“The Art of Movement” Design Trust Exhibition 2026 at St. John’s Building, has welcomed over hundreds of visitors, from March 20th to April 12th 2026, with 10 programme events including guided tours, dialogues and the Hong Kong Architectural Legacy symposium by Design Trust. Curated, and creatively envisioned by Lead Curator Marisa Yiu, the exhibition delves into architecture, art and natural landscapes of the city through time from the 1980s to the present, featuring over 30 unique artworks, architectural photography and design works responding to the theme “The Art of Movement”.
Design Trust Exhibition 2026: “The Art of Movement” at St. John’s Building, Central and Cultural Programmes
8. 5. 2026
With personal interviews and dialogues with Lead Curator Marisa Yiu, Design Trust Architectural Archive Research Prototype 2026 was presented as a focal point of “The Art of Movement” exhibition, unveiling the hidden stories, archive documents and oral histories of Hong Kong’s architecture, art and natural landscapes through time from the 1980s. Research and archive materials from Foster + Partners, HSBC Archives, Penelope Seidler and Harry Seidler & Associates, Henry Steiner & Margaret Steiner, Nora Leung, Rocco Yim, John Wu, personal archive of Hardy Lok (John Lok/Wimpey main contractor of HSBC Main Building), Anthony Ng (architect of St. Johns Building), Hongkong Land Corporate Archives, Zaha Hadid Foundation, the Peak Tramway Company, was shared and on loan to empower the research process.
Marisa Yiu, Co-Founder, Lead Curator and Executive Director of Design Trust, said: “‘The Art of Movement’ explores design within the dynamics of city life and urbanism. It promotes exploring and viewing the cityscape and natural topography of Hong Kong as a journey; from the 1980s architectural innovations of Central, the Peak Tram to the iconic Peak, as an outdoor architectural landscape of inspiration through time.
“Our vision is to sustain, transform and grow Design Trust’s innovative platform and public place learning lab, where the city and nature of Hong Kong becomes an outdoor museum, integrating Heritage, Sustainability initiatives and Design Innovation. Our mission is to benefit the larger community in diverse, inclusive and dynamic ways. With the powerful transformation of the Peak Tramway’s 6th edition of innovation as an anchoring point to link this year’s show, and on the special occasion of Lord Norman Foster’s 40th anniversary of his remarkable, innovative, and timeless HSBC Main Building, we celebrate the many contributions of optimistic spirit that Hong Kong brings."
The exhibition features thematic artworks and exquisite design works from Henry Steiner, Wilson Shieh, Emily Allchurch, Ma Yansong, William Lim, Xinjian Lu, Dony Cheng, Agnese Guido, Dylan Kwok. Designers OrangeTerry and Didi Ng originally from Hong Kong have produced unique site-specific works, alongside special architectural photography from Eason Tsang, Michael Wolf, Walter Koditek, Austin Bell’s unique photos of the Peak, Ian Lambot’s HSBC photograph; with Avant Garde Horn artist collaboration speakers by Frog King and Pongyu Wai as an extension of The Peninsula Hotels’ “Art in Resonance” programme. Award-winning Hong Kong photographers Kevin Mak and Gary Ng also produced unique pieces for the exhibition curated by Lead Curator Marisa Yiu along with Associate Curator Zheng Zhou.
From Central district to The Peak, a series of Design Trust Architecture & Art Urban Tours were curated for Art Basel Hong Kong VIP and general public community, with a special cultural map featuring commissioned illustration artwork from Hong Kong artist Carmen Ng, transforming the Central district into a living museum and archive of art, architecture and urban development through the decades. From March 24th to April 12th, Design Trust invited Aric Chen, Cole Roskam, Nora Leung, Donald Choi and Florence Chan to join the special tours and share their insight to the transformation of Central’s urban landscape, with urban walking tours led by Design Trust former fellow and grantees Helen Fan, Charles Lai and Don Hong on other occasions.
The finissage programme “Design Trust Sketchalogues 2026” was held on April 10th, welcoming Design Trust “The Art of Movement” honouree Penelope Seidler, from Sydney to share her journey with Harry Seidler on the design and building of the Hong Kong Club building, and stories shaping the urban landscape of Central district of Hong Kong at the St. Johns Building. Along with architect David Nelson (Head of Design, Foster + Partners, London) who worked closely with Lord Norman Foster, and elaborated on the 1979 competition proposal of HSBC Main Building, designed by Lord Norman Foster and his team. Continuing on “the Art of Movement” by Lead Curator Marisa Yiu, the event was followed by a tour led by Lawrence Wong and Perry Ip of Foster + Partners through the Murray, revealing the team’s design consideration behind the renovation endeavor of the 1969 government building revitalized into a hotel and in the urban context.
Design Trust would like to thank all the designers, architects, artists, scholars and archivists involved to bring this programme alive with Design Trust curatorial team and a group of enthusiastic exhibition ambassadors and volunteers, alongside Design Trust Board members, Trustee Council, International Advisory Council, Greater Bay Area Design council and our community of supporters and partners, with special thanks to Supporting Partner Peak Tramways Company, Symposium Partner HSBC, Gold Sponsors formalighting and Prada, and finissage event partners the Murray and Bollinger. For more information on Design Trust Exhibition 2026 please visit here.
