The M+ museum in Hong Kong and the Centre Pompidou in Paris will collaborate on a series of exhibitions as part of a long-term partnership agreement. The multi-year arrangement—signed earlier this month by Laurent Le Bon, the president of the Centre Pompidou and Suhanya Raffel, M+ director—builds on a memorandum of understanding signed by both institutions in 2024.
“This partnership formalises a broad framework across four key areas: joint curatorial research, exhibition development and sharing, co-commissions and artwork displays, and collection exchange,” says a project statement.
M+, Hong Kong
Photo: Kevin Mak © Kevin Mak. Courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron
The partnership includes “a landmark exhibition” platforming French and Chinese culture to be presented at both institutions; the show will be presented first at the Centre Pompidou which is due to open in 2030 following major renovations. M+ and Centre Pompidou will also co-organise a series of other exhibitions at M+ starting in 2027.
Scholarly research also underpins the new collaboration with joint research initiatives in the pipeline. The new partnership is boosted by a four-year postdoctoral fellowship funded by the Huo Family Foundation, its first grant to M+ and its first fellowship in the arts. The London-based foundation has awarded more than $100m to projects in the UK, US and China since launching in 2009, according to an online statement.
New joint commissions are also part of the agreement with moving image works due to be shown on the M+ Facade and at the Centre Pompidou Francilien-fabrique de l’art, a new conservation and culture hub located in Massy, south of Paris, from 2027.
Centre Pompidou
Photo: Didier Plowy. Image courtesy of Centre Pompidou
Le Bon acknowledges that the new affiliation with M+ expands the reach of the Beaubourg gallery during its long-term closure. “With the renovation of our Paris building, Centre Pompidou has begun a true metamorphosis where international partnerships play a key role in helping to reach new audiences, enrich our collection, and advance curatorial research,” he says in a statement.
In recent years M+ and the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD), the burgeoning arts district on the southern tip of Hong Kong’s Kowloon peninsula where M+ is located, have signed a swathe of memoranda of understanding with international institutions. As part of the new agreements overseen by WKCD, an artist-in-residence pilot programme will be established with the Misk Art Institute in Riyadh along with a joint exhibition programme with Museums Victoria in Australia.