Although the Herzog & de Meuron-designed M+ visual arts museum is still three years from completion, that hasn’t stopped its curatorial team from delivering a series of innovative exhibitions across the city. This week, however, marks the first permanent venue for the institution, launching alongside its inaugural exhibition; a new solo commission entitled ‘Nothing’ by the Hong Kong-based artist Tsang Kin-wah.
Co-curated by M+ deputy director and chief curator Doryun Chong and the lead curator of learning and interpretation, Stella Fong, the small-scale exhibition is a ‘return’ response to Tang’s immersive video installation at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, an exploration of the significance of human life while noting the futility of such efforts.
‘Building a museum of the scale and ambition of M+ isn't something you can pull together overnight, so the M+ Pavilion is an exciting step for us programmatically in terms of trying and testing things out – a foothold on the way to the final destination,’ says M+ design and architecture curator Aric Chen.
The site-specific exhibition makes the most of the new low slung two-storey pavilion designed by a trio of young Hong Kong architects: VPANG Architects Ltd, JET Architecture, and Lisa Cheung. The building spans around 878 sq m, including a 310 sq m main gallery space and a dramatic elevated outdoor deck that frames views over Victoria Harbour. According to VPANG Architects’ managing director Vincent Pang, the platform also creates a sense of floating above the surrounding landscape, a metaphor about distancing oneself from busy city life to appreciate art in a quieter space.
Although a striking futuristic form, the pavilion’s mirrored steel façade ‘elegantly dissolves into its park setting’, says Chen. While inside, a minimalist blend of polished concrete floors and pure white walls offers a flexible backdrop to accommodate a wide range of small-scale exhibitions and performances.
The low slung two-storey pavilion was designed by a trio of young Hong Kong architects: VPANG Architects Ltd, JET Architecture, and Lisa Cheung
The building spans around 878 sq m, including a 310 sq m main gallery space
A dramatic elevated outdoor deck frames views over Victoria Harbour
Display panels at the ground floor lobby of M+ Pavilion depicting the evolution of M+ over the past five years
INFORMATION
For more information on the M+ Pavilion visit the website
-
First look – Bottega Veneta and Flos release a special edition of the Model 600Gino Sarfatti’s fan favourite from 1966 is born again with Bottega Veneta’s signature treatments gracing its leather base
-
We stepped inside the Stedelijk Museum's newest addition in AmsterdamAmsterdam's Stedelijk Museum has unveiled its latest addition, the brand-new Don Quixote Sculpture Hall by Paul Cournet of Rotterdam creative agency Cloud
-
On a sloped Los Angeles site, a cascade of green 'boxes' offers inside outside livingUnStack, a house by FreelandBuck, is a cascading series of bright green volumes, with mountain views
-
Raw, refined and dynamic: A-Cold-Wall*’s new Shanghai store is a fresh take on the industrial lookA-Cold-Wall* has a new flagship store in Shanghai, designed by architecture practice Hesselbrand to highlight positive spatial and material tensions
-
Sun Tower is a new Chinese cultural attraction that draws on the celestial cycleSun Tower, an imaginative cultural attraction by Open Architecture, draws on the natural cycle and has just opened in China's seaside town of Yantai
-
The Suzhou visitor centre in China is a perfect balance of contemporary innovation and cultural identityThe Suzhou visitor centre in China is designed by Tsing-Tien Making, a studio that designs to preserve cultural identity
-
Architectural Association's newest show uncovers the architectural legacies of rural China's lost generationThe Architectural Association’s ‘Ripple Ripple Rippling’ is not your typical architecture show, taking an anthropological look at the flux between rural and urban, and bringing a part of China to Bedford Square in London
-
Private museum Simple Design Archive is a ‘poetic sound sanctuary’ in ChinaSimple Design Archive, located in China’s Anhui province, is a private museum by HAS Design and Research, fostering a contemplative environment
-
Neri & Hu’s dynamic New Bund theatre takes centre stage in Shanghai’s cityscapeIn Shanghai, Neri & Hu’s New Bund 31 Performing Arts Center is a theatre offering a contemporary take on a classical archetype
-
Herzog & de Meuron’s Children’s Hospital in Zurich is a ‘miniature city’Herzog & de Meuron’s Children’s Hospital in Zurich aims to offer a case study in forward-thinking, contemporary architecture for healthcare
-
The Henderson by ZHA in Hong Kong makes everyone sit up and pay attentionThe Henderson, ZHA's new high-rise in Hong Kong, stands out in its coveted address through its unusual, fluted façade of glass columns
