After an engaging end of year which saw multiple happenings and performances across the city culminating in spectacular fireworks over Victoria Harbour on New Year’s Eve, Hong Kong keeps the momentum in 2025 with a myriad of art and cultural happenings throughout the year.

Besides the art week and the flagship festivals like Art Basel, Art Central, Hong Kong International Film Festival or Clockenflap, the city will be home to groundbreaking exhibitions and performances which have nothing to envy to other cities.

EVENTS IN FOCUS

Paul Cézanne, Apples and Biscuits, ca. 1880 – Musée de l’Orangerie

CEZANNE AND RENOIR: LOOKING AT THE WORLD
#painting

This is the first large scale exhibition dedicated to the two French Impressionist masters Paul Cézanne and Pierre-Auguste Renoir in Hong Kong, showcasing 52 masterpieces from the Musée de l’Orangerie and the Musée d’Orsay in France. The exhibition simulates a dialogue between Cézanne and Renoir, inviting viewers into their inner worlds and offering new insights into their lives and deep friendship.

17 January to 7 May – HKMoA – More details here

FRIDA
#dance

Colombian-Belgian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa (HKB’s Coco Chanel) will produce a visually stunning Frida telling the iconic artist’s multifaceted life story of triumph and tragedy with rich imagery from her bold paintings and deeply personal self portraits. Set against Peter Salem’s enchanting original score with vibrant touches of mariachi, flamenco and jazz music, the performance seamlessly fuses classical and contemporary.

4 to 6 April – The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts – More details here

INNERGLOW 2025
#digitalart #multimedia

InnerGlow brings the world’s leading creative and technical exponents of 3D architectural projection mapping technology to Hong Kong to illuminate, animate and transform the facades of Tai Kwun’s historic buildings. For InnerGlow 2025, local artist Hung Keung will devise a vibrant visual journey at Garden of Reflection unfolding across time and space in the Parade Ground.

26 January to 14 February – Tai Kwun – More details here

Pablo Picasso, Portrait de Dora Maar, 1937 © Grand Palais Rmn (Musée national Picasso- Paris)

PICASSO FOR ASIA: A CONVERSATION
#painting

Co-curated by M+ and Musée national Picasso-Paris, the groundbreaking exhibition will bring together more than sixty works by Pablo Picasso and around eighty works by Asian artists from the M+ Collections. This is a significant milestone, as it marks the first instance in which masterpieces from the Musée national Picasso-Paris are being shown together with works from a museum collection in Asia. The exhibition will be a highlight of the French May Arts Festival 2025.

15 March to 13 July – M+ – More details here

JAZZ EXCELLENCE BY MATTHEW WHITAKER – NO LIMITS 2025
#music #fairs & festivals

No Limits 2025 will open with the Hong Kong debut of award-winning young American multi-instrumentalist Matthew Whitaker. Playing piano and organ, Whitaker will showcase his extraordinary musicianship and musical influences ranging from jazz to gospel, soul, Latin, rhythm and blues, and hiphop, presenting bold original compositions and rearrangements of familiar jazz classics, demonstrating his outstanding technical and improvisation skills.

1 & 2 March – Hong Kong City Hall – More details here

COLDPLAY: MUSIC OF THE SPHERES WORLD TOUR
#music

Coldplay will make their comeback in Hong Kong after 15 years for their Music Of The Spheres world tour, touted as the most highly attended tour by a music group of all time. The audience will enjoy the legendary band at the brand-new Kai Tak Stadium. Marf Yau from Hong Kong girl group Collar will join the show as guest support act.

8 to 12 April – Kai Tak Stadium -More details here

ALICJA KWADE: PRETOPIA
#multimedia #sculpture

This is the Polish artist’s first solo institutional exhibition in Hong Kong. Showcasing works from her career, together with newly commissioned installations tailored to the history and architecture of Tai Kwun, the exhibition reflects on our perception of time and reality. Kwade also created her first site-specific installation in Hong Kong, Waiting Pavilions, specially commissioned by Tai Kwun Contemporary for the Prison Yard.

10 January to 6 April – Tai Kwun – More details here 

ORCHESTRA OF THE TEATRO COMUNALE DI BOLOGNA –  53RD HONG KONG ARTS FESTIVAL
#music #fairs & festivals

The 53rd Hong Kong Arts Festival will open with the elite Italian Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna under the baton of revered Maestro Donato Renzetti, performing the music of Rossini and Mendelssohn. This wonderful musical partnership will also perform a second concert featuring a family friendly programme organised around Ravel’s charming Mother Goose Suite.

28 February & 1 March – Hong Kong Cultural Centre – More details here

Zeng Fanzhi , Rainbow, 1997

M+ SIGG COLLECTION: INNER WORLDS
#painting #sculpture #multimedia

The third exhibition of the collection will focus on the evolution of media, language, and artistic approach in Chinese art from 1990 to 2012, the period in which art from China exploded onto the world stage. The new display will spotlight key artists such as Chen Guangwu, Chu Yun, Duan Jianyu, Fang Lijun, Hu Xiaoyuan, Liang Yuanwei, Liu Wei, Liu Ye, Qiu Shihua, Shang Yang, Wang Jin, Yangjiang Group, and Zhao Bandi.

Opening in August 2025 – M+

CREAMFIELDS HONG KONG 2025
#fairs & festivals #music

Creamfields is the world’s leading dance music festival series, as well as the biggest in the UK featuring DJ performances and live acts. Creamfields Hong Kong made its debut in Hong Kong in 2017 as Asia’s first stop. Festival lovers will enjoy performances by Grammy-winning artist Zedd and members of the Swedish House Mafia, as well as rising superstar ISOxo or German producer Claptone.

8 & 9 March – Central Harbourfront Event Space – More details here

Robert Rauschenberg, Original Artwork for Asian Film Festival Poster, 1989

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG AND ASIA
#painting

As part of global celebrations marking the centennial of the artist’s birth, this exhibition brings together a selection of major works produced by Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925–2008) during and in response to his time in Asia. Following his first trip to China in 1982, he developed Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI), a global programme of travelling exhibitions and cultural dialogues.

Opening on 25 November – M+

JAY CHOU: CARNIVAL WORLD TOUR
#music

Known as the King of Mando-pop, Taiwanese singer-actor Jay Chou will be holding a three-day concert in Hong Kong in June at the new Kai Tak Stadium. Expect classic hits like Blue and White Porcelain (2007), Love Confession (2016), and Nunchucks (2010), and be ready for an unforgettable celebration of his iconic music and artistry.

27 to 29 June – Kai Tak Stadium – More details here