Cover An art installation view of the 'Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman: Masquerades' exhibition at M+ (Photo: Dan Leung for M+)
An art installation view of the 'Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman: Masquerades' exhibition at M+ (Photo: Dan Leung for M+)
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From world-class museums to dynamic art galleries, discover Hong Kong through its arts and culture experiences
After a half-hour drive from Tsim Sha Tsui, we arrived curbside at one of the high‑rise buildings in Fo Tan, an industrial area in the New Territories, north of Kowloon in Hong Kong. We took the lift up and when the doors opened, we found ourselves in a dimly-lit corridor with a slightly metallic odour in the air. “Please watch your steps, the floor is slippery,” our host said. We slowly made our way down the corridor before we arrived at the studio of Trevor Yeung.
The artist later shared that next-door is a factory processing pork products, and at times there may be pig carcasses in the corridor. In recent years, artists like Yeung have taken over such industrial spaces in Hong Kong—and there are a number of them with studios in the same area—creating their own creative communities, just as homegrown galleries, including Yeung’s representatives, Blindspot Gallery, have taken over the old factories and warehouses in Wong Chuk Hang, another industrial district on the southside of Hong Kong Island.
Stepping inside his studio, a different scene welcomed us. In the sun-dappled room, with big windows overlooking a mountain view, Yeung cultivates various plants, alongside a collection of crystals, lighting fixtures, and objects related to aquaculture and others from the natural world. “As you can see, I collect a lot of objects,” the artist said. “I used to have more plants, but since I’ve been travelling for work, how I get to keep them is to ask someone to help me water them. Some of the plants here are succulents and cacti, so I don’t have to water them every day.”
These objects, however, are not mere decorations, they are an integral part of Yeung’s artistic practice, from where his inspiration stems, with some making it as part of his multimedia installations. The China-born and Hong Kong-based artist often finds metaphors for human relationships within aquarium systems, lighting configurations, horticulture, and botanic ecology.
Above Hong Kong-based artist Trevor Yeung in his studio (Photo: Trevor Yeung)
Hong Kong-based artist Trevor Yeung in his studio (Photo: Trevor Yeung)
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Take, for example, his latest iteration of a series titled Chaotic Suns. He explored the boundaries between order and chaos through a series of illuminated chandelier-like artworks featuring mismatched light bulbs, seemingly forming a social configuration of their own. “When you talk about chandeliers, it’s connected with crystals. Even though you see crystals [in the studio], I didn’t use them,” Yeung highlighted. “For me, it’s always the one [material] that’s closer to me that I transform into other forms. I use a lot of artificial lighting, in particular, when we do exhibitions, or show artworks. Good lighting is important.”
The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) invited Yeung to showcase his light artistry and illuminate its presentation of a Cha Chaan Teng cafe featuring Hong Kong-style western fare at Art Basel Paris in October last year. This first activation at the Grand Palais was part of its three-year global partnership with the international art fair. As the fair’s only Asian destination, it was the perfect opportunity to showcase Hong Kong’s east-meets-west culture, through its food and art.
Tatler Singapore was in Hong Kong on the invitation of HKTB to discover its thriving creative community and rich cultural experiences. So much has changed in the city post-pandemic, and the two developments we were most excited about—and the missing pieces in the city’s artistic puzzle in the past decade—is the opening of world-class museums: M+ in 2021, and the Hong Kong Palace Museum in 2022.
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Above The M+ museum’s LED-embedded façade (Photo: Hong Kong Tourism Board)
The M+ museum’s LED-embedded façade (Photo: Hong Kong Tourism Board)
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Both M+ and Hong Kong Palace Museum are located within the West Kowloon Cultural District, also known as WestK, which has received strategic investment from the Hong Kong SAR government to meet the long-term infrastructure and development needs of the city’s arts and culture scene. Other facilities include Freespace, a new centre for contemporary performance, and Xiqu Centre, to promote traditional Chinese opera, alongside an Arts Pavilion and Art Park.
Overlooking the Victoria Harbour, M+ showcases a pre-eminent collection of 20th- and 21st-century visual culture within an Asian context, across disciplines of visual art, design and architecture, and moving images. Some of its blockbuster exhibitions include Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now and I M Pei: Life Is Architecture. The museum has become one of Hong Kong’s iconic cultural landmarks today—even in its architectural form, given that the M+ Façade is embedded with LEDs for screening moving image works. Furthermore, the museum’s architecture anchored by a central foyer facilitates the ease of moving around its 33 galleries, considering there is so much to see and do.
Highlights from its 2025 programme include a world’s first exhibition of the photographic works of Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman with Masquerades, which opened in December last year. Picasso for Asia: A Conversation is a groundbreaking exhibition bringing together more than 60 works by the Spanish artist, on loan from Musée national Picasso-Paris, in dialogue with around 80 works by Asian and Asian-diasporic artists from the M+ Collections. Meanwhile, Yeung, who represented Hong Kong at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia last year, with the commissioned Courtyard of Attachments solo exhibition, returns to M+ with an adapted version, Courtyard of Detachments, discussing larger environmental and systemic issues.
