The cultural matrix that lies in the heart of the Orient is the city of Hong Kong which has always been a  crossroad between the Occident and the Orient. It is the provenance of modern innovation, artistic and cultural  confluence from the ambits of these two worlds. It is the marrying of ideas and exchange, a conduit of these two  spheres of influence. This daring new age of modernity brings with it visions of alternate realities, new  possibilities, and the conjuring of dreams of utopia. This unification of art, utopia, futurism, modernity and  forward-thinking is celebrated in this year’s 2025 exhibition: “Picasso for Asia: A Conversation”, which would  be hosted at the M+ contemporary museum of visual arts and culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District of  Hong Kong. It is indeed a conversation, as more than sixty masterpieces by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) from the  Musée national Picasso-Paris (MnPP), which holds the largest collection of Picasso’s works where the iconic  pieces of Portrait of a Man (1902–1903), The Acrobat (1930), Figures by the Sea (1931), Large Still Life with  Pedestal Table (1931), Portrait of Dora Maar (1937), Massacre in Korea (1951), and the sculptural series The  Bathers (1956), will be displayed in conjunction with over eighty works by thirty of Asia’s most prominent  artists that have made a mark in the Asian art scene from the early twentieth century to the present moment. This  pivotal moment for Hong Kong heralds a profound intersection of art and economy, between East and West, as  the city prepares to embrace the legacy of Picasso for only the second time in its storied history. 

The work of Picasso speaks to the style and idea of Cubism which characterised his predominant mode, which is  definitive of the modernist period, a time of great change and rupture with the advent of the scientific revolution  and the onset of the First World War. This recent revival of Picasso harks back to this history whilst looking  towards a future unfolding. Picasso’s work is ultimately an ode to the circle of life, where his works mirror the  worlds they inhabit. The same rupture is demonstrated in the landscape of Hong Kong, through its avant-garde  architecture which echoes the themes and notions of shifting space within Cubist Thought, through the seraphic  hands of the late Zaha Hadid—an architect and artist in its truest sense of the word—capturing thoughts,  emotions and amorphous ideas, breathing form and structure into them, birthing them out from the womb of her  psyche. She is truly the dream-maker of our time. At the symbolic level, Hong Kong represents a place of  nurture for creation that ecompasses both the physical and metaphysical.  

Hong Kong, historically being a free trade zone from the days of colonial rule, inherited an economic and  regulatory framework that facilitated unrestricted trade which in turn has positioned it as a conduit for the  growth of artistic expression. Furthermore, Hong Kong is a space that has foreign investment freedom which  imposes no restriction of investments to the city, making it an attractive destination for international businesses  seeking to establish operations in the Asian continent. This open investment climate fosters the growth of trade  by allowing foreign entities to participate in the local economy. This set of historically-established conditions  has laid the groundwork for the prosperity of the city as a global economic hub, but also with it, blossomed like  the bauhinia flower as a grounds for the discourse touching on the universal themes of life and its parallel  realities. These resonances reverberate across the city’s urban landscape breathing new life into it through the  architectural works of Zaha Hadid, “Queen of the Curve”, for her innovative manipulation of form in the  architectural field. 

One of her most prominent creations “The Henderson”, came under construction in 2019, and blossomed into  fruition in 2024. A groundbreaking landmark located in Hong Kong’s Central business district, a 36-storey  skyscraper situated by the Chater Garden alongside I. M. Pei’s Bank of China Tower. Wherein, the site was at 2  Murray Road, reportedly the world’s most expensive plot when purchased by developer Henderson Land in  2017, coming at £764,000 per square metre. As Hadid herself remarked that “[w]ith this site, we were very  conscious that we had to create something extraordinary and unique, something 21st century and forward looking.” Moreover, that “[they] had the ambition to create a special piece of architecture that would be noticed  and make waves around the world.” Furthermore, Dr. Martin Lee, Chairman for Henderson Land Group said  “My vision is to create a building like no other. Bringing together world-class architecture with our ambition to  constantly innovate for people and for the future. To build an icon not just for Hong Kong, but also for the 

world.” The construction of The Henderson marked a turning point in the future-building of Hong Kong through  the expressive medium of the architectural artistic form.  

This great architectural piece amalgamates the conceptions of modernist futurism and the biomorphic  conceptual style, which transforms this physical projection of form into a metaphysical envisioning of utopia.  The curvaceous volumes of the grand structure creates a facade that mimics the overlapping flower petals of the  flower of prosperity, clad in more than 4,000 panels of double-laminated glass that between them have 1,000  different curvatures—an architectural structure that evokes the image of a steely mechanical pre-budding  bauhinia x blakeana, commonly known as the “Hong Kong orchid tree”. The hybridity that is reflected in the  form of the steel and glass and that of the botanical flower echoes the historical floral symbol that came to  define the emblem of Hong Kong, which points to the natural creation of the parent bauhinia plants of bauhinia  purpurea, and bauhinia variegata—both of which are capable of autogamy (self-fertilisation) and xenogamy  (fertilisation through cross-pollination).  

