Yung Ma appointed as curator by Centre Pompidou in partnership with the K11 Art Foundation for a three-year research programme on Chinese contemporary art. 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, Yung Ma will also have opportunities to organise with Centre Pompidou’s team, a number of programmes, co-presented by KAF.

''Yung Ma brings a wealth of experience and nuanced understanding to the progressive programme at Centre Pompidou and we are delighted to have collaborated on the appointment of such a talented and visionary curator. KAF’s partnership with Centre Pompidou is part of our long-term mission to nurture the abundant talent of outstanding Chinese artists and curators and present it within leading international institutions'' said Adrian Cheng, Founder and Honorary Chairman of the K11 Art Foundation.

Serge Lasvignes, President of Centre Pompidou, said: ''The Centre Pompidou is opening up more and more to the globalization and diversity of the world’s art scenes. It is its mission to enter into a dialogue with them and to get to know them better. The Chinese arts scene is particularly rich and dynamic one, and the Centre Pompidou has been interested in this hotspot of contemporary creation for many years now. It has often invited its visitors, through temporary exhibitions as well as the presentation of its collection, to discover the force of contemporary Chinese creation. The collaboration with the K11 Art Foundation and with Yung Ma will allow the Centre Pompidou to further its knowledge of art in China and contribute to making it better known in France.''

''I’m delighted to welcome Yung Ma to our curatorial team at Centre Pompidou. I’m deeply happy to have found a real complicity with Adrian Cheng and the K11 Art Foundation to develop this project with China'' added Bernard Blistène, Director of Musée national d’art modern.

''I am thrilled to have this exciting opportunity to develop my work with one of the world’s leading art institutions, and I look forward to working with the team at Centre Pompidou to further expand my horizons in this new context. I am also thankful to the support of KAF, without which this would not have been possible. While it is sad to leave M+, I know my time with the museum has been a great learning experience, and I am tremendously grateful for their trust, support and friendship over the years'' said Yung Ma. 

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. 

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). 

Top image courtesy of Yung Ma

> via Centre Pompidou