Herzog & de Meuron's China Archive Lands in Hong Kong for M+'s Fifth Anniversary
A ten-project survey of Herzog & de Meuron's work in China has opened at Hong Kong's M+ Museum, marking the institution's fifth year with a significant collection gift.
M+ Museum in Hong Kong opened "Herzog & de Meuron: In Focus" in its Focus Gallery on September 12, 2026. The presentation was timed to coincide with the museum's fifth anniversary.
The show brings together ten built and unbuilt projects the Swiss firm has undertaken in China. The material on view stems from the second phase of a substantial gift the practice has made to the M+ Collections.
Notably, the objects are not displayed in standard museum cases. Instead, M+ used exact replicas of the wooden vitrines Herzog & de Meuron originally developed for their own archive building, Kabinett, in Basel — effectively importing the firm's own display language into the gallery.
Co-founder Jacques Herzog remarked back in 2002 that architecture itself cannot be exhibited, meaning the practice is perpetually forced to find substitutes for the real thing. That statement, cited by M+ in relation to this show, helps explain the reasoning behind reproducing the firm's own vitrines rather than opting for conventional display cases.
"Herzog & de Meuron: In Focus" remains on view through January 10, 2027.
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- M+ Museum · 12 September 2026
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