M+ announces six artists shortlisted for Sigg Prize 2025
M+ announces six artists shortlisted for Sigg Prize 2025
M+, Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, is pleased to announce the six artists shortlisted for the third edition of the Sigg Prize.
The six finalists are Bi Rongrong (born 1982, Ningbo, works Shanghai), Ho Rui An (born 1990, Singapore, works Singapore), Hsu Chia-Wei (born 1983, Taichung, works Taipei), Heidi Lau (born 1987, Macau, works New York and Macau), Pan Daijing (born 1991, Guiyang, works Berlin), and Wong Ping (born 1984, Hong Kong, works Hong Kong). The shortlisted artists are invited to present their work in the Sigg Prize 2025 exhibition, which will open at M+ in September 2025.
Since its establishment in 2018, the Sigg Prize has been awarded to two artists: Samson Young (2019) and Wang Tuo (2023). Open to artists born or working in the Greater China region and its diasporas, the award recognises vibrant artistic practices and aims to highlight and promote diverse works on an international scale.
The shortlisted artists were selected in a jury meeting chaired by Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+. Members of the international jury include Maria Balshaw, Director, Tate, United Kingdom; Gong Yan, Director, Power Station of Art, Shanghai; Mami Kataoka, Director, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Glenn D. Lowry, Director, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Dr Uli Sigg, collector and member of the M+ Board, Switzerland; and Xu Bing, artist, Beijing. The jury will gather again in Hong Kong for a second meeting to identify the final winner. The winning artist will be announced in December 2025.
The jury reviewed the materials of thirty artists proposed by six nominators and deliberated the merits of each artist’s practice before confirming the six finalists. Working across a wide range of mediums and ideas, the shortlisted artists address urgent contemporary concerns ranging from questions of power and culture to more personal explorations of time, space, and tradition in modern life.
Together, these six artists present a picture of contemporary art from this region that moves fluidly across borders and encompasses a diverse range of artistic languages.
Bi Rongrong has a strong background in traditional Chinese landscape painting. She experiments with a wide range of mediums to extract and reassemble images and patterns from different societies and cultures. Bi’s visually striking multimedia work deconstructs the conventional forms of painting and textile, introducing new interpretations of materiality as well as architectural and natural forms.
Ho Rui An’s research-based practice engages with geopolitics and systems of governance to probe the complex connections between labour and industry in Asia and beyond. Working across the mediums of lecture performance and installation, Ho interrogates image and power through inventive associations of archival materials, documentary, and cinema.
Hsu Chia-Wei combines visual narratives with new technological mediums to reframe transregional history and locality, drawing upon extensive research on Taiwan and Southeast Asia. By representing people and objects typically overlooked in dominant historical narratives, Hsu’s work as an artist and filmmaker offers critical reflections on identity and cultural memory.
Heidi Lau’s ceramic practice is a meticulous exploration of genealogy, history, nature, and form. Inspired by Chinese mythology, archaeology, and spirituality, her sculptures resemble monuments and tokens of remembrance. They propose alternative configurations of time and space as they embody ritual and transmutation to encourage introspection and philosophical contemplation.
Pan Daijing combines sound and live action to create deeply psychological environments and installations that elicit emotive interactions between performers, the audience, and the space. Her cross-disciplinary body of work is informed by her background as a DJ and musician, bringing close attention to the frequencies of human connection and offering new sensory experiences.
Wong Ping crafts a distinct visual language rooted in Hong Kong, using neon colours and elements of daily life in his stylised and absurd animations. He merges humorous satire with taboo subjects that challenge social norms. His videos delve into the dark corners of the human psyche to confront conflicting ideas about sexuality, politics, and contemporary society.
The Sigg Prize 2025 exhibition is co-curated by Pauline J. Yao, guest curator, and Ariadne Long, Assistant Curator, Visual Art, M+, with Mankit Lai, Curatorial Assistant, M+. It will feature presentations of recent and new work by the six artist finalists. A cash prize of HKD 500,000 will be awarded to the winner, and HKD 100,000 will be awarded to each of the shortlisted artists to encourage their future practice.
Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, and Chairwoman of the Sigg Prize, says, ‘It is our true honour to host the third edition of the Sigg Prize, which allows us to provide a platform for the extraordinary artistic talent in the Greater China region and its diasporas. The six finalists chosen this year embody innovation and creativity, pushing boundaries that enrich the contemporary art landscape and spark intellectual discourse while reshaping artistic conventions. As we enter this third edition, the Sigg Prize will continue to play a vital role in promoting and highlighting artists from the Greater China region on an international scale.’
