[Press Release]
The K11 Art Foundation (KAF) and Centre Pompidou, Paris are delighted to announce the appointment of Yung Ma as Curator, Contemporary and Prospective Creation Department, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The appointment will commence on 13 June 2016. With this appointment Centre Pompidou continues its ambitious international research program, this partnership allowing it to deepen its knowledge of contemporary Chinese art. It is a significant milestone of KAF’s three-year partnership with Centre Pompidou, and it is also part of their mission to expand international opportunities for outstanding Chinese contemporary artists.
Yung Ma is a dynamic curator specialising in the field of contemporary art and moving image. He has extensive experience and a deep understanding of East Asian and Southeast Asian contemporary art practices and film discourses, and brings to the museum longstanding connections with a network of artists and organisations from the Greater China region. His exhibitions and work have explored themes of global migration and urban identity.
Ma will join Centre Pompidou from his role at M+ in Hong Kong, where he served as an Associate Curator and had been a core member of the curatorial team since its inception in 2011. Whilst at M+, he played an instrumental role in the expansion of the institution’s moving image strand, and helped to shape and build the museum’s collection.
With this new role, Yung Ma will focus on developing an in-depth knowledge of different movements, as well as identifying outstanding young artists, from Greater China. Over the course of his three-year tenure, he will also have opportunities to organise with Centre Pompidou’s team, a number of programmes, co-presented by KAF.
Twice the co-curator of the Hong Kong Participation at the Venice Biennale (2013 and 2009), Yung Ma has also been invited as guest curator for international institutions such as the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing and Para Site Art Space in Hong Kong.
About the K11 Art Foundation
Founded by Adrian Cheng in 2010, the K11 Art Foundation (KAF) is a registered not-for-profit organisation that supports the development of Chinese contemporary art from Greater China by providing a creative platform that nurtures artistic talents and brings them to the international stage. The Foundation also serves as an incubator for young Chinese curators.
KAF has embarked on many international collaborations, including with the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí in Spain, Serpentine Galleries, Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, Centre Pompidou, Palais de Tokyo and Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Armory Show in New York, showcasing Chinese talents and the voice of the young generation.
With eleven studios for its artist-in-residence programmes in the K11 art village in Wuhan, KAF serves as the unique incubating springboard for young and emerging contemporary Chinese artists to create new and meaningful works. Beyond traditional art spaces, K11 art village serves as innovative exchange platforms between local and international artists.
Through research, initiatives and partnerships, KAF offers the Chinese public a diverse range of programmes and exhibitions, fostering the appreciation of arts and culture.
www.k11artfoundation.org
About Centre Pompidou
Born of the determination of France’s president Georges Pompidou to create an cultural institution where all fields of contemporary creation would come together in the heart of Paris, the Centre Pompidou was inaugurated in 1977. Its iconic building, conceived by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, is home one of the world’s most important modern and contemporary art museums and Europe’s largest collection, the Musée national d‘art moderne – comprising over 120 000 works of art -, an institute for musical research (Ircam), two libraries, cinemas, performance halls with a daily program of events as well spaces dedicated to activities specifically conceived for young visitors.
www.centrepompidou.fr
About Yung Ma
Yung Ma is a curator of contemporary art and moving image. He holds an MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art, London; a post-graduate degree in Film Direction from the Beijing Film Academy and a Bachelor of the Arts from the University of Reading, UK. His recent exhibitions and projects with M+, West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong, include: M+ Screenings, (ongoing); Mobile M+: Moving Images (2015); Mobile M+: Yau Ma Tei (2012). Other recent exhibitions include: No Puppet is Dumber than his Puppeteer, The 2nd CAFAM Biennale, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing (2014); ‘You (you).’, Lee Kit’s solo exhibition at the Hong Kong Participation, 55th Venice Biennale (2013); A Wedding, Para Site Art Space and Vitamin Creative Space, Hong Kong (2011); and Making (Perfect) World, Pak Sheung Chuen’s solo exhibition at the Hong Kong Participation at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009).