MoMA Cements Collaboration Deal with Hong Kong’s M+
147Feb. 21, 2025
TheMuseum of Modern Artin New York has signed an agreement withM+contemporary art museum in Hong Kong that will see the two institutions collaborate in six areas: curatorial research; conservation and collection management; artwork loans; sustainability practices; staff training; and exhibition and programs. The contract—signed by MoMA director Glenn Lowry and M+ director Suhanya Raffel during a February 18 ceremony—heralds MoMA’s inaugural collaboration with a major Asia-based institution and represents part of a wider effort by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA), the government entity that fundraises for M+, to expand its network of international partners, which currently number more than twenty.
The deal is expected to benefit both parties. M+, which opened in 2021 and houses the contemporary Chinese art collection of Uli Sigg, will get access to MoMA’s deep institutional knowledge, obtained over ninety-six years, and to its two hundred thousand works spanning 150 years. MoMA will gain greater entrée to Hong Kong, which does not have a museum scene as rich and varied as those of comparable international cities but is a global financial hub.
“We are thrilled to partner with M+ on an ambitious new collaboration, to exchange expertise and ideas that will help us take our museums forward in new and exciting directions and create more opportunities for our global audiences to experience and engage with contemporary art and artists,” said Lowry in a statement.Raffel noted that the signing of the agreement “affirms M+’s commitment to collaboration with pre-eminent cultural institutions around the world and strengthens M+’s position as Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture.”
Artnews reports that WKCDA CEO Betty Fung said that M+ is exploring methods of gaining funding and connecting with individual private donors that more closely resemble those of peer institutions in the West. Fung last year announced that the arts district would run out of money by this year, barring government approval of its plan to boost its financing, which was submitted in 2023.