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Letters | Latest exhibition at Hong Kong’s M+ museum is a must-see – but not for the best reasons
- Readers discuss the second exhibition of works from a renowned collection of contemporary Chinese art at Hong Kong’s museum of visual culture, and how the city can take its promotional efforts to the next level
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The Post’s arts editor recently praised the new Sigg Collection exhibition, stating that it “should be proudly promoted” while going through various highlights of the M+ exhibition.
As a veteran art collector, I too am impressed by the calibre of the works. Yet, I think the exhibition reflected quite badly on M+ as a whole.
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One does not approach an exhibition simply by looking at individual pieces. The function of an exhibition is to provide a coherent narrative through including or excluding certain works, and presenting them in such a way that the pieces speak to each other.
After the introduction of the national security law, it comes as no surprise that Ai Weiwei’s Study of Perspective – Tiananmen (1997), which is part of the Sigg Collection, continues to be excluded.
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Yet, it is interesting how much further M+ goes in this second exhibition of the collection: the political concept of art has been downplayed, pejorative portrayals of Chairman Mao (even a lighthearted one by Li Shan that prominently featured in the last exhibition) have been removed, and there is renewed focus on anti-consumerism/anti-capitalist ideas (such as the strategic placing of Zhao Bandi’s Sinking Mercedes-Benz into Yellow River, echoing China’s recent “common prosperity” policy).
There is also a tinge of anti-West sentiment, with the prominent inclusion of Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s Old People’s Home featuring a single East Asian mannequin in the hyperrealistic parody of old men controlling the world (and no doubt underscoring China’s gallant struggle against Western powers in the recent trade war).
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