HONG KONG.- M+, Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK) in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) are co-presenting Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Detachments. The exhibition is an adaptation of Trevor Yeung’s solo show representing Hong Kong in a Collateral Event at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition marked the sixth collaboration between M+ and HKADC at one of the world’s most prestigious platforms for international contemporary art. The adapted exhibition in Hong Kong opened to the public from Saturday, 14 June to Sunday, 12 October 2025 in the Cissy Pui-Lai Pao and Shinichiro Watari Galleries at M+.

As with previous Hong Kong presentations at the Biennale, the 2024 Venice exhibition returns to Hong Kong in an adapted form. Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Attachments, Hong Kong in Venice (20 April to 24 November 2024) saw Yeung explore sentimentality, desire, and power dynamics through the concept of attachment. For the return presentation, titled Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Detachments, Yeung’s installations continue to examine the relationships between human and aquatic ecosystems, but now through the concept of detachment.

Raised and living in Hong Kong, Yeung draws inspiration from his surroundings, including pet shops, his father’s seafood restaurant, public fountains, feng shui arrangements, and his childhood pet fish. In the exhibition, he carefully constructs landscapes of fishless aquariums as metaphors for the social systems that govern our lives. With water removed from the once-operational tanks, his works evoke a poignant sense of longing, desire, and containment, prompting reflection on absence and attachment.

The first part of the exhibition takes the form of an abandoned pet fish shop. In Cave of Avoidance (Not Really), racks of empty fish tanks, marked by dried algae and water stains, set a sombre tone. Mirrored walls reflect visitors into the installation, casting them as participants in this scene—perhaps as a fish, a customer, or a fish seller. Behind the racks, Little Comfy Tornado (After Typhoon) features a complex filtration system that creates the highly regulated environment fish need to survive. However, this delicate, artificial ecosystem is broken, a warning of the consequences of neglect. Other works in this room use specific materials to embody resistance and defiance. From salts that accumulated on the exhibition walls in Venice (Salty Lover (Hong Kong)) to clusters of fungi (Night Mushrooms), these byproducts of humid climates are often considered harmful. Yet they also suggest survival against the odds, inviting visitors to imagine alternative modes of existence.

The second part of the exhibition evokes a Venetian courtyard, a space for visitors to rest and contemplate, populated with uncanny monuments and intriguing details. The centrepiece, Pond of Never Enough (Under Construction), is a fountain boarded up with wooden panels. Although it was operational in Venice, the fountain is now defunct and stands suspended in time. Gate of Instant Love resembles a hanging display in a pet fish shop, subverting the excitement of bringing home a new pet fish. In this room, Yeung also introduces the motif of the wilting lotus with photographs (Pondering Ponds) and four sculptures (Mx. Tried-My-Best). The lotus can thrive even in the most difficult conditions and is a metaphor for cycles of decay and rebirth.

The exhibition includes a screening room featuring three videos about Yeung’s solo exhibition in Venice, located in the room that connects the Cissy Pui-Lai Pao and Shinichiro Watari Galleries and South Galleries. These videos explore Yeung’s art, the months-long collaborative process with the M+ exhibition team, and the contributions of M+ interns to the project. Through these videos, visitors can compare the Hong Kong and Venice presentations and see how the project has evolved.

To coincide with the exhibition opening, an illustrated article on Hong Kong’s presence at the International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia from 2013–2024 will be published in the online M+ Magazine.

Bernard Chan, Chairman of the M+ Board, says, ‘We are immensely grateful for our collaboration with HKADC to participate in the International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia for the past twelve years, with a shared mission to nurture Hong Kong eminent artists via M+’s curatorial insights and a common vision to promote Hong Kong as the centre for East-meets-West international cultural exchange. For more than a decade, with M+’s professional team and extensive network in the local and international arts community, the Hong Kong Collateral Event at the International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia has become a significant stage for promoting homegrown artists abroad through staging solo exhibitions.’

Kenneth Fok, Chairman of Hong Kong Arts Development Council, says, ‘Since 2001, HKADC has proudly presented Hong Kong artists at Hong Kong’s Collateral Event at the International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. More than two decades later, we are thrilled to witness the remarkable success of Trevor Yeung’s exhibition in Venice. Bringing these presentations back home serves as a vital bridge, connecting our community to the accomplishments of our talented artists on the international stage. HKADC expresses our heartfelt gratitude to M+ for its contributions over the past decade. We believe that M+ will continue to exert its influence across various art platforms in the future. Looking ahead, HKADC remains steadfast in its commitment to advancing Hong Kong arts and culture while championing the exceptional creativity of our artists with audiences worldwide.’

Doryun Chong, Artistic Director and Chief Curator, M+, says, ‘We are truly grateful to all the participating artists, curators, and project teams of the past six Hong Kong presentations at the Venice Biennale. They represent the best of contemporary art and curatorship from Hong Kong, brought to a global audience. We are particularly proud of the critical international acclaim and extensive global media attention that these exhibitions, curated and organised by M+, have received. They have also led to further professional growth—for the artists, who often went on to exhibit at major international institutions, and for the Hong Kong’s arts community, by providing dozens of emerging and aspiring professionals with invaluable work opportunities. The audience has significantly increased with each edition, and Trevor Yeung’s exhibition in 2024 attracted more than 200,000 visitors, the highest number for the Hong Kong Collateral Event to date. M+ will continue to nourish the growth of Hong Kong’s art scene in new and inspiring ways and shape a lasting legacy of the city’s many cultural contributions.’