This unification of steel and botany is integrated into the structural form of the building, with the body of the  building elevated above the ground and will be connected to Hong Kong’s network of raised pedestrian  walkways straight into two MTR (Mass Transit Railway) stations and the verdant Chater Garden, which brings  nature into the building via two-air balconies and an enclosed sky garden. As Zaha Hadid architects says–it  wants The Henderson to feel like an extension of the public park. Moreover, the sky garden will accommodate a  running track while a banquet hall on the top floor is set to offer views across the city and the waters of Victoria  Harbour.  

With the waves of innovation comes Hadid’s stroke of creative genius—“deconstructivist, brutal, sharp,  severe” —these aren’t words that describe Hadid, but rather the style and form of her structures, most notably  observed through the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Jockey Club Innovation Tower. The structure’s  asymmetrical and lopsided form, accompanied with the sharp metallic lines, with uneven, steely slates layered  on top of one another, again speaks to the avant-garde elements within Hadid’s works, particularly in her  manipulation of form and style. Hadid remarked herself regarding the structure at the Hong Kong Polytechnic  University that, “[o]ur concept is to melt Hong Kong’s traditional towers and platforms into fluid-like  architecture, seamlessly connecting the ground, exterior walls, and roof.” Paradoxically, Hadid blended both  elements of fluidity and sharp lines and forms within the structure, it simultaneously stands in juxtaposition to  the surrounding local architectural landscape of Hong Kong as a shining beacon of creative revolt, yet also  integrating all aspects of the structure into a harmonised unity where all elements are ‘seamlessly’ connected.  

In parallel to Hadid’s creations, the construction of the Bank of China Tower designed by I.M. Pei was also a  monumental moment in the history of Hong Kong architecture being the first supertall building outside of the  United States which broke the 1,000ft height barrier. Moreover, the site was previously occupied by the Murray  House, a British colonial structure. The Gargantua of this brave new structure augured a burgeoning capitalist  force of a city that would come to dominate global exchange in decades to come, a majestic tower representing a  modern-day Chinese Empire built on the backs of its own men wherein, this speaks to the primordial impulse  that is the driving force behind the Goliaths of this city, as they hew through stones towards the path of  modernity, becoming that shining city on the hill; the ideal to many who seeks for betterment, advancement and  progress.  

The marital knot between the commercial and the aesthetic have long been tied in the days of the city’s infancy,  and in its rapid and steady germination, the viral seeds of futurism and modernity has already latched onto and  penetrated into the nucleus of the seedling, colonising it and thus manifesting a parturition of a new age of  endosymbiotic existence. This primordial impulse injects itself into the nonage of Hong Kong’s architectural  scene, in the same thread of sentiment that became the hallmark of modernism, Cubism, futurism, and the  utopian ideal that Hong Kong continues to represent. 

This dialogue and conversation between the Occident and Orient is represented through Picasso’s work and in  the works of Zaha Hadid, in the pre-existing modernist and pioneering architectural landscape of her Hong  Kong structures. Such parallels are also observed in the mirror images between Picasso’s 1909 painting “The  Reservoir, Horta de Ebro” and the behemoth that is the Bank of China Tower, particularly in relation to their deconstructed formulations marked by geometric shapes reassembled in abstract manners. The Bank of China  Tower employs triangular and diamond geometric shapes, both utilising sharp edges and lines, with trajectories  jutting out hubristically reaching towards the sky like the Tower of Babel.  

Hadid’s very own name speaks to the prophetic future that lies ahead for her. Zaha Hadid who is of Iraqi-British  descent, and her first name Zaha of Arabic origin, means “to shine” or “to be radiant”, mirrors the steely  geometric, futurist and cubist forms in the works of Picasso, both of which had parallel themes in their own  lives, as well as in their works. Hadid, her surname meaning “iron” prefigures the iron flower of The Henderson.  

These parallel concepts project a narrative of Hong Kong’s bauhinia, a chronicle of the flower that is Hong  Kong, an artistic haven where the city is both an economic powerhouse yet also in turn with its economic might,  may transform into a greenhouse for the housing of a multiplicity of botanical species that effloresce under its  care and keeping. Hence, under the pastoral care of the bauhinia, its ovules brought about the inflorescence of  many talents and pioneers of their relative fields, which continue to enrich both the economic, tellurian and the  creative landscape of this constantly evolving city.  

