M+ presents the inaugural Sigg Prize exhibition, recognising outstanding artistic practices in the Greater China region

Author: West Kowloon Cultural District Authority / 2023-07-22 17:31 / Source: West Kowloon Cultural District Authority

M+ presents the inaugural Sigg Prize exhibition, recognising outstanding artistic practices in the Greater China region

HONG KONG,Dec. 2,2019 -- M+,Hong Kong's museum of twentieth- and twenty-first-century visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District,is pleased to present the inaugural Sigg Prize exhibition.

The exhibition brings together work by the six artists shortlisted for the prize:Hu Xiaoyuan(born 1977,lives and works in Beijing),Liang Shuo(born 1976,Lin Yilin(born 1964,lives and works in New York),Shen Xin(born 1990,lives and works in Minneapolis and Amsterdam),Tao Hui(born 1987,andSamson Young(born 1979,lives and works in Hong Kong). In recent years,each has articulated a distinguished artistic language to address topics that defy easy categorisation.

The exhibition comprises works created within the last two years. Hu Xiaoyuan's Spheres of Doubt is an installation featuring raw silk and found objects that addresses the imperceptible passage of time and the nature of reality. Liang Shuo's In the Peak is a site-specific work that consists of a bamboo structure placed outside the exhibition gallery at the M+ Pavilion,proposing a visual and spatial connection between Victoria Peak and the M+ building. Lin Yilin's Typhoon is a video documenting a performance in the artist's native Guangzhou,constructing an unexpected experience of the urban space. In his video installation Provocation of the Nightingale,Shen Xin explores questions of identity and trauma with a particular set of protagonists. Tao Hui's nine-channel video installation Hello,Finale! reflects on questions related to death and endings. In the video work Muted Situations #22: Muted Tchaikovsky's 5th,Samson Young presents an orchestral performance in which the musicians mute the notes they play,drawing the audience's attention to sounds that often go unnoticed.

The Sigg Prize,established by M+ in Hong Kong in 2018,was formerly the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA),founded by Uli Sigg in China in 1998 and presided over by Liu Li Anna since 2011. The CCAA was the first award for contemporary art in mainland China,and it was a leading force in steering Chinese art and artists to the world,helping to frame the international conversation on Chinese contemporary art. Twenty-five artists or artist groups and nine art critics were awarded the CCAA over its history. Following twenty years of activity,the CCAA is providing the foundations on which the Sigg Prize has been built. This will in future be administered by M+.

The exhibition is curated by Pi Li,Sigg Senior Curator,Visual Art,M+. During the exhibition,members of the Sigg Prize jury will select the winner. A cash prize of HK$500,000 will be awarded to the winner,and HK$100,000 will be awarded to each of the other shortlisted artists to encourage their future practice. The final result will be announced in March 2020.

The Sigg Prize is open to artists born or working in the Greater China region who produce work that is relevant to the region,with the intention to highlight and promote on an international scale diverse and exciting practices. The shortlisted artists were selected by an international jury. For this inaugural edition of the prize,co-chaired by Suhanya Raffel and Liu Li Anna,the members of the jury are Maria Balshaw (Director,Tate,United Kingdom),Bernard Blistène (Director,Musée national d'art moderne,Centre Pompidou,Paris),Gong Yan (Director,Power Station of Art,Shanghai),Lai Hsiangling (curator,Taipei),Suhanya Raffel (Museum Director,M+,Hong Kong),Uli Sigg (collector and member of the M+ Board,Switzerland),and Xu Bing (artist,Beijing). The jury recognised six artists who,taken together,embrace many locations in their work and clearly articulate the transnational character of Chinese contemporary art.

Suhanya Raffel,Museum Director,and Co-chairwoman of the Sigg Prize,expresses the importance of the exhibition for the work of M+: 'As a global institution with firm roots in our region,M+ is committed to enriching the artistic dialogues taking place here and extending these dialogues internationally. The Sigg Prize is a cornerstone of our work in this regard. It draws wide attention to important contemporary practices and also provides an opportunity for these practices to grow and to move in new directions. This exhibition makes a clear statement on the current transformations taking place across contexts and affirms the ambition of the Sigg Prize as a global platform.'

Uli Sigg,collector and member of the M+ Board,emphasises the prize's reach: 'I am delighted to see the Sigg Prize coming to a new stage of fruition in this exhibition. With the CCAA,I planted the seeds for deeper conversations on Chinese contemporary art,and the definition of the Sigg Prize as an M+ programme ensures that these conversations continue to evolve and reach wider audiences both within the region and far beyond.'

Pi Li,and curator of the exhibition,articulates the statement made by this presentation of contemporary practices: 'Concentrating on work produced in the last two years,the combination of six practices in this exhibition reveals multiple connections with our current time. Some of the shortlisted artists react to and reflect on social and political realities,while others pursue the refinement and expression of personal languages and inner worlds. Together,these artists show the diversity of practices in our region today.'

In conjunction with the Sigg Prize 2019exhibition,M+ presents two performances by shortlisted artists Shen Xin and Samson Young between 19 and 22 March 2020. The performances,part of the ongoing M+ Live Art series,provide a platform for their artistic languages and concepts that complements the work on view in the gallery. Tickets for the two performances can be reserved beginning in January 2020. Other programmes accompanying the exhibition include a screening programme,conversations with the artists,and a series of thematic and curator-led tours.

In parallel with the Sigg Prize,M+ is organising the Sigg Fellowshipfor Chinese Art Research,to support new research on Chinese art.Held every other year,the fellowship is in dialogue with the M+ Collections and corresponds with the museum's commitment to enriching the contemporary conversation on art in the region,and to defining new platforms for research and debate. In particular,research can engage with the M+ Sigg Collection,a cornerstone of the M+ Collections and one of the most important and comprehensive collections of Chinese contemporary art in the world.