Collections from Hong Kong’s M+ museum will be exhibited in Paris alongside those from Centre Pompidou in France under a five-year deal signed by the two institutions, which also covers research and talent exchange.

The memorandum of understanding for a multi-year strategic partnership was signed on Friday by Suhanya Raffel, M+ director, and Laurent Le Bon, Centre Pompidou’s president, at the Hong Kong institution. French Consul General Christile Drulhe witnessed the ceremony.

“This is the first time for Hong Kong collections to go out to Paris like this,” Raffel said. “But it takes time … to build what that exhibition will be from the two collections. What we want to be able to do is to do something that we couldn’t do without the other.”

The major exhibition featuring collections from both institutions will be staged first in Paris at Centre Pompidou, after its five-year renovation, around 2029 or 2030, before being hosted at M+ with a focus on visual culture in France and Greater China.

“Centre Pompidou was one of the key institutions that we looked to that helped us guide the principles around building an institution like this for Asia,” Raffel said, highlighting that M+ is now only five years old.

“It is remarkable for us to be able to say, ‘yes, we are now working with a museum mentor for M+, but as also, I hope, an equal partner,’” she pointed out while adding that the partnership also underscores Hong Kong’s mandated role as the East-meet-West cultural hub by the Chinese government.