Born in Dongguan, a factory town in China’s southern Guangdong province, in 1988, Yeung grew up in Hong Kong and graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts at Hong Kong Baptist University in 2010.

His monumental 2021 work Mr. Cuddles Under the Eave was one of the most eye-catching pieces at the 2023 Art Basel Hong Kong fair. Presented by Blindspot Gallery, it was an installation of 13 giant Pachira aquatica plants, commonly known as money trees, hanging haphazardly and all tangled up from the ceiling.

The work, representing solidarity and resilience during a time of isolation and anxiety, was first shown at the Pinchuk Art Center in Kyiv, Ukraine, as part of Yeung’s nomination for the “6th Future Generation Art Prize”.

Yeung has become one of Hong Kong’s most active artists internationally. The 35-year-old will have a solo exhibition at Gasworks London in September and he is also exhibiting at M+ in the same month, as one of six artists shortlisted for the 2024 Sigg Prize.

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His artwork is found in the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Paris Museum of Modern Art, the Sculpture Park Cologne in Germany, M+ in Hong Kong, and other institutions.

“I am beyond thankful for the opportunity to unveil a new body of work at the La Biennale di Venezia – to represent Hong Kong, my hometown at one of the most prestigious contemporary art exhibitions in the world,” Yeung said.

“As the world adjusts to the reopening of borders and new ways of interaction after the pandemic, it is particularly meaningful for me to present new work influenced by cross cultures and my immediate surroundings – to bring my vision abroad and connect with the international art community.

“I look forward to collaborating with the M+ team led by Olivia Chow.”

“I am excited to curate and collaborate with Trevor Yeung, an artist whose unwavering and intricate installation practice I have closely followed since the early days.

“This extraordinary opportunity will allow us to bring Yeung’s daring vision to life in Venice, a presentation that will hopefully create resonance with the international audience.”

Hong Kong first joined the Venice Biennale in 2001, four years before China’s first official participation. Since 2013, M+ and the HKADC have been joint presenters of the “collateral event”, which lies outside the biennale’s official list of national pavilions.

For each edition, they jointly select an artist and a curator to present a solo exhibition in a historic residential building just outside the entrance to the Arsenale, one of the two main grounds for the official exhibition.

Chow will be the first in-house curator from M+ to curate the Venice exhibition since Samson Young’s presentation in 2017. Since then, a guest curator not associated with the museum had been in charge of working with the chosen artist, following calls from local art practitioners that independent voices be given a chance to participate in the important international showcase.

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Suhanya Raffel, director of M+, said Chow’s appointment was recognition that the museum, too, has played a major role in training young local curators.

“I am particularly delighted to see that Olivia Chow, a young and outstanding curator from M+, who was the assistant curator for the 2019 edition, has been selected as the curator for Trevor Yeung’s solo exhibition,” she said.

“This recognition truly underscores M+’s role and contribution as an important training ground for local curatorial talents.”