Dr Uli Sigg, collector and member of the M+ Board, says, ‘The Sigg Prize showcases the rich tapestry of artistic expression from the Greater China region and its diasporas. It is truly rewarding to witness the shortlisted artists embarking on a unique and meaningful journey to explore their ideas and practices through their participation in the prize. I commend these artists for their outstanding work, which not only reflects the diverse artistic landscape but also emphasises deeper connections to the cultural fabric of the region.’
The nominators for Sigg Prize 2025 are Amy Cheng (independent curator), Ying Kwok (senior curator, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong), Chelsea Liu (independent curator and art writer), Sam I-shan (independent curator), Wang Weiwei (curator, CHAT, Hong Kong), and Weng Xiaoyu (independent curator).
For the latest information on the Sigg Prize, please visit the M+ website.
About the shortlisted artists
Bi Rongrong
Bi Rongrong (born 1982, Ningbo, works Shanghai) received her MA in traditional Chinese landscape painting at Sichuan University in 2008, followed by an MFA in painting at the Frank Mohr Institute in the Netherlands. In recent years, her creative approach has involved collecting and extracting patterns from nature, architecture, and everyday objects. Working across various mediums, from painting and textile to animation and installation, Bi continually seeks new methods to forge organic connections between materials. She was a resident at TaDA – Textile and Design Alliance in 2024 and presented her work in the 4th Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art at the Zhejiang Art Museum in 2022.
Ho Rui An
Ho Rui An (born 1990, Singapore, works Singapore) holds a BA in fine art and art history from Goldsmiths University and an MA in anthropology from Columbia University. Known for his lecture performances, Ho recently expanded his practice to installation and film, often mapping and tracing the forces that shape geopolitics, globalisation, and media production. He has held a solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2021), and his work has been presented at Centre Pompidou, Paris (2024); Centre for Heritage, Arts & Textile, Hong Kong (2024); 14th Shanghai Biennale (2023); and Singapore Art Museum (2022).
Hsu Chia-Wei
Hsu Chia-Wei (born 1983, Taichung, works Taipei) graduated from Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains in 2016. As an artist, filmmaker, and curator, Hsu works primarily in moving image, exploring transregional history and memory as well as the connections between humans, materials, and places often overlooked in dominant history. In 2018, he held a feature screening exhibition at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo. His work has been presented at Hong Gah Museum, Taipei (2024); 3rd Thailand Biennale, Chiang Rai (2023); 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane (2021); and esea contemporary, Manchester (2019).
Heidi Lau
Heidi Lau (born 1987, Macau, works New York and Macau) received her BFA from New York University. Drawing inspiration from ancient mythology and Taoist philosophy, Lau proposes alternate configurations of time and space through her ceramic practice, channelling generative diasporic perspectives through ritual, grief, and memory. She has held solo exhibitions at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn (2022) and the Macau-China Collateral Exhibition at the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2019). Her works have been presented at the 14th Shanghai Biennale (2023); UCCA Dune, Beijing (2022); and Shanghai Museum of Glass (2020).
Pan Daijing
Pan Daijing (born 1991, Guiyang, works Berlin) is an artist and composer whose artistic practice lies at the intersection of visual art and music. Informed by her background as a composer, musician and performer, Pan engages primarily with sound, film, performance, installation, and choreography. Pan has held solo exhibitions at Haus der Kunst, Munich (2024); Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2021); and Tate Modern, London (2019), with an upcoming exhibition at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, in 2025. Her work has been presented in Musée du Louvre, Paris (2023) and 13th Shanghai Biennale (2021).
Wong Ping
Wong Ping (born 1984, Hong Kong, works Hong Kong) received his BFA at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. An animator and graphic designer, Wong creates vividly coloured and dreamlike worlds that reflect modern society while alluding to social and political issues. He has held solo exhibitions at the Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna (2023); New Museum, New York (2021); and Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (2019). His work has been presented at Somerset House in London (2024) and Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul (2022).
About M+
M+ is a museum dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting visual art, design and architecture, moving image, and Hong Kong visual culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK), it is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary visual culture in the world, with a bold ambition to establish ourselves as one of the world’s leading cultural institutions. M+ is a new kind of museum that reflects our unique time and place, a museum that builds on Hong Kong’s historic balance of the local and the international to define a distinctive and innovative voice for Asia’s twenty-first century.
About the West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK)
WestK is one of the largest and most ambitious cultural projects in the world. Its vision is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong on forty hectares of reclaimed land located alongside Victoria Harbour. With a varied mix of theatres, performance spaces, and museums, WestK produces and hosts world-class exhibitions, performances, and cultural events, providing twenty-three hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade.