Outside of M+ Gallery in Hong Kong, there is one of the world’s largest media screens. The expansive, light-powered canvas comprises thousands of LEDs. Each night, it showcases a dynamic mix of works from the museum’s collection. It’s a powerful example of bringing art to the public, breaking down barriers to exhibitions and placing them on the streets. It offers moments of artistic contemplation, humour, intellectual reflection, play and poetry to thousands of onlookers. M+ collaborates with world-leading international artists throughout the year, commissioning works for the façade that champion new moving-image practices and deepen the museum’s connection with a global audience.
Greg Girard is the latest artist to take on the impressive space. He follows in the footsteps of figures like Ho Tsu Hyen, Pipilotti Rist, Sarah Morris and Zhao Tao, all of whom have displayed work since the façade was launched in 2022. HK:PM, is a thrilling visual journey through Hong Kong’s cityscape. The renowned photographer is celebrated for his archival records of life in the now-demolished Kowloon Walled City. The infamous area, known as the “city of darkness,” was a densely populated and largely lawless region of Hong Kong, located within the boundaries of a former Chinese miliary fort. The metropolis was home to 60,000 people, living with little political or legal oversight, and a hotbed of gangs and crime. It was demolished in 1994, and Girard’s photographs are a cornerstone of the community’s archive. He began photographing it in 1985, telling The Face magazine that: “I simply stumbled across it one evening. I came around a corner and there at the end of the block it loomed: this massive building-thing that looked like nothing else I’d ever seen.” The shots are almost hard to believe. The sheer scale of the structure is enough of a surprise, but every tiny, shining window truly brings into focus the number of people held within its walls. Other images show children clambering on roofs, clinging to television aerials.
Girard is known for his work documenting the social and physical transformation of Asia throughout the latter half of the 20th century. In particular, the Canadian photographer is drawn to some of the continent’s largest cities: Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong. In 1976, he booked a one-way ticket to Bangkok with a stopover in Tokyo, intending to stay only a few days. At the time, tourism to the city was still fairly low and, as Girard explains, “for those in the West, Japan appeared much further away and relatively inaccessible.” His images opened up this world for a whole new audience, the neon colours and nocturnal shots revealing a dynamic and technologically thriving culture. It is these pieces, which were not published until 1987, that made Girard such a popular name in photography.
Now, his cityscapes are interwoven into the M+ Façade, bringing his shots of Hong Kong, taken almost half a century ago, to a 21st century audience. Girard says: “This commission offers me the unique opportunity to revisit these photographs, transforming fragments of Hong Kong’s recent past into a cinematic sequence.” HK:PM also animates analogues shots from the artist’s personal collection, taken between 1970 and 1990. The images are presented in a new format, their sequence turning them from static moments into a film. They portray the bustling streets of Hong Kong, featuring students, fashionistas and workers going about their daily routines. In other scenes, neon-lit streets, lively nightclubs and celebrity encounters come to life. There is a sense of perpetual motion, from aeroplanes soaring between dense skyscrapers near old Kai Tak Airport, to the constant activity along Victoria Harbour.
The installation brings Girard’s work full circle, showcasing his images as part of the skyline that inspired them decades earlier. Here, as passersby witness the façade light up each evening, they are faced with the city’s rich and vibrant history and invited to take a moment to reflect on those who came before.
Greg Girard HK:PM is at M+ Gallery, Hong Kong until 28 September: mplus.org.hk
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
All images: Greg Girard Still from HK:PM, 2025 Commissioned by M+, 2025. Image courtesy of Greg Girard.
