“There is no exception to the rule of law, and everyone must comply with the law,” Tang said, adding that he could not judge which artworks might violate the law as he was not a legal expert.

“I cannot tell whether [Ai’s] work will be exhibited or when it will be exhibited; I will leave it to our professional team to decide that. I place my confidence in them.”

He also denied any accusations of censorship, saying: “There is no question of us retracting it or succumbing to pressure and changing it.”

Chief of troubled West Kowloon arts hub vows inaugural exhibitions will comply with security law

Earlier this month, M+ found itself the subject of a chorus of criticism from pro-establishment politicians and media outlets, who accused it of displaying “anti-government” works. Some singled out Ai’s photograph Study in Perspective: Tian’anmen (1997) - which depicts the offensive gesture at the Beijing landmark - asking whether the museum would display the image at its opening exhibition, and whether it constituted a breach of the national security law.

Study in Perspective is a photographic series produced by Ai between 1995 and 2017. Throughout the series, viewers see Ai’s left arm extended with the middle finger raised to significant institutions, landmarks and monuments from around the world, including the White House, the Eiffel Tower, and the Reichstag in Berlin.

Tang on Monday declined to disclose other details of the museum’s curatorial plans, but did say that M+ had never had any intention to show the controversial photograph at its opening exhibition.

He also said M+ would “fully cooperate” with Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong over any concerns about potential violations of the law, but noted the office had not approached the museum.

“Our collection is available for everyone online; the office can browse all of our artworks there. I believe that they would take the initiative to approach us if any of our artworks violated the law,” he said.

The museum’s website, he added, had also taken the step of blurring some potentially obscene or indecent artworks, making them viewable only after a visitor declared they were aged 18 or above.

Asked whether Ai would be invited to the museum’s opening ceremony, Tang said the guest list had not been finalised, but expressed doubt that foreign artists would attend given the 21-day quarantine requirement for arrivals to the city.

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Tang also sought to put Ai’s photograph in perspective, noting it was part of a collection of contemporary Chinese art donated by Swiss businessman and collector Uli Sigg. Sigg had previously said he wanted the collection to remain in China, and that Hong Kong was the ideal home due to its freedoms of speech and expression.

Tang said that as Sigg had donated the collection to M+, it was the museum’s curators’ job to adopt a professional, objective and impartial attitude when it came to exhibiting it, and that included taking society’s norms and values into account.

“Our exhibition is not a grocery stall; we cannot display all 8,000 items in our collection. Each exhibition has its own theme. It relies on the artistic and academic judgment of our team,” he said.

Rebutting a litany of other recent criticisms from the pro-establishment camp, Tang defended the museum’s governance structure as comparable to other leading institutions, and said a decision to spend HK$177 million (US$22.8 million) acquiring another collection from Sigg in 2012 conformed to the museum’s stringent procurement policies.

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On the collection donated by Sigg in the same year, Tang said it was valued at HK$1.3 billion at that time, and he estimated that its value had gone several times higher. 

“With this collection, we have become one of the world’s leading contemporary museums. I am proud that we own this collection,” he said.

Responding to claims that M+ did not represent local artists in its collection, he added that nearly a quarter of its 8,000 pieces were by Hongkongers.

Asked to comment on the criticism directed his way by the pro-establishment camp, Tang said that he respected their freedom of speech and welcomed diverse opinions.

A group of lawmakers, including Eunice Yung Hoi-yan and Vincent Cheng Wing-shun who monitor the implementation of the West Kowloon Cultural District development project, visited M+ and the Hong Kong Palace Museum with Tang on Monday morning.

Yung, who has been one of the museum’s highest-profile critics, said she approved of Tang’s responses on Monday because she felt he understood the feelings of some members of the public.

It was in response to Yung’s pointed questions in the Legislative Council this month that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was compelled to publicly express her confidence that Tang and other administrators were capable of distinguishing between works of artistic expression and threats to national security.

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Edward Lau Kwok-fan, chairman of the Legislative Council subcommittee monitoring the project, said authorities should take public opinion into account, telling the board that artwork that violated the national security law should not only be barred from exhibition, but pulled from the museum’s collection.

The museum replied that deaccession and disposition of a work in its collection had to pass through its internal committee. 

Legislator Holden Chow Ho-ding, meanwhile, said he could not see any reason why Ai’s work should be exhibited inside the public museum. 

“The museum has the responsibility to ensure that its exhibits do not violate the law,” he said, adding that he had already requested authorities strengthen the scrutiny of pieces before accepting any donations or making any acquisitions.

Additional reporting by Kanis Leung