Reimagining communities: inside the Hong Kong International Cultural Summit

"Communities make museums and museums make communities. Part of the establishment of M+ was a public consultation where people were asked what kind of museums they wanted. The recommendation was not to build lots of little museums, but to create a big museum that was cross-disciplinary, unburdened by labels like "modern" or "contemporary". It was to be a museum plus more, and that was how we became M+."

"We are interested in decentring the established canonical views on the history of art and visual culture and complexifying them through dialogues and collisions with views from our region. This is what we are discussing in our two panels at M+. We have speakers from Senegal, from the United Arab Emirates, from Brazil, who have very different relationships to community."

The Hong Kong International Cultural Summit convenes cultural leaders from 14 countries and regions on March 22-23 to explore how cultural institutions can reimagine their relationship with communities. Held at West Kowloon Cultural District, the summit brings together museum directors, performing arts leaders, and cultural planners to address this central question. M+ Museum exemplifies this approach through public consultation that shaped its establishment as a cross-disciplinary institution unburdened by traditional labels. The museum prioritizes decentering established canonical views on art history and visual culture through regional dialogues and diverse perspectives. International speakers from Senegal, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, and other regions will share their distinct community engagement models, highlighting global similarities and differences in cultural institution evolution.

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