HONG KONG.- M+, Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK) in Hong Kong, announced that three major exhibitions organised and presented in collaboration with leading cultural institutions in East Asia are going to open in Japan and Korea respectively in September 2025. The exhibitions are Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010 at The National Art Center, Tokyo (NACT); Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now at Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul; and Manifesto of Spring at the National Asian Culture Center (ACC) in Gwangju.

These exhibitions underscore M+’s ongoing engagement with internationally renowned cultural institutions and reaffirm its commitment to global curatorial collaboration. Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010 and Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now are among the key outcomes of the Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) signed between M+ and its international partners during the first-ever Hong Kong International Cultural Summit, hosted by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority in March 2024. Manifesto of Spring originates from an MOU signed between M+ and the National Asian Culture Center, Korea, in October 2024.

Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010 at The National Art Center, Tokyo

Co-curated and co-organised by M+ and NACT, Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010 will be on view at NACT from Wednesday, 3 September to Monday, 8 December 2025. This exhibition examines the practices of more than fifty artists from Japan and abroad. It explores both the art that emerged in Japan and how Japanese culture inspired the world between 1989, when the Shōwa era (1926–1989) ended and the Heisei era (1989–2019) began, and 2010, a year before the Tohoku Earthquake in 2011. These two decades saw the end of the Cold War and the advent of contemporary globalisation, enabling the freer movement of people, goods, and information, and greatly encouraging international dialogue and engagement. Throughout this period, artists in Japan and elsewhere pursued new approaches, acting as prisms that refracted the social and cultural currents of the time into works that posed diverse questions. This exhibition reflects this critical transitional period through the lens of art, presenting a multifaceted view in which multiple histories and contexts coexist. It positions Japan as a platform for artistic creation, viewed from both national and international vantage points.

The exhibition begins with a prologue that explores the early stirrings of globalisation in the 1980s. It is followed by a critical turn, beginning in 1989, marked by a surge of artistic activity during a period of dynamic socio-political transformation in Japan. The examination of this era from 1989 to 2010 is conducted from three thematic perspectives. The first, The Past Is a Phantom, explores how artists continued to engage with the subject of war and its impacts on social, cultural, and individual psyches. The second, Self and Others, focuses on artistic practices that interrogate issues of identity, gender, and traditional hierarchy, while also showing how Japanese culture continued to inspire artistic experiments. The third, A Promise of Community, features projects that explore fresh possibilities of relation through interactions with existing communities or the creation of new ones.

Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010 is co-curated by Doryun Chong, Artistic Director and Chief Curator, M+, with Isabella Tam, Curator, Visual Art, M+, Yukie Kamiya, Head, Curatorial Division, Chief Curator, The National Art Center, Tokyo, and Jihye Yun, Curator, The National Art Center, Tokyo.

Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now at Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul

Co-organised by M+ and Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, the travelling exhibition Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now will be on view at Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, from Thursday, 4 September 2025 to Sunday, 4 January 2026. It will then travel to M+ in March 2026, followed by presentations at other major international institutions. Lee Bul (South Korean, born 1964) is one of the most important figures in contemporary art. Since her sensational debut in the late 1980s with experimental works that responded to Korea’s turbulent sociopolitical context, Lee has, over the past four decades, established herself as a central voice in global contemporary art through a multifaceted practice spanning performance, sculpture, installation, and two-dimensional works. Lee investigates the intricate and shifting relationships between the body and society, humanity and technology, nature and civilisation, as well as the mechanisms of power that shape them. Through this expansive inquiry, her ever-evolving oeuvre reflects on the past and present of humanity and offers speculative visions of the future.

Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now is a comprehensive overview of the important trajectories in Lee’s practice from the late 1990s to the present, bringing together approximately 150 works. The exhibition includes key early pieces from the turn of the century—such as the Cyborg and Anagram series—which explore the concept of the human body within a technologically mediated posthuman culture. At its centre is the full scope of the Mon grand récit series, a body of architecturally scaled sculptural installations that Lee has developed since 2005. Also featured are works from the artist’s more recent Willing To Be Vulnerable and Perdu series, and numerous drawings and maquettes that provide insight into her process. Taken together, these artworks highlight Lee’s sustained investigation into utopian modernity, the relationship between people and technology, and humanity’s aspirations and failures in its enduring pursuit of perfection and progress.

Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now is co-curated by Doryun Chong, Artistic Director and Chief Curator, M+, and June Young Kwak, Head of Exhibitions, Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, with Sunny Cheung, Curator, Design and Architecture, M+, and Heyeon Kim, Curator, Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul. The first comprehensive monograph on Lee Bul’s expansive and multifaceted practice will be launched in conjunction with the exhibition, co-published by Leeum Museum of Art, M+, and the publisher Thames & Hudson.

Manifesto of Spring at National Asian Culture Center, Gwangju
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Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the National Asian Culture Center (ACC), Manifesto of Spring is an exhibition co-produced by M+, Hong Kong, and ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, open to the public from Friday, 5 September 2025 to Sunday, 22 February 2026 at ACC.

The exhibition brings together artists, scientists, and theorists to examine economic globalisation and consider alternative practices, with a focus on regionality, biodiversity, and future generations. ACC held a symposium in October 2024 to kickstart curatorial research for the exhibition and expand the discourse beyond the Anthropocene, spotlighting new perspectives on capitalist value systems and their entanglement with the natural world. The exhibition is a manifesto for the future—the spring that we hope for, in which all species can coexist. Participating artists include ikkibawiKrrr, Kim Soun Gui, Kelvin Kyung Kun Park, Anne Duk Hee Jordan, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, Ho Rui An, Zheng Bo, Chan Sook Choi, Connie Zheng, and others whose works address ecological and social issues through interdisciplinary approaches. This exhibition features twelve new commissioned works.

Manifesto of Spring is co-curated by Kim Jiha, Senior Curator, ACC; Lim Liwon, Curator, ACC; Jeon Minsu, Assistant Curator, ACC; Silke Schmickl, CHANEL Senior Curator, Head of Moving Image, M+; Kelly Li, Assistant Curator, Moving Image, M+; Alistair Hudson, Scientific-Artistic Chairman, ZKM; and Clara Runge, Curator, ZKM.

Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, says, ‘Our international partnerships and their resulting exhibitions reflect M+’s strategic vision to strengthen our global presence and deepen our role as a cultural bridge within Asia. By collaborating with leading institutions across East Asia, we are cultivating meaningful cross-cultural dialogues that transcend borders and enrich the artistic interconnections within our region. These exhibitions allow us to share perspectives, knowledge, expertise, and collections that transform the cultural landscape and solidify M+’s position as Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture.’

Doryun Chong, Artistic Director and Chief Curator, M+, says, ‘These overseas exhibitions embody M+’s curatorial ethos of collaboration and critical inquiry. Our partnership with NACT delves into the artistic ferment in Japan during a pivotal twenty-year period, while our travelling exhibition in collaboration with Leeum Museum of Art contextualises the practice of Lee Bul as one of visionary important contemporary artists working today. The collaboration with ACC allows us to foreground urgent ecological concerns through multiple artistic voices. Together, these exhibitions invite contemporary audiences across Asia to reflect on the influences that have shaped our recent past, while learning about M+ as a new thought-leading institution from and for Asia.’