M+ Building, centrepiece of Hong Kong’s new super-museum known as M+ at West Kowloon Cultural District, is set to open in about three months. Residents and visitors on the other side of the harbour will be struck by a giant LED screen beaming moving art images at them across the water. The screen is being built into the front of the M+ Building’s tower. The facility should hold its soft opening in March with the whole M+ Museum receiving visitors for the first time nine to 12 months later.
Initially when the cultural district was being planned four different museums were proposed. The authorities decided to role it all into one super-museum which designer Freeman Lau christened M+. Visual arts, design, architecture and moving images will all be on show. Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron created a suite of spacious galleries laid out in a podium from which rises the flat-fronted administrative tower with its LED screen, one of the world’s largest at 110 metres by 65.
When fully developed the cultural district will also include an art park, theatre, performance venues and a centre for Cantonese opera as well as the Hong Kong Palace Museum, a satellite of the Forbidden City. Attractions for art lovers are already open. M+ Pavilion is staging a series of exhibitions, currently the Sigg Prize Exhibition. This is backed by a Swiss businessman, Uli Sigg who built up a world-class collection of contemporary Chinese art. Six artists shortlisted for the Sigg Prize of $500,000 are showing their works: Hu Xiaoyuan, Liang Shuo, Lin Yinlin, Shen Xin, Tao Hui and Samson Young.
Also open already is the Xiqu Centre. The building has outstanding architecture inspired by Chinese lanterns and its entrance resembles parted stage curtains. The eight-storey building houses multiple galleries and theatres presenting traditional Chinese culture.
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