HONG KONG.- K11 MUSEA, a 10-year project built in collaboration with 100 creative powers, is presenting its art collection at Victoria Dockside – Asia’s new cultural district on the iconic Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront in Victoria Harbour. Among the 100 creatives involved in the making of K11 MUSEA, 40 of which are leading international and Hong Kong local contemporary artists. The collection is aesthetically inspired by the city’s waterfront culture, meticulously collected and curated in context to its geographical location, under the direction of its founder Adrian Cheng.
The collection celebrates the fast-moving lifestyle of Hong Kong and attracts next-generation consumers that are alluding to new retail experiences interwoven with culture, creativity and innovation. The 10-storey complex and its surroundings are conceived as a public art space with specially commissioned installations, a rotating collection of contemporary artworks and graffiti. The curation denotes the ephemeral nature of art and design concepts; fluid exchanges of ideas in a multicultural, multilingual society; and the hyper-connected nature of a global city like Hong Kong.
Adrian Cheng, Founder of K11 Group who personally curated the K11 MUSEA Art Collection states: “Where K11 MUSEA stands today has historically played a vital role in the exchange of ideas, and as the confluence of cultures in Hong Kong. It is therefore my vision to reinvigorate this district with 100 creative powers including over 40 artists, to make K11 MUSEA the ‘Silicon Valley of Culture’ with a meticulously curated art collection that will reshape Hong Kong’s waterfront culture.
“K11 MUSEA is beyond a cultural landmark, it is the centrepiece of Victoria Dockside that will inspire global millennials, and facilitate a broader discussion on the interconnectedness of creativity, culture and innovation.”
Highlighted artists include; Elmgreen & Dragset (b. 1961, Denmark, and b. 1969 Norway); Erwin Wurm (b. 1954, Austria) and Katharina Grosse (b, 1961, Germany), whose works will be placed in the public realm. Ten floors of immersive curated art, culture and retail experience will house works from Adrian Wong (b. 1980, US) and Zhang Enli (b. 1965, China). Interwoven with these works will be a selection of pieces by Hong Kong urban artists on the third floor. Of the nine artist collectives, five of which are Hong Kong based talents including Graphic Airlines, Kristopher Ho, Parent’s Parents, Simple Bao and Katol@Start From Zero, among others, with work featured alongside the vibrant and playful design by American artist Ron English. (See the full list in the notes to editors)
Located at the Gold Ball on the second floor, Cheng Ran (b. 1981, China) will screen Always I Trust to celebrate the opening period. Around the corner, Zhang Enli has created a specially commissioned work Parrots of Five Colours and the artist’s first immersive spatial environment. Onlookers are invited to relax within a microenvironment, designed and painted by Zhang with five bronze parrots that look down on the relaxing guests, each parrot representing the five planets which refers to Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn as known as Wu Xing in Chinese. Hong Kong’s participating artist at the 57th Venice Biennale, Samson Young, will create a mini golf course titled Big Big Company (Mini Golf) – a specially created artwork for the third floor that features offbeat sculptures that blur the boundaries between sculpture and interactive play.
Standing by the Sunken Plaza is Erwin Wurm’s Hot Dog Bus, the eye-catching outdoor sculpturekiosk was once a Volkswagen Microbus. It was transformed into a playful mobile restaurant that encourages the public to re-examine the relationships between fast food, health and consumer culture. In Q4, further artwork will be added to the art collection including Elmgreen & Dragset’s Van Gogh’s Ear, 2016, placed by the artists at a prime viewpoint which will be on temporary display in Hong Kong for the first time. It was commissioned by Public Art Fund, a US non-profit organisation supporting the development and presentation of temporary exhibitions, the work transformed the Fifth Avenue entrance to the Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center in New York in 2016.
Visitors can enjoy guided art tours or tune into a digital guide via a mobile app created by K11. This collection of public and site-specific art is accompanied by the exciting addition of the largest Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) Design Store in Asia.
K11 MUSEA will be the final milestone in the ten-year regeneration for the Victoria Dockside masterplan, drawing from its learnings and research across architecture, design, art and culture from its past projects. Together with the 100 creative powers hailing from different disciplines and cultures, Adrian Cheng is building a “Silicon Valley of Culture”, which harbours not just art, but also design, furniture, fashion, gastronomy, architecture. K11 MUSEA sets to enrich the cultural and leisure offerings along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront; providing a trailblazing platform for artistic experimentation and creation, supporting the diverse working and living environment, strengthening the growing cultural network in Hong Kong.
