Adapted from the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning’s large-scale solo exhibition that ran in 2023, “Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion” has been exclusively curated for the HKDI Gallery by its founder, and principal partner of MAD Architects (MAD) - an architectural collective, MA Yansong. After graduating from Yale University in 2002, MA has participated in various international exhibitions and is now set to debut his first-ever large-scale solo exhibition in Hong Kong, solidifying his status as one of China’s most influential architects. The exhibition presents MAD’s most significant urban architectural projects in history led by MA Yansong, in addition to the artist’s thought-provoking design concepts and imaginative vision. This exhibition offers a glimpse into the future of urban civilization – proffering a harmonious coexistence of urban landscapes, historical sites, and natural environments. 

The first floor of the exhibition focuses on the major projects of MA Yansong and the MAD team, including a series of large-scale models and the brand new interactive installation which is exclusively designed for HKDI. The neon art installation on the same floor “Landscape in Motion” trace MA’s original hand-drawn design concept sketches of the projects highlighted in the exhibition, including UNIC Harbin Opera House, Shenzhen Bay Culture Park, Quzhou Sports Park, and the FENIX Museum of Migration, the piece fills the exhibition hall. Bridging the past and future, MA employs the aesthetics of Hong Kong’s neon heritage to represent a modern way of thinking about architecture, one that sees the building as not only a static structure but as an organic and vivid art form, evoking thoughts about the relationship between architecture, art and nature. 

Before audiences are greeted by this impressive installation, they are first invited to delve into the pieces it references. Attendees can explore the breadth of MAD’s projects across the globe, beginning at the closest – the soon to be finished Shenzhen Bay Culture Park. Located in the Nanshan District of Shenzhen, the park aims to create “a buffer and breathing zone” for people in the busy metropolis. With the key concept of “ancient future”, MAD’s design places a surreal scene of land art into a real urban space. Viewers can explore the parts “monumental stones” of white granite that curve in a natural form, injecting the organic into the constructed. 

As well as spotlighting architecture entirely crafted by MAD, the exhibition also displays impressive renovations undertaken by the collective. For example, MAD’s renovation of FENIX Museum of Migration in Rotterdam, Netherlands, connects the city’s history with the present, updating the original warehouse space by opening up the central façade and roof to form a user-friendly exhibition space while preserving its iconic green steel windows and concrete interior. Once again, the collective invites nature into the space with the addition of two staircases that mimic nature’s most reoccurring construct: the spiral. 

Ultimately, the exhibition highlights MAD’s mission to create spaces that serve as a conduit to explore cultural life. MA prompts audiences to probe the inner self while observing the dynamic, diverse, and fluid cultural landscape of contemporary society. 

“I am delighted to bring this exhibition to the HKDI,” said Mr MA Yansong. “This exhibition features MAD Architect’s most representative urban architectural projects over the past two decades. I believe all human-made objects, from tools to art, are externalizations of the human spirit, the exhibition brings to the fore impressive and dynamic installations that reflect attitudes towards the external world, both its past and future. This exhibition is an essential viewing that unfolds the human aspect of pioneering scientific architectural technologies.”