Hong Kong is set to get its very own large contemporary art museum in 2017. CNN Go reports that the government back project will be $642 million to build and has hopes to rival major museums like the NY MoMa and London's Tate Modern.
The $642 million government-backed project hopes to rival London's Tate Modern and New York's Museum of Modern Art.
"There is a great curiosity in the Hong Kong public," says Executive Director Lars Nittve. "We are in a position where maybe New York was in the 1950s or where Los Angeles was in the 1970s, when their institutions were young and they were building audiences. There's great promise out there."
The space will be named M+ and many of the pieces are from Swiss Businessman Dr. Uli Sigg who donated 1,463 Chinese contemporary pieces as well as sold another 47 to the museum last year.
"The collection, which includes dozens of pieces by Ai Wei Wei, charts the development of Chinese art from the Cultural Revolution to the 21st Century," reports CNN Travel.
Some pieces were not allowed however, to be shown in the mainland because of the depiction of political leaders or sexually, but Hong Kong makes it a safer location for these works.
"The fact that the city is the number one destination for mainland Chinese tourists also means that this collection will reach a large Chinese audience," reported CNN.
The museum selected a design by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. They have also designed part of an old power station into the Tate Modern and they worked on the Ai Wei Wei on the Birds Nest in Beiging, China.
"In addition to traditional gallery spaces, the building will contain screening rooms, lecture halls and a sky garden," reported CNN.
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