China’s Roni Horn exhibition in Tadao Ando-designed museum draws Hong Kong art lovers to Midea’s sprawling headquarters

Featuring 50 of Horn’s diverse and often monumental works, the exhibition is the largest retrospective that the artist has held in Asia

The Tadao Ando-designed He Art Museum, located within electrical appliance manufacturer Midea’s headquarters, is almost a work of art itself

Reading Time:3 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

A selection from Roni Horn’s “Water Double” series - monumental glass sculptures weighing 4,500kg each - and a series of works on paper titled “Yet”, at the artist’s retrospective at the Tadao Ando-designed He Art Museum in Shunde, China. Photo: Enid Tsui

Enid Tsui

Published: 2:15pm, 11 Jun 2023

Most Hong Kong day trippers to Shunde district in southern China go for just one reason: its famous cuisine.

But a gaggle of Hong Kong art lovers made a special trip to the town near Guangzhou on June 6 because of the double appeal of a Roni Horn art retrospective and its venue, a two-year-old private museum designed by famed Japanese architect Tadao Ando.

The He Art Museum is located within electrical appliance manufacturer Midea’s sprawling headquarters in Beijiao township, about three hours by road from Hong Kong.

He Jianfeng, the museum’s founder, is the son of He Xiangjian, the billionaire who built Midea into the world’s largest appliance maker (and sponsor of newly minted English FA Cup winner and Premier League champions Manchester City).

Exterior view of the He Art Museum. Photo: He Art Museum

The younger He, aged 55, keeps a low profile and runs his own financial investment empire. Press coverage is mostly limited to news about the museum launching in 2021 and an occasion when he swam across a river to fetch police after kidnappers broke into his father’s mansion in 2020.

China’s Roni Horn exhibition in Tadao Ando-designed museum draws Hong Kong art lovers to Midea’s sprawling headquarters

Featuring 50 of Horn’s diverse and often monumental works, the exhibition is the largest retrospective that the artist has held in Asia The Tadao Ando-designed He Art Museum, located within electrical appliance manufacturer Midea’s headquarters, is almost a work of art itself

Featuring 50 of Horn’s diverse and often monumental works, the exhibition is the largest retrospective that the artist has held in Asia

The Tadao Ando-designed He Art Museum, located within electrical appliance manufacturer Midea’s headquarters, is almost a work of art itself