M+ Welcomes Lesley Ma as Ink Art Curator
By The Editors
CAI GUO-QIANG’s
Last week, West Kowloon’s new museum for visual culture M+ welcomed Lesley Ma as its new ink art curator. Ma, who took up the new position on October 8, will serve part-time in developing exhibitions and building the museum’s ink art collection and public programming.
A Harvard alum with a degree in history and science, Ma also has a masters in museum studies from New York University. From 2005–09 she was Project Director for Cai Guo-Qiang and coordinated the eminent Chinese artist’s celebrated “Sky Ladder” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in 2012.
In addition to her new duties at M+, Ma is currently pursuing a PhD in art history, theory, and criticism—focusing on abstract painting in postwar Taiwan—at University of California, San Diego. She is also a contributing writer for ArtAsiaPacific, Art Collection + Design, Chuan Art Journal, and Asia Art Archive-America.
Ma, who was raised in Taiwan, has been based in Hong Kong since earlier this year. Her appointment complements M+’s mandate to comprise a diverse team, with half coming from Hong Kong and the rest from elsewhere. A moving image curator is yet to be selected for the HKD 4.7 billion museum, which will open in 2017.
