In the five years since it opened, the M+ Museum in Hong Kong has become one of the foremost contemporary art institutions in Asia, presenting landmark shows devoted to Yayoi Kusama, I.M. Pei, Lee Bul and others, and welcoming more than 2.5 million visitors annually for the past three years in a row. The museum is celebrating its fifth anniversary over the next month and beyond. It is also embarking on a new cultural alliance with the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. For a new episode of the In Focus podcast, our editor-in-chief spoke to Paulo Pong the chairman of the board of M+ and a board member of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, about the plans.
From left to right: Christophe Cherix, the director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York; Suhanya Raffel, the museum director of M+ in Hong Kong; and Laurent Le Bon, the president of the Centre Pompidou in Paris
Photo. © CentrePompidou/Chau-Cuong Lê
The new cultural alliance “brings together three leading collecting institutions united by a shared commitment to supporting artistic innovation and expanding public engagement through research and exchange,” Suhanya Raffel, the museum director at M+, said in a statement. “As Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture, M+ brings perspectives from Hong Kong and our region to this dialogue. We hope to create new opportunities for artists and audiences, shape a more cooperative and sustainable future for museums, and reimagine how cultural narratives resonate around the world.”
Installation view of Myths and Monsters: The Art of Fantasy in Asia, 2026, at M+ Photo: Lok Cheng. Image courtesy of M+, Hong Kong
In the new podcast episode, Pong discussed the current and upcoming exhibitions and special programmes at the museum, from the recently opened exhibition Myths and Monsters: The Art of Fantasy in Asia (until 4 April 2027) to the M+ Restored Festival (1 November-27 December), which showcases nine restored Hong Kong New Wave films.
Next year, the museum will take a comprehensive view of its local avant-garde and cultural scene from the 1970s up to the present in the landmark exhibition Hong Kong: Here and Beyond 2027 (13 March 2027-8 August 2027), unveil the latest presentation of its M+ Sigg Collection (opening 4 September 2027) and host an important Do Ho Suh exhibition (opening 25 September 2027).
Paulo Pong, BBS, JP, the chairman of the board of the M+ Museum in Hong Kong Courtesy of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority
In a further signal of M+’s institutional leadership in Greater China and beyond, Pong discusses the upcoming Public Conversation: 2026 Culture for the Planet Summit, taking place on 6 November and addressing the importance of sustainability within cultural activities and organisations. The museum is also launching, in November, the M+ Academy initiative, which seeks to support existing and emerging museum professionals. The goal of the academy is to provide resources, mentorship, connections and opportunities to cultural workers, helping to broaden the professional pipeline for museums and other arts organisations.
M+ 5th Anniversary Celebrations: In-Gallery Encounters at M+ in Hong Kong Photo: Winnie Yeung @ Visual Voices. Image courtesy of M+, Hong Kong
“Five years ago, M+ opened with an ambitious vision: to create a museum rooted in Hong Kong and engaged with the world,” Pong added in a statement. “More than 12.5 million visits later, we can see how strongly that vision has resonated. This anniversary is an opportunity to thank the people who made it possible, from our museum team and supporters to the visitors who have made M+ part of their lives.”
