Bilbao Effect 2.0: The Making of M+

Abstract

Discussions of the intersection of art museums and socio-economics have become an increasingly provocative topic both in the art and museum worlds and the fields of urban studies and cultural studies. However, there has yet to be a comprehensive theoretical framework in the twenty-first century that considers this interplay across an international field. I examine Hong Kong’s M+ Museum, which is one of the cultural facilities comprising the West Kowloon Cultural District, a development conceived in the late 1990s following Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997. How has M+ manoeuvred through the twin pressures to be socio-economically promising and strategically prudent within a delicate balance between culture and politics? I argue that M+ negotiates a nuanced interplay of soft power, museum governance, collection strategy and architectural design, ultimately manifesting what I term the Bilbao Effect 2.0. Literature on the Bilbao Effect within art and museum studies considers its cultural and architectural impact and within urban studies and cultural studies, focuses on the tension between institutional identity and social constructs. However, when placed into an historical and interdisciplinary model that accounts for an art museum’s quest for cultural autonomy and social, economic and political ambitions, it becomes apparent that the Bilbao Effect 2.0 is a nuanced and expanded iteration, reflecting the tug-of-war on a global stage.