Two major exhibitions on contemporary Chinese art are being held in the UK this autumn. The first is the exhibition of Chinese art from the 1970’s until now at the award-winning Whitworth Gallery in Manchester; the second is the Ai Weiwei exhibtion which opens in September in the Royal Academy in London.

There is of course linkage between the two:  Ai Weiwei’s “Still Life” of stone-age axe heads covers almost the entire floor of the central gallery at the Whitworth as the centrepiece of the exhibition of Chinese art from the M+ Sigg Collection.

The M+ Sigg Collection is part of the collection of the Swiss collector Uli Sigg and, with 1510 works by 325 artists, is recognised as one of the most important collections of contemporary Chinese art, for which a new gallery is currently being built in Hong Kong.  This exhibition provides a small but important taster of the full Collection, with work in a variety of media including sculpture, installation, painting, video and photography.  Two of Ai Weiwei’s works are on show, from almost 30 held in the main collection.

Other artists represented in the collection include Zhang Peili, Geng Jianyi, Gu Dexin, Fang Lijun, Lee Kit and Pak Sheung. The collection records the changing cultural and political world of China since the 1970’s with works reflecting on the political changes of the 1970’s up to the impact of urbanisation today and the exhibition illustrates the high quality, vitality and creativity of contemporary Chinese art today over the last 40 years and today, while retaining its own unique character and avoiding the temptation to emulate western art.

In Hong Kong, the architects Herzog & de Meuron, architects for Tate Modern in London and the “Birds Nest” stadium in Beijing, have been working with TFP Farrells and Ove Arup & Partners HK on the the new M+ building which, when opened in 2019, will provide both a permanent home for the collection and an iconic cultural building for Hong Kong overlooking Victoria Harbour.  In addition to the lower level display galleries, the new building will provide education facilities, offices, and restaurant, connected to the West Kowloon Cultural District.

The exhibition has had positive reviews from most commentators and justly so.  This is an exhibition worth travelling to Manchester to see.