Next month, Hong Kong's Tai Kwun Contemporary is about to get a whole lot more dramatic, thanks to German artist Anne Imhof. Her new solo exhibition, "House of Swans," isn't just her first in Asia; it's a full-throttle, multi-sensory dive into art that’s both classical and utterly contemporary.
Imagine three floors of installations, paintings, and live performances, all designed to make you think about bodies, boundaries, and who's really in charge. Imhof is taking oil paintings, bronze sculptures, and ballet, then smashing them together with sound installations and video. Because apparently, that's where we are now.
Not Your Grandma's Ballet
The centerpiece is the House of Swans performance itself, featuring Imhof's usual collaborators alongside the Hong Kong Ballet. It's not just an opening night spectacle (September 25 and 26); it'll pop up at various times throughout the exhibition, just to keep you on your toes. (Pun absolutely intended.)
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Start Your News DetoxIf you caught Imhof's three-hour DOOM performance in New York last year, House of Swans is its origin story. While DOOM took cues from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, this new piece imagines a fictional house existing right alongside the Capulets and Montagues. Imhof calls it a "queered up" version, focusing on love and peace amidst the chaos of war. So, less balcony angst, more defiant tenderness.
Our heroine's journey to find love in a tumultuous city is also explored through new works like an untitled 2025 bronze relief celebrating female pleasure and Citizen (2025), an 81-minute video that hints at violence and features trans bodies. Because art, like life, is rarely simple.
Imhof is particularly keen on reclaiming ballet. She started experimenting with it in DOOM, and now she's going all in. Her take? Autocrats might try to co-opt classical forms, but ballet doesn't belong to them. It's a tool for storytelling, and she's here to wield it differently.
Adding another layer of intrigue: Devon Teuscher, a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, stars in House of Swans. She and Imhof are now partners, having met during the DOOM production. Which, if you think about it, is both impressive and a very art-world meet-cute.
Imhof, who snagged the Golden Lion at the 2017 Venice Biennale for her Faust performance, has a knack for tapping into something raw. She says her work often carries a "depression, a melancholia" that just… resonates. It’s a common thread, she believes, and her art simply reflects what she observes and feels in the world. And honestly, who can't relate to a little melancholia these days?