These notions of urban and botanical hybridity in architecture are coming to the fore in recent years. As MAD  Architects had recently unveiled the design for the Lishui Airport in China dubbed “forest city,” boasting green  landscapes and valleys in the Southwest Zhejiang Province; architecture as an artform in its own right lend their  utility to the modern “economy of value”, as seen through Hadid’s works which breathe new life into society and  economy. Hadid’s architectural objects mirror the idea of fragmented potential and idealised realities, which  become the harbingers for change. 

As much as The Henderson is an artistic creation nurtured into fruition in the greenhouse that is Hong Kong, it  too became a habitat for many centres of luxury and prestige, where it houses the British auction house  Christie’s, setting up its Asia Pacific headquarters across four floors. Founded in 1766 by James Christie in  London, Christie’s specialises in the sale of fine arts, antiques and luxury goods, owning some of the world’s  most prestigious and historic artefacts, from the relics of the Qing Dynasty, to the Impressionistic paintings of  the late Vincent Van Gogh and the diamond heirlooms from the days of Empire. These remnants of history  harmonises the worlds of art and economy through the Henderson’s envelopment of Christie’s—now known for  its prestigious auctions and high profile sales—presenting an intimate portrait of the synthesis of these two  realities. The amalgamation of art and economy is most apparent in the intimate connection between the late  Zaha Hadid and Pablo Picasso who, similarly to Hadid, had left an indelible mark in the world of art history, and  will continue to inspire many young artists across diverse fields.  

Her impact on Hong Kong’s economic landscape still lives on—in synergy with other leading arts and cultural  events such as the annual Art Basel and Art Central during March, the Henderson Land Group, through their art  initiative Henderson Arts @ Central, will be paying homage to the icon with an exhibition titled “Collected  Light: From Legacy to Future” with the central theme of the exhibition revolving around light as a medium for  artistic expression. The exhibition serves as a metaphor for broader themes such as empowerment, cultural  heritage, and the interplay between tradition and modernity. With the light of Hadid’s legacy and with the  colossus of her influence, we will soon witness the rise of Hadid’s final project—the Landmark XRL, (or the  West Kowloon High Speed Rail Terminus), which further speaks to the legacy that will metamorphose in the  years to come as a monument of her oeuvre, culminating her architectural genius in its marriage into the futurist  realms of environmentalism and sustainability—through the manifestation of her vision from its intricate design  sketches to its reality. 

This sense of creative revolt and revolutionary thinking is further evident in her earliest work of the Peak  Leisure Club, a design that won Hadid an international prize and recognition in 1983 which marked her debut  into the world of architecture. In the Peak Leisure Club’s design, Hadid envisioned a space that burrowed into  the hillside, blurring the lines between architecture and topography. The virtual reality version of her paintings  for the design highlight her talent for creating images that seem to transcend the surface on which they lie.  “These works have the idea of zero gravity, a kind of floating – that is the incredible thing she achieves in these  paintings.” says curator Hans Ulrich Obrist.  

Hadid was truly an avant-garde artist ahead of her time, as much of her designs was nearly impossible to  achieve before the advent of computer-aided design. Early in her career, Hadid painted her buildings as  abstractions like the many artistic objects of the Cubist period, where sometimes almost on the verge of  disassembly and collapse. This was certainly the case in Hadid’s 1983 Peak Leisure Club design, painting it as it  dissolved into a “confetti snowstorm” as she described it. The legacy of The Henderson is as much Hadid’s  mark on the city, as it is an enduring symbol of Hong Kong as more than just any trading hub. The steely  structure may also serve as a monument to Hadid and her design ethos, which she once remarked while she  taught at the academic institutions such as Harvard and Columbia, saying that “I don’t think you can teach  architecture. You can inspire people”. In her final days, Hadid echoes this sentiment through her design  philosophy, where she expresses a desire for her buildings to have deep connection with its surroundings, as  seen through Hong Kong’s bauhinia to Hadid’s Henderson.  

With Hadid’s untimely death, the bauhinia flower unfurls its delicate petals, a fleeting testament to nature’s  rhythm of bloom and wither, echoing the cyclical dance of life itself. The changing tides and waves of our seas  mirror this reality; they rise and fall with an unyielding cadence, shaping our navigation through life’s vast  ocean. Each wave that crashes upon the shore is a reminder that while change is inescapable, it ultimately leads  us back to familiar territory. As new chapters unfold, they give birth to narratives that build upon those that  came before, crafting a tapestry of enlightenment. The waves of change are governed by the moon’s elusive  pull—guiding the ships on its course. With each shift in tide comes a shift in direction, as we traverse hopeful  towards that shining city on a hill, where dreams converge and destinies await. Thus, the lasting image of the  steely bauhinia flower of The Henderson is symbolic of the place that is Hong Kong—an oasis where art & its  “isms” flourish, establishing itself as the domain for discourse of the narratives to come, and its destinies foretold through the amalgamation of art and economy.