M+ and Centre Pompidou Announce Long-Term Partnership Across Exhibitions and Research
M+ in Hong Kong and the Centre Pompidou in Paris have entered a multi-year partnership that will link two of the most closely watched museum programs in contemporary art. Signed earlier this month by Laurent Le Bon, president of the Centre Pompidou, and Suhanya Raffel, director of M+, the agreement expands on a memorandum of understanding the institutions signed in 2024.
The partnership is broad in scope. According to a project statement, it formalizes collaboration in four areas: joint curatorial research, exhibition development and sharing, co-commissions and artwork displays, and collection exchange. That structure suggests more than a single exchange of exhibitions; it points to a sustained institutional relationship built around scholarship, programming, and circulation of works.
One of the most visible outcomes will be a landmark exhibition focused on French and Chinese culture. The show will be presented first at the Centre Pompidou, which is due to reopen in 2030 after major renovations. M+ and the Paris museum will also co-organize a series of additional exhibitions at M+ beginning in 2027.
Research is another central pillar. The partnership includes joint research initiatives, along with a four-year postdoctoral fellowship funded by the Huo Family Foundation. The foundation’s support marks its first grant to M+ and its first fellowship in the arts. The London-based foundation says it has awarded more than $100 million to projects in the UK, US, and China since 2009.
The agreement also extends into moving image. Works are slated for display on the M+ Facade and at the Centre Pompidou Francilien-fabrique de l’art, a new conservation and culture hub in Massy, south of Paris, from 2027.
For Le Bon, the collaboration helps widen the reach of the Centre Pompidou during its long closure in Paris. “With the renovation of our Paris building, Centre Pompidou has begun a true metamorphosis where international partnerships play a key role in helping to reach new audiences, enrich our collection, and advance curatorial research,” he said in a statement.
The partnership also reflects a larger pattern at M+ and the West Kowloon Cultural District, which has been building an expanding network of international ties. Recent agreements overseen by WKCD include a pilot artist-in-residence program with the Misk Art Institute in Riyadh and a joint exhibition program with Museums Victoria in Australia. In that context, the new alliance with Centre Pompidou reads as both a high-profile collaboration and a sign of how aggressively Hong Kong’s museum district is positioning itself within a global institutional network.
