Venice Biennale Golden Lion winner "Swan Society" comes to Hong Kong
Anne Imhof, winner of the Golden Lion at the 2017 Venice Biennale, is bringing her "Swan Society" to Hong Kong.
Tai Kwun Contemporary announces that it will present the German artist's first major solo exhibition in Asia, "Anne Imhof: Swan Society," at the JC Contemporary and F Hall Studio from September 25, 2026, to January 3, 2027. Spanning over three months, there is plenty of time for you to pick a weekend and make a special trip to Central to experience this monumental cross-media event.
From nightclub bouncer to Golden Lion winner, her work is full of presence and tension
Born in Giessen, Germany, in 1978, Imhof grew up in Frankfurt. Before enrolling at the Städelschule, she worked as a bouncer at local nightclubs while teaching herself painting and music. This experience later became the foundation of her creative work—the precise orchestration of crowd gaze and attention in nightclubs was brought by her into museums and armories.
In 2017, her immersive installation "Faust" at the German Pavilion of the 57th Venice Biennale won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation. Since then, her works have been highly sought after by institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate in London, and the Nationalgalerie in Berlin. In 2025, her work "Doomsday: House of Hope" at the Park Avenue Armory in New York used ballet as a core formal structure for the first time—this time, this form will be further developed at Tai Kwun in Hong Kong.
A love story in a fictional future, with ballet as the core narrative language
The exhibition's eponymous work, "Swan Society," is set in a fictional future and tells the story of a heroine embarking on a quest for love in a chaotic city. In the exhibition space, Imhof juxtaposes classical art forms such as oil painting, bronze sculpture, and ballet with large-scale sound installations, physical performances, and video, creating an immersive space full of tension.
To coincide with the exhibition opening, the artist's long-term collaborators—including internationally renowned musicians and dancers—will join forces with the Hong Kong Ballet to present special performances on September 25 and 26. Following this, ballet performances will continue on multiple weekends throughout the exhibition period, with specific dates covering several weekends in October and November. In this space, the audience is no longer just a spectator, but an indispensable member of the "Swan Society."
Exhibition architecture and engineering details are also worth noting
This exhibition is co-curated by Ying Kwok and Leung Wai-ching, with COLLECTIVE Studio responsible for exhibition architecture, Arup for engineering design, and Hong Kong Ballet as the performance partner. This marks the return of Imhof's work to Hong Kong following the 2019 Tai Kwun group exhibition "Performing Society: Violence of Gender."
Exhibition period: September 25, 2026 – January 3, 2027
Hours: 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM (Tue–Sun, closed on Mon)
Venue: JC Contemporary and F Hall Studio, Tai Kwun, Central, Hong Kong
Admission: HK$50 for standard tickets, HK$40 for concessionary tickets (full-time students, seniors aged 60 or above, and people with disabilities), free for children aged 4 or under
Tai Kwun was revitalized from three declared monuments: the former Central Police Station, Central Magistracy, and Victoria Prison, and has received the Award of Excellence from the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. After viewing the exhibition, you can take a walk among the century-old stone walls and iron-barred windows in Central—where history and contemporary art meet under the same roof.