There is no end to the things you can do over the Christmas and New Year holidays in Hong Kong, but this weekend you most certainly need to check out a big photo exhibition at M+ and a new Japanese bakery in Causeway Bay.
1. Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman: Masquerades
At M+ museum in West Kowloon, two of the most famous “selfie” takers in contemporary art are paired up within the intimate space of the Cissy Pui-Lai Pao and Shinichiro Watari Galleries.
There are nearly 200 photographic self-portraits of Morimura, a Japanese man, and Sherman, a white American woman, all facing each other.
Both master masqueraders, they show up society’s deeply ingrained gendered social norms while also revealing how freely hackable they are: if you know these codes, you can pretend to be anything you like.
Some of their most famous early works are here: Morimura as Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn, and Sherman’s pretend film stills. It is the first time the work of the two artists has been shown side by side in an institution, and it is a fascinating way to look at how identity is made.
“Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman: Masquerades”, Cissy Pui-Lai Pao and Shinichiro Watari Galleries, L2, M+, West Kowloon Cultural District, Tues-Thurs and weekends, 10am-6pm, Fri, 10am-10pm. December 14-May 5.
