As our building continues to rise above the West Kowloon harbour, the M+ registration team is busy behind the scenes, preparing for the opening. The registrars are responsible for the management of the M+ Collections, specialising in three main areas:

• Acquisitions: Managing processes and documentation for the purchase and/or donation of works into the collection, and the logistics for their delivery;
• Collection Management: Long-term storage, housing, cataloguing, and access requirements of the collection;
• Exhibition and Loans: Overseeing, documenting, and scheduling the insurance, shipping, and installation of works in the collection for internal exhibitions or loans to external parties.

The M+ Collections include close to 5,000 works of art, architecture, design, and moving image. The first object was acquired into the collection in 2012, making the collection six years old. In the lead up to our opening, M+ has been sharing the collection with audiences through exhibitions and programming held at the M+ Pavilion and other locations throughout Hong Kong.

In addition to this, M+ actively lends works from our collection to various international exhibitions both near and far. From 2012–2017, M+ facilitated sixty-seven outgoing loans. This has resulted in 515 works from M+ being exhibited in over seventy exhibitions across seventeen different countries and places. The map below illustrates the various places our collection has travelled to so far.

Loaning works from the M+ Collections to other museums lets us provide collection access to a wider range of audiences, and introduce ourselves and our collection to the world. It provides opportunities to test and preview our works, engage with the artists, and understand their installation requirements. It also allows us to build long-term partnerships with like-minded institutions, exchanging exhibitions and developing a reciprocal loan programme. This gives M+ the opportunity to borrow works from international institutions, bringing these collections to Hong Kong audiences who would otherwise have no access to them.

Working on loans also offers M+ staff a chance to collaborate with borrowing institutions. In 2014, for example, M+ and Bildmuseet staff, in collaboration with Dr. Uli Sigg, co-curated the exhibition Right is Wrong, featuring highlights from our collection.

As the Registrar of Loans and Exhibitions, my role is to facilitate and manage both outgoing loans from our collection and incoming loans we borrow from others. Loans registrars are the central contact between lenders and borrowers, shipping agents, insurers, and other stakeholders that come in and out of the loan lifecycle. I ensure the works are managed in line with the M+ loan requirements, which are documented in a contract (known as a loan agreement) between the lender and borrower. In a nutshell, I oversee the entire loan process and ensure that international museum standards are met.

I hope you get to see plenty of works from the M+ Collections, whether in Hong Kong or overseas!