Sotheby's Asia has made a striking entrance into Hong Kong's cultural scene with the opening of Sotheby's Maison, designed by the renowned Rotterdam-based architecture studio MVRDV. The new space, located in the heart of the city's central business district, boasts a street-facing ground floor with soaring 6-meter-high ceilings. This state-of-the-art, museum-quality environment promises visitors an immersive experience, a vision championed by Sotheby's Asia chairman Nicolas Chow.
The inaugural exhibitions at Sotheby's Maison, Bodhi: Masterpieces of Monumental Buddhist Art and Ice: Two Masterworks on Loan from the Long Museum, will run until September 11. Chow describes the former as "an exhibition of sacred art [and] the best show to celebrate our new beginnings," featuring notable Buddhist sculptures. The latter exhibition juxtaposes Gerhard Richter’s Eisberg with a rare Ru ware Chinese brush washer, illustrating "the interconnectedness of art across time and geography."
In keeping with the innovative approach seen in Sotheby's Shanghai headquarters, which debuted last May, the Hong Kong Maison is crafted to accommodate both direct sales and auctions. While the main offices of Sotheby's are located elsewhere in the city, the Maison is dedicated to exhibitions, retail, and programming, offering "aesthetic experiences for clients and the wider community," according to Chow.
A highlight of the space is Sotheby's Salons on the first floor, a concept store designed to deliver a curated retail experience featuring diverse works from various geographies and eras. The collection will be refreshed quarterly, beginning with Banksy’s Girl Without Balloon, a piece that gained international attention when it was partially shredded during a live auction in 2018, a stunt orchestrated by the artist. As interest in cross-category collecting grows, Sotheby's continues to emphasize the importance of art as a central focus.
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