M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, is delighted to announce a brand-new film Sparrow on the Sea (2024) by celebrated Chinese artist and filmmaker Yang Fudong, co-commissioned with Art Basel and presented by UBS. The moving image work will be shown on the M+ Facade every night from Friday, 22 March to Sunday, 9 June 2024. This is the third year M+ has collaborated with Art Basel to activate the Facade, presented by UBS.

Sparrow on the Sea is an ‘architectural film’ as Yang describes, intertwining moving image with Hong Kong’s landscape, architecture, and soundscape. Shot in the vibrant city, home to both M+ and Art Basel’s only fair in Asia, the black-and-white film weaves together enchanting scenes from picturesque seaside villages to the captivating allure of nocturnal city streets. Drawing inspiration from the visual motifs and textures of classic Hong Kong cinema from the 1970s to the 1990s, Yang’s new work evokes a profound sense of nostalgic familiarity. Intended to function as a short poem, the enigmatic work blends moments from Hong Kong’s past and present to offer viewers a glimpse into an unpredictable future. Demonstrating a continuation of the artist's distinctive aesthetic, the work artfully blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction, presenting dreamlike narratives that transport viewers to otherworldly realms.

Yang’s unique perspective reveals a resonant world on the light-powered canvas of the M+ Facade. Sparrow on the Sea invites the audience to embrace the ambient soundscapes of the city as an immersive soundtrack accompanying Yang’s moving image, creating a distinct and captivating viewing experience in Hong Kong.

Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, underscores the significance of M+'s strong, ongoing partnership with Art Basel, ‘As we embark on another year of collaboration with Art Basel and UBS, I am truly excited about the opportunity for M+ to strengthen our relationship with the co-commissioned work by Yang Fudong. This work presents the landscape of Hong Kong in a poetic way and invites our global audience to reimagine this city and discover its boundless creative possibilities.’

Angelle Siyang-Le, Director, Art Basel Hong Kong, says, ‘2024 signifies a year of reconnection. One of Art Basel’s key missions is to activate the entire region from Hong Kong and we can only achieve this with the support of our community. I am thrilled to build a continuous partnership with M+ to continue showcasing the exceptional art scene in Hong Kong. The premiere of Yang Fudong's new video work on the M+ Facade is an extraordinary project that unites our community, ignites a collective spirit that fosters new opportunities, and unleashes boundless possibilities.’

Doryun Chong, Deputy Director, Curatorial and Chief Curator, M+, highlights Yang's prominence as one of the most important Chinese artists today. ‘Known and respected worldwide for his highly refined and sensuous moving image works, Yang’s films often deliberately suspend and confuse time, collapsing the past and the present. His works also delve into the structures and forms of identities found within myths, personal memories, and life experiences, offering a unique visual interpretation of the subject from multiple cultural perspectives.’

Ulanda Blair, Curator, Moving Image, M+, and Kate Gu, Associate Curator, Digital Special Projects, M+, add, ‘With his new “architectural film” Sparrow on the Sea, Yang has carefully considered the physicality and context of the M+ Facade. The work extends beyond the M+ building to incorporate the city’s ambient and spatialised soundscape that changes depending on the location of the audience. Imbued with signature pathos, the new work presents an open-ended and existential narrative that blends everyday rituals with dream states to gently provoke audience imagination. It also pays homage to Hong Kong’s artistic community, including the late Ho Fan, whose striking black-and-white photographs and films display a similar command of light and shadow.’

Yang Fudong shares his excitement about the Facade commission Sparrow on the Sea. ‘I am grateful to have been invited by M+ and Art Basel to create this new work, marking my first site-specific project in Hong Kong. Crafting my moving image work for the city, set against its unique soundscape, is a tremendous privilege. Hong Kong, with its beauty and diversity, holds a special place in my heart as the birthplace of great movies and music from my childhood.’

Sparrow on the Sea will premiere with sound at the M+ Cinema on Saturday, 23 March 2024, followed by a discussion with the artist, co-hosted by M+ and Art Basel. For details of the screening event, please refer to the M+ website.

For more information about the work on the M+ Facade, please also refer to the M+ website.

About Yang Fudong

Yang Fudong (b. 1971) was born in Beijing and now lives and works in Shanghai. He graduated from the Department of Oil Painting, China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. He started creating video works in the late 1990s before working on a wide range of mediums including photography, painting, film, and installation. Yang has participated in prestigious international art exhibitions at Suzhou Museum (2019); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2017); Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2016); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2013); Tate Liverpool (2007); Tate Modern, London (2004); and Centre Pompidou, Paris (2003). Yang’s solo exhibitions have been hosted by acclaimed institutions and galleries, including North Hill, Art Basel, Switzerland (2023); Endless Peaks, ShanghART, Shanghai (2020); Dawn Breaking, Long Museum (West Bund), Shanghai (2018); Moving Mountains, Shanghai Center of Photography (2016); Twin Tracks: Yang Fudong Solo Exhibition, Yuz Museum, Shanghai (2015); The Light That I Feel, SALT outdoor video installation, Sandhornøya, Norway (2014); Yang Fudong: Estranged Paradise, Works 1993–2013, Kunsthalle Zürich, Switzerland (2013); and Quote Out of Context, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shanghai (2012).

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, 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

The West Kowloon Cultural District 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, the West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances, and cultural events, providing twenty-three hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade.

About Art Basel

Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world’s premier art shows for Modern and contemporary art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, and Paris. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, which is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented, and the content of parallel programming produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition. Art Basel’s engagement has expanded beyond art fairs through new digital platforms and initiatives such as the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report. Art Basel’s Global Media Partner is The Financial Times. For further information, please visit artbasel.com.