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M+ Museum's newest showcase acts like a siren call for those entering its lobby. After a three-month Tokyo run that ended in March last year, Ryuichi Sakamoto: seeing sound, hearing time returns to Hong Kong's contemporary visual art venue from February 14 to July 5, 2026.
The centrepiece, async-immersion, is a collaboration between the late composer (1952–2023) and artist Shiro Takatan, tucked away in the second basement at The Studio. But because the main floors of the museum feature an open, atrium-like centre, the strains of Sakamoto's music float through the venue, hauntingly echoing off the concrete interior and luring curious visitors below to the source.
I am similarly pulled. After descending an escalator, a cavernous hall greets me, with one wall completely dedicated to a massive horizontal LED screen that alternates between images of the musician's personal items in his studio and select locations. The soundtrack is an atmospheric playlist from Sakamoto's 2017 album async, and when delivered through a highly designed surround-sound system via high-precision speakers, it transforms The Studio into an ambient cocoon (and unwitting requiem) for the talented multi-hyphenate.
At times, we see forests transitioning into banded patterns as the soft piano from the track ubi plays like a lament – a beep in the background like a foreboding heart monitor. Other times, it's the plucky title track laid against a long shot of a library, jarring yet rousing. It is only when Life Life unfolds with a lingering visual hover over his keyboards that the theme finally solidifies. Self-deemed as his most personal album to date, this is an immersive soak in a tale of mortality – achingly fragile and laced with bittersweet hope.
Diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and passing nine years later, the composer – best remembered for his award-winning film scores for The Last Emperor and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence – exposed his contemplation through a ponderous album – his signature treatment of space between musical notes and love for textural soundscapes connecting deeply with those at the exhibition.
The free show draws casual passersby of all ages, but the effect remains profound. People slow their pace and fall still upon approach. Whenever a seat on the benches at the front opens up, it is promptly occupied by another eager to be swallowed by the hypnotic sonic experience. Although edited down from the Tokyo showcase, the one at M+ includes two moving-image works by Carsten Nicolai at the Grand Stair on the ground floor with music from Sakamoto’s final album 12, and a film programme related to the composer.
It is gripping international shows of this calibre, alongside the significant openings of M+ in 2021 and the Hong Kong Palace Museum in 2022, that is now shaping the city's artistic aspirations. Despite the ongoing construction around the bay, the West Kowloon Cultural District has become a delightful counterpoint to the city's prominent identity as a global financial hub.
More importantly, what makes this resurgence feel authentic, beyond the scale of investment in historic and modern museums, is how the public has claimed the precinct as their own. The two museums feature a spacious, open design with rooftop gardens and performance zones overlooking the sea. As I stroll through the park and waterfront promenade, I spot couples out walking their dog, suits having a solo lunch, parents cycling with their children, and students sprawled out on picnic mats – a rare laid-back scene in the crowd-dense city. This is Hong Kong taking a break but raring to go with its ambitions in the arts. As night descends, the giant LED display on the M+ flickers on once again – a vivid flag heralding the city's renaissance.