the arts in rival Asian cities such as Shanghai and Singapore, the term “cultural desert” has often been used to describe Hong Kong.
However, seen through the relatively recent development of Art HK and its transformation into Art Basel HK, and the influx of Chinese contemporary art, things are looking up. What’s more, the city’s art and culture scene is about to take a dramatic turn. Slated to open in stages from 2015 to 2017, Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District is currently one of the largest arts and cultural projects worldwide. Upon completion, the forty hectare area will overlook the city’s iconic Victoria Harbour, and its first batch of facilities will include a Xiqu (Chinese opera) centre, M+, an arts pavilion, a public park, and a two kilometre long promenade.
Arguably one of the most highly anticipated structures in the district, M+ describes itself as “Hong Kong’s new museum for visual culture”. The building, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, is scheduled for completion in late 2017. The multidisciplinary museum will house 20th and 21st century works from Hong Kong, China, and beyond, including art, design, architecture and moving image. Upon completion, it will be Hong Kong’s first modern and contemporary art museum, a surprisingly late addition to a place that heralds itself as a cultural melting pot. To the relief and excitement of many, M+ symbolises an official recognition and development of the visual arts in Hong Kong.
Headed by Executive Director Dr Lars Nittve, who was the founding Director of Tate Modern, the museum has already begun to build its permanent collection. The collection focuses on local, Asian and global modern and contemporary art, introducing multiple narratives and viewpoints to spark discourse. Works include various donations by artists and collectors, both local and foreign. Museum acquisitions include the M+ Sigg collection, a selection of 1510 works from Swiss collector Uli Siggs. Siggs’ collection remains the largest and most comprehensive body of Chinese contemporary art from the 1970s to the present. Other recent works acquired by M+ include five works from Art Basel Hong Kong, as well as Asian Fields, a piece by renowned sculptor Antony Gormley. Also notable is the M+ Architecture collection, the first of its kind in the continent, which aims to present global architecture through the perspectives of Hong Kong, China and Asia.
Besides building its permanent collection, M+ has also embarked on various public programmes and exhibitions in anticipation of the museum’s completion. Embodying its aim of preserving and presenting local Hong Kong art and culture in a fresh light, M+ has launched its seventh pre-opening exhibition. Mobile M+: NEONSIGNS.HK is the museum’s first online interactive exhibition that documents the city’s vibrant neon signs. Having long been an icon of Hong Kong, these fast-disappearing neon fixtures have been driven out by cheaper, brighter LED lighting. The exhibition celebrates this key aspect of Hong Kong’s cityscape by documenting and exploring the people and stories behind Hong Kong’s neon signs. Featuring a short film by director Christopher Doyle, the interactive exhibition also invites the public to contribute to the museum’s research by uploading their favourite signs to an online “Neon Map.”
This initiative to preserve Hong Kong’s visual art and culture has been greatly welcomed, with over 3000 submissions since its launch in March. Furthermore, through this unconventional curatorial approach towards an otherwise overlooked element of Hong Kong’s cityscape, M+ has challenged the traditional boundaries of contemporary art museums. It has also acquired otherwise threatened neon signs for its permanent collection.
At last gaining traction after 10 years of discussion and planning, Hong Kong finally seems to have embraced the arts and culture as an integral part of its public identity and cityscape. If the West Kowloon Cultural District fulfils its promises to develop art and culture in Hong Kong, and balances the fine line between art and commerce, the district will mark a significant improvement in Hong Kong’s arts scene. While all this is terrific news, perhaps it is also time to also start fostering an arts-oriented education.
In a city where children grow up believing that a future in the arts is practically impossible, a shift in perspective is required for this project to truly take off. M+ and the West Kowloon Cultural District marks a significant leap for the arts and culture scene of Hong Kong, and has the potential to confirm the city’s proclamation as “Asia’s World City.” Yet, without an inherent change of attitudes in local people, the district runs the risk of becoming a commercialised cultural importer, rather than a true nurturer of the arts.
by Louise Lui