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Madame Song

MADAME SONG

Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China M+ 29 July 2023–14 April 2024 Hong Kong
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Meet the icon who transformed the landscape of arts, fashion, and popular culture in China from the 1980s to 2000s.

Song Huai-Kuei (1937–2006), widely known during her lifetime as Madame Song, was a legend in the spheres of Chinese art, film, music, and fashion during the 1980s and 1990s. With her husband, Bulgarian fibre artist Maryn Varbanov (1932–1989), Song helped foster a forward-looking creative scene and cultivated a modern, international lifestyle in China at a time when the country was largely isolated from the rest of the world for much of the Cold War.

This Special Exhibition brings to light Madame Song’s fascinating multiple identities and professional pursuits. It chronicles her life and practice from the 1950s to the early 2000s and unveils Song’s thus-far overlooked and underestimated influence on China’s transformation into the cosmopolitan and culturally diverse society it is today.

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Installation Views

Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Dan Leung. Courtesy of M+, Hong Kong.
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Dan Leung. Courtesy of M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Garments: Pierre Cardin Archives. Photo: Dan Leung. Courtesy of M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Dan Leung. Courtesy of M+, Hong Kong

Also Exhibiting at M+

All Exhibitions
Design Ah! Experience the Wonder of Everyday Design M+ 27 June 2026–10 January 2027 Hong Kong
Heri Dono: Fermentation of the Mind M+ 30 May–25 October 2026 Hong Kong
Wael Shawky: I Am Hymns of the New Temples M+ 30 May–25 October 2026 Hong Kong
Dial-A-Poem Hong Kong M+ 25 April–30 August 2026 Hong Kong
About the Gallery

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Address
West Kowloon Cultural District
38 Museum Drive
Kowloon
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Opening Hours
Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 6pm
Fridays, 10am – 10pm
Closed Mondays
(1)
Hong Kong West Kowloon Cultural District, 38 Museum Drive
M contemporary art institution in Hong Kong
M+
West Kowloon Cultural District, 38 Museum Drive, Kowloon, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
+852 2200 0217
http://www.mplus.org.hk

Opening hours
Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 6pm
Fridays, 10am – 10pm
Closed Mondays
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