Signature Tunes For Museum Revamp

Creative tunes will usher in the reopening of the revamped Hong Kong Museum of Art. 

The harbourfront museum’s walls have been redone to adopt a transparent design using glass corridors and facades to better connect the museum with its surroundings and to revitalise it as a prominent cultural landmark.

As a prelude to its reopening in November, the cross-disciplinary Sig. Tune for HKMoA: Creative Music Programme was launched to invite young composers to submit an original tune of less than two minutes.

They will be judged by musician Chiu Tsang-hei and the museum’s curators who will select about 20 candidates in mid-February to compose a musical work under the theme of "Worlds of Contrast".

At least four outstanding finalists will be selected for a half-year mentorship under Mr Chiu to learn more about musical composition and professional music production.

They will also learn about and create music for the museum's four core Chinese Fine Art, Chinese Antiquities, China Trade Art and Hong Kong Art collections.

The tunes will be played at the museum’s exhibitions after the reopening and on different media platforms.

New interpretations

Hong Kong Museum of Art Museum Director Eve Tam said the programme is a way of spreading the word that the major museum is returning with a brand new look.

“We would like to tell Hong Kong people that we are coming back. We are really hoping that the young talents could help us to interpret our collection with their own music and also a way that can help people appreciate our collection better.”

While Curator Maria Mok said this is the first time signature tunes have been created for the museum and she hopes the music will provide an extraordinary artistic experience for audiences.

“Even for other museums worldwide, it’s a relatively new approach. There are other music programmes or other co-creations using music in museum galleries but not exactly creating a signature tune for the museum or for its collections."

The programme aims to unleash young composers’ talents and connect the museum and its collections to the Hong Kong people and other parts of the world.

Original talent

Musician Chiu Tsang-hei hopes the programme will attract talented and creative musicians.

“The most important thing is musical judgement. The young musicians should know how to choose the sound they like to express something. I hope I can see candidates with this ability."

The programme’s selection criteria includes originality, musicality, structure and content.

Interested parties are invited to submit the application form and their music by January 15. Shortlisted musicians will be announced on the museum’s website on February 19.

After the renovation work, the museum’s exhibition space will be increased by more than 40%.

Its exhibition halls will also increase from seven to 12 so that more expos can be held.