Museums of modern art must let go of the past, MoMA head says on Hong Kong M+ museum visit

Glenn Lowry, director of New York’s Museum of Modern Art for 30 years, addressed the role of such museums during a visit to Hong Kong’s M+

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Director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Glenn Lowry recently visited Hong Kong to give a lecture at M+ museum about the future of modern art. Photo: Peter Ross

Published: 5:15pm, 22 Sep 2024

Glenn Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York for 30 years, visited the M+ museum of visual culture in Hong Kong recently for a meeting with fellow members of the Sigg Prize jury and to deliver a lecture about the future of museums of modern art.

“I love how the museum is completely open to the public,” he said in an interview with the Post.

The museum of visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District charges for admission, so technically not everyone can walk in to see the exhibitions. But Lowry, who oversees a museum founded in 1929 that is home to Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night and Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, is referring to the absence of security checks.

“I don’t see people with guns. I don’t see people with bomb sniffing dogs. You walk into an American museum today, especially in New York City, and that’s what you’re going to see,” he said.

Glenn Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, has announced he will retire in 2025. Photo: Shutterstock

Lowry, who announced on September 10 that he will retire as head of one of the world’s most famous museums in 2025 after he turns 70, said “everything” changed for MoMA after two members of staff were stabbed in 2022 by an angry member of the public who was denied entry.