The M+ Museum, located in the West Kowloon Cultural District, opened in mid-November last year. However, the fifth wave of the epidemic struck. It has been closed for many months since January this year and finally reopened today (21st).
However, in the Sigg exhibition hall, which had been involved in political controversy, at least three exhibits were removed and replaced, including Wang Xingwei's "New Beijing", which was a metaphor for the students injured in the June 4th incident, which means that the related works have been flashed and replaced in less than two months.
Chen Zhisi, chairman of the board of directors of M+ who just took office, said that he noticed the update of the works, but he did not participate in it, and the relevant work was handled by a team of professional curators, emphasizing that all collections would not have legal risks.
An M+ spokesman said that more than 200 works have been planned to be rotated, and nine have been replaced so far. Neither the M+ board nor the West Kowloon Authority participated in the decision.
When M+ opened, the Sigg exhibition hall displayed Wang Xingwei's oil painting "New Beijing", and the "Second Creation" work of well-known photographer Liu Xiangcheng's documentary photos, which used the gunshot penguin as a substitute for the two students who were wounded by gunshots lying on their bicycles, but M+ today Reopened after closing, the work has been replaced.
(File photo/Photo by Li Zetong)
Synthesized photo of Beijing student being shot as a metaphor for the June 4th crackdown
Before the opening of M+, it was an "eventful autumn". The establishment group questioned the Sigg collection, headed by Chinese contemporary art, for violating the "National Security Law", and even pointed the finger at the dissident artist Ai Weiwei. A number of works, including his well-known pottery installation "Whitewash", and the video work "Chang'an Street".
In Sigg's exhibition hall, Wang Xingwei's oil painting "New Beijing", the work "Second Creation", a documentary photo of well-known Hong Kong photojournalist Liu Heung-shing, is a metaphor for the June 4th incident with the penguin shot as a substitute for the two students with gunshot wounds lying on the bicycle; There are many works with the theme of Mao Zedong, including Wang Guangyi's "Mao Zedong: The Red Square No. 2".
After the reopening of M+, Wang Guangyi's "Mao Zedong: The Red Square No. 2" has not been displayed in the Sigg exhibition hall.
(file picture)
According to the M+ official website, in the oil painting "Mao Zedong: The Red Grid No. 2", the black and white portrait of Mao Zedong is covered with a red grid. This portrait resembles the portrait of Mao Zedong that could be seen everywhere in China during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976); the upper left corner of the screen The letter A in the lower right corner, and the letter O in the upper right corner and lower left corner of the screen are all derived from the English spelling of the word "Mao", "mao".
On the one hand, the grid is like the nine-square grid used for post-posting, which restores the Mao Zedong statue to its original shape and returns to the ordinary.
Wang Guangyi has created a series of celebrity portraits covering the history of Western art with red or black grids, and this work can be regarded as a continuation of this series.
Grids often lead to rational associations, and this series of works is also intended to lead the viewer to keep a distance from the images in the paintings and treat them with an objective attitude.
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei's unnamed pottery installation "Whitewash" is still on display in the Sigg Collection Gallery.
(File photo/Photo by Li Zetong)
After the epidemic reopened, many controversial works were removed from the shelves
However, less than two months after the opening of M+, it was immediately affected by the fifth wave of the epidemic. It has to be closed since January and reopened today. However, what we saw at the scene, Wang Xingwei's "New Beijing" and Wang Guangyi's "Mao Zedong: Red Square" No. 2, all of which were replaced by other works by the same artist, the former being replaced by Wang Xingwei's Suspicious Man, while the latter was replaced by Wang Guangyi's Rationality in Everyday Behavior.
Zhou Tiehai's "Press Conference III", donated by Sigg and personally recorded the audio guide, was also "disappeared" in the exhibition hall.
The works examine the art world and the relations between countries after the Cold War, symbolizing the future imagination of Chinese artists gradually rising in the world.
As for Ai Weiwei's two works, they are still displayed in the conspicuous position of the Sigg Collection Exhibition Hall.
The hanging position of Wang Xingwei's "New Beijing" has been replaced by his 1997 work "The Suspicious Man".
(M+ Collection Gallery Image)
Chen Zhisi: The professional team decided to exhibit the works
Chen Zhisi, the newly appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of M+, said in a meeting with the media that he did not participate in the selection of works, and the relevant work was handled by a team of professional curators. "
Works on display at the opening of M+:
+2
Speaker: Regularly Rotating Exhibits
A spokesman for M+ said that M+ opened in November last year. More than 1,500 exhibits were displayed in the opening exhibition, and more than 200 works were planned to be rotated in various exhibition halls within the opening year, including the underground lobby exhibition hall, the east exhibition hall, the south exhibition hall, the Greek exhibition hall and the Greek exhibition hall. gram showroom, etc.
Nine of the 200 exhibits have been rotated before the museum reopens, including those with greater need for restoration.
The rest of the exhibit rotation will take place in the coming months.
The spokesperson emphasized that M+ operates under the highest international standards, and must regularly rotate the exhibited works according to the condition of the exhibits and restoration needs. All exhibitions are curated from an artistic perspective. Like other world-class museums around the world, the curators have a professional attitude. Handle curation matters.
All M+ exhibitions comply with relevant laws and regulations.
The M+ Board of Directors is primarily responsible for overseeing the museum's governance, operating budget and financial, commercial and museum matters.
Neither the M+ Board of Directors nor the management of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority were involved in professional curatorial decisions.
Chen Zhisi, the convener of the Executive Council, took over as Chairman of the M+ Board of Directors in March.
(File photo / Photo by Liang Biling)
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