Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification.The Post’s arts editor recently praised the new Sigg Collection exhibition, stating that it “should be proudly promoted” while going through various highlights of the M+ exhibition.As a veteran art collector, I too am impressed by the calibre of the works. Yet, I think the exhibition reflected quite badly on M+ as a whole.
One does not approach an exhibition simply by looking at individual pieces. The function of an exhibition is to provide a coherent narrative through including or excluding certain works, and presenting them in such a way that the pieces speak to each other.
After the introduction of the national security law, it comes as no surprise that Ai Weiwei’s Study of Perspective – Tiananmen (1997), which is part of the Sigg Collection, continues to be excluded.Yet, it is interesting how much further M+ goes in this second exhibition of the collection: the political concept of art has been downplayed, pejorative portrayals of Chairman Mao (even a lighthearted one by Li Shan that prominently featured in the last exhibition) have been removed, and there is renewed focus on anti-consumerism/anti-capitalist ideas (such as the strategic placing of Zhao Bandi’s Sinking Mercedes-Benz into Yellow River, echoing China’s recent “common prosperity” policy).There is also a tinge of anti-West sentiment, with the prominent inclusion of Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s Old People’s Home featuring a single East Asian mannequin in the hyperrealistic parody of old men controlling the world (and no doubt underscoring China’s gallant struggle against Western powers in the recent trade war).
Perhaps the most poignant is the piece de resistance of the show: Gu Dexin’s 2021-11-12, featuring an empty chair on a red carpet leading up to an enormous gilded red painting with “2021-11-12” (the date of M+’s establishment) written in microscopic font in the middle. The “Chinese red” engulfing M+’s birthday is obviously an allegory for what M+ faces and perhaps explains some of its decisions, but some choices cannot be simply explained by self-censorship alone.For just three days after the exhibition opening, visitors were allowed to sit in the chair as the work was originally intended. But since September 24, M+ prohibited viewers from sitting in the chair and directly experiencing the piece, leaving a now empty chair facing the red painting. Perhaps a portentous message that M+ will lose its soul if curatorial decisions continue the way they are.
M+ is (and always has been) a battleground. The current Sigg Collection exhibition is a must-see – but perhaps not for the reasons mentioned by the arts editor. Let’s hope that M+ gets better.
Fung Chun Bong, Central
Globally recognisable faces needed to promote Hong Kong
Though it is good to read that the “night vibes” the government has initiated are doing so well and that markets are benefiting retailers, here’s hoping that things can be taken up a notch.Perhaps this can be done with credible endorsements of the city by Hong Kong-born international success stories and role models like champion swimmer Siobhan Haughey and actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai.Hans Ebert, Wan Chai
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