Review | ‘Art for art’s sake’ in M+ museum’s new show? No, this is political art born of the ferment of 1990s China, whatever Sigg Collection curators may say
- Curator of Hong Kong museum’s second exhibition of works from its founding Sigg Collection emphasises contemporary Chinese art’s ‘visual language and quality’
- There is more to it than that, as works such as dissident artist Ai Weiwei’s Ton of Tea and Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s parody of old men in power show
In 2012, when Hong Kong’s M+ museum of visual culture received 1,510 important works by Chinese artists from the Swiss collector Uli Sigg as its founding collection, the contract between them stipulated that it must have three successive, dedicated exhibitions showing different selections from the collection in the three years after it opened in 2021.
Afterwards, around 200 pieces must always be on public display in different parts of the museum or on loan to other institutions.
Perhaps in light of the unwelcome focus in 2021 on whether certain works in the collection passed muster with Hong Kong’s then newly imposed National Security Law – nationalist politicians were particularly incensed by a photograph of dissident artist Ai Weiwei raising his middle finger at Tiananmen in Beijing – the museum is trying to downplay the political nature of the second Sigg Collection exhibition, which opened to the public on September 22 alongside an exhibition of shortlisted works competing for the second M+ Sigg Prize.
“We are trying a new curatorial approach which emphasises the visual language and visual quality in contemporary Chinese art, which is more like an ‘art for art’s sake’ kind of concept,” curator Wu Mo said. She maintained that there had been no censorship during preparations for the exhibition.
The Ton of Tea is a reference to Chinese culture and the nation’s love of tea
The title of the show, “Another Story”, conveys a desire to narrate a history of Chinese art that is not wholly socially or politically driven, she added.
