M+ Museum for Visual Culture

A cornerstone of the ambitious West Kowloon Cultural District, M+ is Hong Kong’s new museum for visual culture, encompassing twentieth and twenty-first century art, design and architecture, and moving image from Hong Kong, China, Asia, and beyond. It is scheduled to open in 2019.

The mission of the museum, as stated in 2005, is to "focus on 20th and 21st century visual culture, broadly defined, from a Hong Kong perspective and with a global vision. With an open, flexible and forward-looking attitude, M+ aims to inspire, delight, educate and engage the public, to explore diversity and foster creativity."

The museum is presently administered by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, a statutory agency of the Hong Kong government, but a separate subsidiary company will be set up in the future with the aim of ensuring its "independence and efficiency".

The inaugural director, Lars Nittve, explained that the name is simply drawn from the concept of "museum and more", and that his team has sought to move beyond the typical model of the art museum, for example by serving as a showcase of diverse subjects like architecture, film and all manner of moving images including animation and video games.