17 Nov 2021
Herzog and de Meuron’s M+ museum of visual culture distils essence of Hong Kong
BY Tom Walker
M+, described as Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture, has opened in Hong Kong.
Located in the city state's West Kowloon Cultural District, the museum features six thematic exhibitions housing more than 1,000 works.
Designed by architects Herzog and de Meuron, M+ will act as a cultural centre for 20th and 21st-century art, design, architecture, and the moving image.
As well as the 33 exhibition galleries, the complex will house retail areas, restaurants, cafés, a research centre and multi-purpose halls.
M+ will become a centrepiece of The West Kowloon Cultural District – an area which has been developed gradually from the city's seaport, where section by section a natural harbour has been filled with earth.
The M+ sits on this reclaimed land, connected to the city and overlooking the sea.
Jacques Herzog said: "For art to enter into the life of a city like Hong Kong it has to come from below, from its own foundations.
"Our M+ Project does exactly that, by literally emerging from the city's underground."
M+'s covered entrance podium forms a bright public space that can be entered from all sides and levels, making the activities of the museum accessible to guests, while inviting them into the diverse display topography.
The urban shape has been designed to reiterate the iconic character of Kowloon’s skyline while allowing artistic messages to be transmitted on the surface of the façade.
The "oversize screen" acts as another gallery, one that can be seen from Hong Kong Island, broadcasting the site of M+.
According to Pierre de Meuron, M+ – which has been built above a train tunnel – expresses a "vision for a new institution of visual culture and art for Hong Kong and the world".
De Meuron said: "We have made the underground tunnel of the Airport Express the raison d’être of a rough, large-scale exhibition universe that literally anchors the entire building in the ground.
"The tunnel has been uncovered, creating a radical space for art and design, installation and performance; it is a space of unprecedented potential and a challenge to artist and curator alike.”
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