Art Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Located in the Harold and Christina Lee Gallery, the exhibition vividly evokes life in the 17th-century period, when Jiangnan was famously a locus of culture and intellectual life, known for its scholars, gentry and artistic community. Realizing the ambitious exhibition was made possible by sponsorship from the Lo Kwee Seong Foundation and a $HK50 million donation from the Lee family, marking the Art Museum’s Golden Jubilee in 2021.

Displays in the new gallery comprise 193 art objects, ranging from exquisite Late Ming Dynasty paintings, calligraphy, and antiquities. Among these are nine grade-one national treasures, on public display in Hong Kong for the first time. Exhibits are drawn from multiple sources, including the collections of the Art Museum, Shanghai Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Liang Yi Museum, and renowned Hong Kong collectors.

In 2022, as the new gallery was taking shape, Goppion was called upon to assist by creating some new showcases. This project followed our previous collaboration with CUHK Art Museum in 2019, when the University and Museum Director Professor Josh Yiu had commissioned Goppion to create four modular showcases for rotating temporary displays.

The latest project called for something slightly different – and much bigger. Two huge 4.5 m high showcases with similar features to the existing series showcases were commissioned, one with ten doors, another with 12. With an emphasis on design-assist, Goppion customized existing case classes to meet the Museum’s bespoke needs for the high-ceiling gallery. A customized central RH stabilization unit was also developed for both showcases, along with high-level air-tightness and LED lighting systems.

Responsible for engineering, production and delivery of the two enormous display cases, Goppion’s biggest challenge was a logistical one. The Harold and Christina Lee Gallery is located on the second floor of the Pavilion, so the massive glass doors had to be carefully introduced using a special crank inside the building before the perimeter wall was completed.

The Lo Kwee Seong Pavilion and the Transcending Transience exhibition are fruits of a long-term collaboration with Shanghai Museum, and designed by Rocco Design Architects Associates Ltd. They are emblematic of CUHK’s evolving public Museum experience, and the site’s important role as a center of art-making, curating and teaching.