Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China

M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, is pleased to announce the museum’s new Special Exhibition Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, on view in its West Gallery from July 29, 2023 to April 14, 2024. Centred around the life and times of Song Huai-Kuei (1937–2006), a legend in the spheres of Chinese art, film, music, and fashion from the 1980s to the 2000s, the exhibition features more than 320 objects to narrate Song’s fascinating biography and her underestimated influence on transforming China into today’s cosmopolitan and culturally diverse society. 

Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China is the first-ever museum exhibition in the world dedicated to Song Huai-Kuei—widely known during her lifetime as Madame Song—whose extraordinary story offers a lens through which to explore the significant transformation of China’s visual culture after the country’s reform and opening-up to the world. Together with her husband, Bulgarian fibre artist Maryn Varbanov, Song fostered a rich community of avant-garde artists and, in her role as Pierre Cardin’s chief representative in China, cultivated an international network of filmmakers, actors, musicians, and fashion designers.  

Organised thematically and divided into five sections, the exhibition brings into dialogue Song’s multiple identities as an artist, entrepreneur, fashionista, and cultural ambassador. From making and exhibiting innovative art to staging fashion shows and training the first generation of Chinese models, Song played an eminent role in cultivating a progressive creative scene and a modern, international lifestyle in her native country. Featuring a diverse array of exhibits, the exhibition unpacks the relationships between the avant-garde spirit and commercial culture in China as well as international representations of traditional China in film and fashion. 

In conjunction with the exhibition, M+ will also present a special screening programme as well as a series of public programmes including talks, workshops, and drop-in activities. Details will be announced in due course. 

Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, underscores the uniqueness of the exhibition: “Madame Song may not be a household name today, yet her life and legacy continue to fascinate and inspire us. We are proud to be able to stage such a remarkable exhibition with our collections, which demonstrates the strength of M+’s interdisciplinary practice. Madame Song is a figure everyone interested in the roots of Chinese contemporary visual culture needs to know. I look forward to sharing this thoughtfully curated exhibition with audiences from Hong Kong and beyond.”

Dr Pi Li, curator of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China and former Sigg Senior Curator and Head of Curatorial Affairs, M+, highlights the exhibition’s significant relevance to our times: “Madame Song’s life encapsulated major milestones and turning points of contemporary China. Song succeeded in traversing political, social, and artistic boundaries to connect East and West and transform China’s cultural landscape. Her impact on the development of China’s visual culture is tremendous.”

Boryana Varbanov, daughter of Song Huai-Kuei, says, “My mother Song Huai-Kuei influenced many of her contemporaries and creatives of subsequent generations through her unique vision and charisma. I am very pleased to see the stories of her life unfold in front of the eyes of a global audience through the thoughtful curation of M+.”

The Special Exhibition Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China is financially supported by the Mega Arts and Cultural Events Fund of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 

The exhibition’s Airline Partner is Cathay Pacific while its Hotel Partner is Rosewood Hong Kong. 

Curators: Dr Pi Li, Dr Wu Mo, Tanja Cunz 
Curatorial Assistants: Tin Ping Yeung, Annessa Chan