Visiting Conservation Facilities at M+, Hong Kong
Toriumi Hidemi, Conservator, National Center for Art Research
Introduction
Drawing on this experience, at the NCAR I am dedicated to encouraging scientific study and conservation of works of art in museums. I am also engaged in organizing workshops and lectures, as well as making information available on the web, so as to compile and share knowledge and data related to conservation both in Japan and overseas.
What is Conservation For?
First of all, what is the significance of preserving cultural heritage? In the world today, there is growing recognition of the diversity of human cultural activities and the importance of documenting and preserving all forms of cultural heritage within their contexts. In the field of architecture, the scope of protection has expanded from individual buildings to include groups of traditional buildings and landscapes. There is also what we might call “ heritage of tragedy,” such as the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, which serves to remind us of tragic incidents caused by humanity. UNESCO’s Memory of the World program aims to safeguard and disseminate historical records, and intangible cultural heritage, such as performing arts, traditions, social customs, rituals, festivals, traditional crafts, and cultural spaces are also considered important targets of protection.
In the domain of modern and contemporary art, preserving artworks for posterity in the best possible condition is a global issue. Many works of modern and contemporary art are produced using industrial materials, which means that the degradation of these materials, and proper methods of restoring them, are not well known and are under research. There are also new media such as film that did not exist until modern times, as well as monumentally sized pieces requiring especially high ceilings and works that artists produced without intending for them to be preserved. For these reasons, this field calls for the ongoing accumulation of specialized experience and study. Under these circumstances, the opportunity to participate in NCAR’s visit to M+, the museum in Hong Kong, was a truly valuable experience for me.
M+: A Museum of Massive Scale
M+ opened in November 2021 in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, with a focus on modern and contemporary visual arts. It boasts one of the largest floor areas and collection sizes among art museums in Asia. The West Kowloon Cultural District overlooking Victoria Harbour is a cultural and educational zone with theaters, art museums, restaurants, and shops situated on lush parkland. M+ comprises approximately 30 galleries as well as a Moving Image Center (comprising the Cinema, Grand Stair, and Mediatheque) where visitors can enjoy film screenings. The museum also includes educational facilities, an archive, a rooftop garden, a gift shop, a lounge for museum members, restaurants, cafés and more. The massive LED screen on the M+ facade, visible from across Victoria Harbour, has become a landmark in the night view of Hong Kong.
The M+ collection comprises approximately 8,000 items, with a focus on visual arts, design, architecture, and film of the 20th and 21st centuries. The museum has a comprehensive collection of works from Hong Kong, as well as extensive holdings of art from Asia and the rest of the world, without restriction to specific media, and takes a thematic approach to exhibitions. Its captivating displays are underpinned by top-class behind-the-scenes facilities and an international team of experts. The museum ensures that this team includes an ample number of specialists including curators, conservators, registrars, photographers, installation specialists and others.
Glass-Walled Ground Floor of Conservation Facility
Next to the building housing the M+ galleries is the seven-story Conservation and Storage Facility (CSF).
The conservation department of the Conservation and Storage Facility is equipped with facilities and staffed with personnel capable of taking measures to preserve a wide range of media, from works on paper to three-dimensional objects, textiles, and film and video. Displayed on the glass-walled ground floor are neon signs removed from the streets of Hong Kong and undergoing restoration, providing visitors with opportunities to learn about the importance and current status of conservation work.
After World War II, Hong Kong’s neon signs were produced in countless numbers as if reflecting the vibrancy of the city itself, and became a defining feature of the urban landscape. The neon signs were hand-crafted by heating thin glass tubes, forming shapes, and adding colors through gas-filling or coloring processes. However, in recent years deteriorating neon signs have been removed due to safety reasons, and traditional fluorescent lighting is being replaced by energy-efficient LEDs. Through the preservation and restoration of neon signs, M+ is dedicated to preserving modern cultural heritage that spans the fields of Hong Kong’s local scenery, industrial technology, and design.*
At Other Museums Worldwide
M+’s Conservation and Storage Facility was designed with input from conservation experts to ensure a safe environment for preserving art, and to provide conservators with a practical and user-friendly structure. Looking across the world, other modern art museums such as The Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris have played pioneering roles as conservation facilities specializing in contemporary art, and the newly constructed M+ is poised to stand alongside these institutions as an equal.
There is also a growing global trend toward establishing new museum storage facilities in suburbs, and having these facilities function as conservation centers as well. For example, the Louvre Museum has a conservation center dedicated to storage, research, and conservation in Liévin close to its annex in Lens in northern France. The Centre Pompidou plans to construct a facility for conservation and production of artworks in Massy, also in northern France. In Asia, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in South Korea has established a national collection center, with storage and a conservation workshop visible to the public, in Cheongju in central South Korea.
In Closing
For works of art, utilization and preservation are two sides of one coin. Visiting M+’s exhibition and conservation facilities was a highly meaningful opportunity to learn about the latest developments in both utilization and conservation of art. I believe the insights and experience gained from this visit will be highly beneficial when applied to future activities at the National Center for Art Research.
(All photographs by author)
Notes
*The official M+ website was referenced for information on neon signs.
Neon sign, Sammy's Kitchen, 204-206 Queen's Road West, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong (circa 1978) - Sammy Yip, Pak-Fuk Chiu | Objects | M+ (mplus.org.hk)
Neon sign, Kai Kee Mahjong parlour, Yue Man Square, Kwun Tong, Kowloon (1976) - Universal Neon Lights Co. | Objects | M+ (mplus.org.hk)
M+ Collects Neon | NEONSIGNS.HK 探索霓虹
https://www.neonsigns.hk/neon-in-visual-culture/mplus-collects-neon/?lang=en