M+ Museum Director Hua Anya: Will not shy away from showing works related to June 4 and anti-revision demonstrations. The small picture shows Liu Heung Shing’s work “Lovers hiding under an overpass” taken in Beijing in 1989.
After the implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong, the pro-establishment camp attacked the arts and cultural sector in Hong Kong. After they pressured the Office of the Telecommunications Authority to ban the broadcast of “The Siege of Rita”, they included the M+ Museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District in their attack, claiming that the museum’s collection was “in violation of the National Security Law. The museum’s collection is “in violation of national security laws. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor attended the Legislative Council questioning on Wednesday (17), the pro-establishment MP Yung Hoi-yan said the M+ Museum collection “spreads hatred” and “violates national security law”, demanding the establishment of a department to review the exhibits. He said that the line between freedom of cultural and artistic creation and spreading hatred and undermining national security is distinguishable, and that the government will be “particularly vigilant”. (Fang Dehao reports)
Yung Hoi-yan asked Lam at the Chief Executive’s question-and-answer session whether he would set up a department to review the exhibits to ensure that they “will not violate national security laws” and how the Hong Kong government would prevent exhibits that “incite hatred against China” and “secessionist acts. The government will set up a department to review the exhibits to ensure that they “will not violate national security laws” and how the government will prevent exhibits that “incite anti-China sentiment” and “secessionist acts” from hitting the shelves.
The reply from Lam pointed out that “all Hong Kong compatriots should support the maintenance of national security, especially public officials should be particularly cautious. She said that the M+ Museum as a cultural and artistic center, the government will respect the freedom of artistic expression, “but this line is divided, what is the freedom of artistic and cultural creation, what is used to spread hatred, or damage the relationship between the two peoples and even national security, we will be particularly vigilant about this matter.”
“The M+ Sigg Collection has recently become the target of establishment criticism. In 2012, Swiss collector Uli Sigg entrusted the M+ Museum with a collection of 1,510 pieces of contemporary Chinese art, including political works that could not be exhibited on the mainland, such as Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei’s work pointing his middle finger at Tiananmen Square and Liu Xiangcheng’s photographs of June 4, citing Hong Kong’s freedom of expression as a reason to exhibit politically sensitive artworks. These works were featured in the exhibition “The M+ Higg Collection: Forty Years of Chinese Contemporary Art” at Artistree in Taikoo Place in 2016.
The official opening of the M+ Museum was scheduled for the end of this year. The museum held a media preview last Friday (12), and director Hua An-ya said that the museum would not shy away from showing works related to the June 4 and anti-revision demonstrations under the National Security Law, and that some of Ai Weiwei’s works were originally in the M+ collection, stressing that the museum has always planned exhibitions based on historical facts.
The museum’s comments provoked an attack by the pro-China media “Point News” the following day (13), saying that the M+ museum has “a large number of works that challenge national dignity, insult heroes, ignore the moral bottom line of society, degrade religion, and involve child molestation awareness”, specifying that the relevant exhibits belong to the “Hickok series”. “The collection is also known as the Uli Sigg Collection. He also said that Uli Hicks “single-handedly promoted Ai Weiwei, a dissident artist who is extremely Anti-Communist“.
The pro-China group “Hong Kong Political Research Association” also went to the police headquarters in Wanchai on Tuesday (16), saying it wanted to “report” to the police that the M+ Museum collection was “in violation of the National Security Law” and the “Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Act”. The M+ Museum’s collection is “in violation of the National Security Law” and the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance. The Council believes that the M+ Museum has “failed to strictly control” and attacked the director, Wah On-ah, for “blatantly claiming that the venue of the museum can display illegal issues such as black violence and June 4”, demanding Wah to step down.
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