M+ Out as Organizer of Hong Kong Pavilion at 2026 Venice Biennale
156April 11, 2025
The government-appointed Hong Kong Arts Development Council has removed Hong Kong’sM+contemporary art museum as the organizer of the city’s pavilion at the Sixty-First Venice Biennale, to take place May 9–November 22, 2026. The institution had overseen the exhibition since 2013. The pavilion will instead be organized by theHong Kong Museum of Art(HKMOA). The move comes after M+—which is credited with raising visitor numbers to the Venice pavilion—was criticized for not being transparent about its artist selection process.
In another shift, HKMOA has said it will choose several artists to represent Hong Kong, rather than a single artist, as had been done since 2009. The museum will select the participating artists from a list of more than two hundred, including those who have in the past five years received commissions from government-run museums as well as those nominated by universities, colleges, and other tertiary institutions, and by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority. The council was also invited to make recommendations, but did not supply any.
The theme of the pavilion remains “Very Hong Kong.” Speaking with theSouth China Morning Post, HKMOA director Maria Mok Kar-wing said that artists’ pavilion proposals need not center traditional Chinese culture.
“We are open and inclusive, and artists who are not current residents or permanent residents are not excluded,” she told the publication. “We do want broad local participation and support, which is why we have asked education institutions to be involved in the nomination process,” she said.
“[The] Venice Biennale is such a big deal. Regardless of whether it is run by M+ or the HKMOA, transparency is important to both the art community and taxpayers. The museum should make clear what specific benchmarks they are using for selecting artists,” artist Chan Sai-lok told theSCMP.“We have been asked to submit proposals but it is unclear how many artists are going to share the exhibition venue. The exhibition theme ‘Very Hong Kong’ is also rather vague.”
Mok said that the criteria according to which artists would be chosen were “professionalism, originality, quality, audience appeal and feasibility.” She further noted that Biennale finalists would be selected in July or August, and that roughly twenty shortlisted artists would be featured in a special exhibition at HKMOA in March 2026.