Incoming West Kowloon museum curator vows to be 'politically incorrect'
Incoming museum supremo vows to push back against those who would neuter provocative art
Censorship has no place in at ideas places like venues such as museums, which should stimulate people to think for themselves, says a top New York curator who is due to join Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District’s visual culture museum.
Korean-born Doryun Chong, currently an associate curator at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, who will join M+ as chief curator, and says he will not succumb to pressure from politicians warning the visual culture museum not to confuse art and politics.
A museum should be a place where a variety of ideas can be provoked and discussed, even ideas that are perceived as dangerous. Art is not just pleasure for your eyes. Your conscience changes through experiencing art]
“If I were to say yes, [M+] should withdraw the offer,” said the award-winning 40-year-old curator, in response to much criticised remarks by pro-Beijing lawmaker Chan Kam-lam ‘s at the Legislative Council.
“A museum should be a place where a variety of ideas can be provoked and discussed, even ideas that are perceived as dangerous,” he said.
“Art is not just pleasure for your eyes. Your conscience changes through experiencing art].”
Chong’s appointment as M+’s chief curator was announced yesterday, after a search to fill the position that has taken nearly three years.Rumour had it that Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo’s chief curator, Yuko Hasegawa, formerly a former board member of the West Kowloon Cultural District, had once been tipped for the job. Hong Kong talents are simply out of the question as few have had prolonged experience of working at world-class cultural institutions or museums.
A “talented” curator, according to The New Yorker, Chong moved to the US when he was 18 and studied art history at the University of California at Berkeley. He took a post at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco in 1999 and worked at the Walker Art Centre’s visual arts department in Minneapolis for six years before moving to MoMA. He also co-ordinated the South Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2001.