Hong Kong’s M+ museum and France’s renowned Centre Pompidou have officially entered into an unprecedented, multi-year strategic partnership designed to foster deep cultural exchange between Asia and Europe through joint exhibitions, extensive research, and mutual artwork sharing.
The landmark agreement, signed by the leadership of both institutions in Hong Kong, builds upon a preliminary understanding established earlier in 2024.
The formalized framework focuses on four primary areas of collaboration: joint curatorial research, the development and sharing of exhibitions, the co-commissioning of new artworks, and the reciprocal exchange of their extensive collections.
Leaders from both museums highlighted that this strategic alliance will significantly enrich the global dialogue surrounding contemporary visual culture.
For M+, the collaboration represents a major step in cementing its role as a leading global institution rooted in Asia.
Meanwhile, the partnership will provide the Centre Pompidou with vital avenues to reach new audiences and advance research during a period of profound transformation, as its primary Paris building undergoes a major renovation.
A central feature of the partnership is a large-scale joint exhibition that will highlight the diverse visual cultures of both France and Greater China.
This flagship showcase is slated to debut at the Centre Pompidou following its eventual reopening, before traveling to Hong Kong for a subsequent presentation.
Additionally, M+ will host a series of co-organized exhibitions starting in 2027. These showcases will roll out in stages across several of the museum's gallery spaces through 2028, all grounded in years of dedicated, collaborative research.
To support these ambitious curatorial projects, the museums are launching joint research initiatives that will allow scholars, curators, and museum professionals from both continents to collaborate deeply.
This scholarly effort is being bolstered by a four-year postdoctoral fellowship funded by the Huo Family Foundation.
Marking the foundation's first-ever arts fellowship and its initial grant to M+, the designated researcher will focus heavily on Western and Asian art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to help shape the upcoming exhibitions.
The collaboration will also bring contemporary art directly into the public sphere through co-commissioned moving image works.
Beginning in 2027, these digital pieces will be simultaneously displayed on the massive LED facade of the M+ building in the West Kowloon Cultural District and on the rooftop of the Centre Pompidou’s new conservation and creation facility in Massy, France.
Alongside these prominent public displays, the two institutions will facilitate regular mutual artwork loans, significantly increasing public access to their respective collections while building a lasting framework for international artistic exchange.
