HONG KONG, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The Pompidou Centre in Paris is coming to the aid of an incipient modern art museum in Hong Kong that has nothing to show.
The $3 billion Hong Kong Museum of Modern Art, a proposed institution without a collection of its own, has received an offer from the Paris museum for expertise and works of art from the Pompidou's world-renowned collection.
The unusual offer of help from France for the Chinese project was reported Monday in The Art Newpaper which said acceptance of the Pompidou's offer would involve a financial contribution from the Hong Kong Museum. It is currently under development based on designs by Foster and Partners, a London architectural firm.
The museum will be located in the West Kowloon district of Hong Kong and is scheduled to be completed and open to the public some time in 2012.
Bruno Racine, president of the Pompidou Center, said the French museum would help the Hong Kong museum acquire its own collection with emphasis on Asian Art.
"But we guarantee a significant part of the Pompidou collection will be available to Hong Kong," Racine was quoted.
The Hong Kong project represents the Pompidou's first joint venture, although it is schedule to open a branch museum in Metz, France, in 2007.
