After a 12 months of discussions, the Museum of Fashionable Artwork in New York and M+ in Hong Kong, a recent artwork museum in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon arts district, have formalized an settlement that might quickly see them share exhibits, analysis, and donor growth assets.
The settlement marks MoMA’s first collaboration of this sort with a significant establishment based mostly in Asia. It’s set to cowl six areas, together with from curatorial and conservation analysis, employees coaching, and the co-organization of future exhibitions.
In a ceremony on Wednesday at MoMA held to announce the partnership, officers overseeing M+ and the West Kowloon Arts District Authority (WCKDA), a authorities physique that raises funding to function it, stated that establishments of M+’s measurement are navigating rising operational prices. They’re additionally dealing with problem bringing in the identical quantity of holiday makers that they did pre-pandemic.
The settlement is a part of a broader effort by the WKCDA to develop its community of worldwide companions, which have now reached greater than 20 different museums globally. Final March, throughout a cultural summit held in Hong Kong to advertise town’s investments within the arts, the WKCDA revealed that it had signed greater than a dozen agreements with worldwide establishments, together with the Centre Pompidou, the Tate, and the Picasso Museum had been signed. The MoMA settlement is essentially the most intensive one to this point, in response to M+ officers.
M+ opened to the general public in 2021 and homes a wealthy assortment of Chinese language up to date artwork donated by collector Uli Sigg. The settlement provides the younger museum broader entry to the workings of a heritage establishment like MoMA, which is now 96 years outdated and noticed an estimated 2.7 million guests in 2023 alone.
“We aren’t an island,” stated Suhanya Raffel, director of M+, on Wednesday. She went on to explain how museums use mortgage agreements with worldwide partnering establishments to deal with “restricted assets.” (Memoranda of understanding are generally utilized in worldwide relations and cultural establishments to formalize analysis collaborations or commerce partnerships earlier than committing to binding agreements.)
For MoMA, the alliance provides its a stronger foothold in Hong Kong, which considers itself a monetary middle similar to New York and London. Nonetheless, regardless of all of the commerce that takes place there, Hong Kong doesn’t but have as sprawling a museum scene as these worldwide hubs.
“With M+, we will discover new curatorial instructions and develop viewers engagement globally,” stated outgoing MoMA director Glenn Lowry in an announcement.
In a dialog with ARTnews throughout the ceremony, Betty Fung, who has served as CEO of the WCKDA since 2021, stated that the group remains to be creating methods to achieve funding and to construct ties with particular person non-public donors in a approach that extra intently resembles these of peer establishments within the West. Donor growth is barely a part of the settlement, in response to Fung.
In February, Fung warned to native retailers that Hong Kong’s $2.75 billion endowment, established by town’s legislature in 2008, might dry up with out exterior assets. The museum recorded greater than 4 million visits throughout the 2022–23 interval. M+ drew 2.7 million guests, whereas its neighboring museum, additionally overseen by the district authority, introduced in 1.25 million individuals. The WKCDA reported a deficit of HK$578 million in 2023/24.
