The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Centre Pompidou in Paris and M+ in Hong Kong announced Friday that they have formed a new cultural alliance to bring their collections to audiences at each institution, develop co-organized exhibitions and programs, and deepen collaborative curatorial research and conservation.
The announcement was made jointly by Christophe Cherix, the David Rockefeller director of MoMA; Laurent Le Bon, president of Centre Pompidou; and Suhanya Raffel, museum director of M+.
The museum leaders signed a framework agreement at an event at M+ on Friday in the presence of trustees and stakeholders from all three institutions.
The alliance’s institutions collectively welcome 10 million in-person visitors and 125 million online visitors annually. While each will maintain its independence and identity, the three museums will work together, expanding their capacity beyond what they could achieve individually.
Founded in 1929, 1977 and 2021, respectively, MoMA, Centre Pompidou and M+ hold broad, deep and multidisciplinary collections of 20th- and 21st-century creativity.
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With resources and a presence across three continents, the alliance aims to expand how modern and contemporary art is understood, interpreted and experienced in an increasingly interconnected world.
“This cultural alliance makes our museums embassies for each other, in effect creating an extraordinary gateway that opens onto three continents,” Cherix said. “We will now be able to give our visitors direct access to the depth and breadth of all three institutions.”
Le Bon said no single institution can encompass the full scope of global creativity, adding that the alliance will “enable long-term loans, deepening the presentation of key artists and movements.”
Raffel said museums must evolve to reflect the complexity of the world. “As Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture, M+ brings perspectives from Hong Kong and our region to this dialogue,” she said.
She expressed hope that the alliance would create new opportunities for artists and audiences and support a more cooperative, sustainable future for museums.
