Hong Kong’s visual culture museum, M+, announced on October 21 that French luxury house Chanel has signed on as a lead partner for an ambitious new multiyear project series titled “Pioneering Visions.” The agreement successfully renews and extends M+’s current corporate partnership with the brand, which first began in 2023, securing a further three-year commitment that deepens the institution’s financial and programmatic foundation.
The newly unveiled “Pioneering Visions” initiative will incorporate an expansive, highly anticipated calendar of exhibitions, public programs, and collection-focused activations. Designed to spotlight groundbreaking contemporary voices, the series will highlight prominent and influential figures in the global art world, including Kimsooja, Duan Jianyu, Cao Fei, and Yu Ji. As a major highlight under this new banner, a dedicated solo exhibition by acclaimed artist Sarah Sze, titled “Centrifuge,” is scheduled to open in the museum’s Focus Gallery in February 2027. In keeping with the thematic core of its title, the series intends to highlight fresh perspectives, unconventional methodologies, and transformative practices by visionary artists and creatives originating from across Asia and abroad, fostering a dynamic cross-cultural dialogue.
This latest partnership extension builds upon a solid foundation of collaboration between M+ and Chanel through the Chanel Culture Fund, which has supported the museum since its grand opening to the public. The relationship began taking concrete shape in 2022, when the luxury house underwrote the presentation of Mark Cousins’s monumental 14-hour documentary project Women Make Film. That presentation was accompanied by a comprehensive screening program and an educational seminar series hosted at the M+ Cinema, drawing cinephiles, students, and scholars alike.
Building on that early success, Chanel stepped up to become a major partner in 2023. That phase of the partnership provided crucial funding for a dedicated curatorial position—the Chanel senior curator and head of moving image—while also supporting vital institutional initiatives such as M+ Restored and the Asian Avant-Garde Film Collection. These specialized programs play an essential role in the museum’s mission to preserve, restore, and distribute regional experimental cinema, ensuring that fragile historical works of moving-image art remain accessible to contemporary and future generations of viewers.
Museum director Suhanya Raffel warmly welcomed Chanel’s extended commitment during the announcement. In an official press release issued by the museum, she stated that the ongoing collaboration will provide deeper access to lesser-known stories of significant artists of our time, creating new opportunities for engagement, exchange, and discovery for audiences in Hong Kong and internationally. This sentiment underscores the mutual alignment between M+’s institutional goals as a premier global museum of visual culture and Chanel’s long-standing corporate philanthropic commitment to supporting the arts, preserving cultural heritage, and championing diverse creative voices on the international stage.
The renewed partnership comes at a crucial time for cultural institutions navigating a rapidly evolving global arts landscape, offering M+ the financial stability and institutional flexibility needed to pursue ambitious curatorial projects. By securing support through 2029, M+ and Chanel ensure that experimental practices, moving-image heritage, and contemporary Asian artistic narratives will remain at the forefront of the museum’s public offerings, cementing Hong Kong’s status as a vibrant hub for global contemporary art and cultural exchange.