Above A gallery exhibition at the Hong Kong Palace Museum (Photo: Pak Chai)
A gallery exhibition at the Hong Kong Palace Museum (Photo: Pak Chai)
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A short 10-minute walk from M+ across the Art Park is the Hong Kong Palace Museum. What strikes you first is the curved, gold aluminium panels on the façade and majestic crimson front doors, but the over 900 priceless treasures from the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City in Beijing—many on display in Hong Kong for the first time, or never been shown before in public—quickly captures your attention. The museum takes a fresh and contemporary approach to traditional aesthetics, drawing inspiration from Chinese art and architecture, as well as art and treasures from around the world. One notable past exhibition is The Adorned Body: French Fashion and Jewellery 1770–1910 from the Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, which highlights the evolution of French fashion and jewellery.
Above Sotheby’s Salon, a concept store at Sotheby’s Maison in Landmark Chater (Photo: Stefan Ruiz)
Sotheby’s Salon, a concept store at Sotheby’s Maison in Landmark Chater (Photo: Stefan Ruiz)
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Perhaps one of the most exciting arts and culture openings in Hong Kong this past year is the new Sotheby’s Maison, the auction house’s flagship in Asia set across two floors at Landmark Chater in Central. Going beyond the conventional gallery setting, the concept features a museum-quality space for immersive experiences on the ground floor, and Sotheby’s Salon, a curated retail experience on the first floor showcases over 200 objects from nearly 20 categories and across 80 million years of history, including a prehistoric woolly mammoth skull and the FL-001 Pointman (2019) sculpture by street artist Futura.
Central is also home to vibrant artistic neighbourhoods, including a good mix of local and international art galleries. Galleries such as Villepin and Contemporary by Angela Li reside on Hollywood Road. The one-kilometre stretch between Central and Sheung Wan also features notable landmarks such as Tai Kwun, the former Central Police Station, Central Magistracy and Victoria Prison, now a community space dedicated to arts, culture and heritage with art galleries JC Contemporary, Ora Ora and Kwai Fung Hin, as well as art book store Taschen.
Read also: Hong Kong ranks second as city with the most billionaires in the world
Above Hand-engraving at Dawn Atelier & Academy
Hand-engraving at Dawn Atelier & Academy
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Meanwhile, the arts-dedicated building H Queen’s on Queen’s Road houses leading international galleries such as David Zwirner, Pace Gallery and Whitestone Gallery. Local jewellery label Dawn Atelier & Academy recently launched a new platform featuring fine jewellery and craft objects from local and international artisans. Its sister brand Sunsmith runs jewellery-making workshops in Causeway Bay.
For those looking to discover more local designers and artists, head to the PMQ (Police Married Quarters) heritage site, which is a cornerstone of Hong Kong’s creative community with its array of retail stores and studios. Hong Kong is a city well-positioned for international cultural exchange, and an art hub in Asia, complementing those in the region including Singapore.
City of Culture: Where to eat, sip and stay in Hong Kong
Above Lanson Place Causeway Bay
Lanson Place Causeway Bay
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Stay: Lanson Place Causeway Bay
Following a transformation by French interior designer Pierre‑Yves Rochon, Lanson Place Causeway Bay reopened in March last year. With its prime location, the hotel provides easy access to the business and shopping districts, while offering a quiet sanctuary for its guests. The 188 rooms and apartments, including six penthouses (one of them pictured above), embodies French sophistication with all the creature comforts you would expect from a home away from home. We appreciate little touches such as the fresh egg tarts from the popular bakery Bakehouse every morning at the L’Orangerie on the ground floor.
Read also: Hotel review: Newly reopened Lanson Place Causeway Bay marries Parisian flair with the esprit of Hong Kong
Above Spring Moon
Spring Moon
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Eat: Spring Moon
Set within The Peninsula Hong Kong is one of the city’s renowned Chinese restaurants. This Michelin-starred restaurant is well-loved for its Cantonese cuisine—and the best place for a dim sum lunch. Spread across two floors, the main dining room evokes 1920s Shanghai. Highlights include braised bird’s nest soup and roasted peking duck, paired with its famous XO chilli sauce, alongside 30 varieties of teas.
Above Maggie Choo’s Hong Kong
Maggie Choo’s Hong Kong
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Sip: Maggie Choo’s Hong Kong
Designed by Ashley Sutton, the brains behind other themed bars in Hong Kong such as The Iron Fairies and Dragonfly, this cabaret-inspired establishment—an offshoot of the Bangkok bar with the same name—is designed in the style of an old English bank, complete with a vault door and an iron spiral staircase, and hidden behind a faux antique shop on Hollywood Road. Live jazz music fills the venue in the evenings, before it turns into a nightclub after 10pm. Signature cocktails include Delusion, a thyme-infused pisco, with pineapple, citrus and syrup.
As Senior Editor of Tatler Singapore, Hashirin champions and refines the storytelling across platforms—curating and crafting compelling profiles, cover stories and features that spotlight visionaries shaping culture, business and impact. Driven by curiosity, she draws inspiration from the artists, changemakers and trailblazers she encounters through her work. Beyond the pages of Tatler, she is an avid supporter of local theatre and delights in seeking out art in every city she visits.
