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How did you two meet? is a ‘recipe’ for a public programme from the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal. The CCA invited us to put our spin on this recipe at M+. Our How did you two meet? recipe goes like this: Pick two seemingly disconnected objects in the M+ Collections, usually by juxtaposing one of the oldest with one of the newest objects, and narrate a story that connects them.

This time, curators delved into M+’s Moving Image collection. Ulanda Blair, Curator, Moving Image, introduced one of the oldest moving image works in the collection, and Chanel Kong, Associate Curator, Moving Image, introduced one of the newest. Both works will be on view to the public next year.

How did you two meet? is a ‘recipe’ for a public programme from the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal. The CCA invited us to put our spin on this recipe at M+. Our How did you two meet? recipe goes like this: Pick two seemingly disconnected objects in the M+ Collections, usually by juxtaposing some of the oldest and newest objects, and narrate a story that connects them.

This time, two visual art curators have accepted the challenge, exploring two works— one old, one new—by Chinese artists. Pi Li introduced a 1974 piece by the Beijing-based artist Zhang Wei, while Isabella Tam chose one created by the Shanghai-and-New York-based artist Miao Ying in 2016. Below, we share the result of this ‘meeting’.

In the work of the London-based Archigram group, architecture was about change, possibilities, and alternatives. Rather than building anything in the conventional sense, the group created speculative, utopian designs through publishing, teaching, and exhibitions. In the 1960s, the group—composed of Warren Chalk, Peter Cook, Dennis Crompton, David Greene, Ron Herron, and Michael Webb—was largely seen as a peripheral agitator to the architectural mainstream. The last five decades, however, have shown the broader influence and relevance of Archigram’s projects.

The Archigram Archive, consisting of around 20,000 items from over 200 projects, entered the M+ Collections in 2019. Alongside a series of events titled Archigram Cities in November 2020, M+ commissioned Beijing-based Drawing Architecture Studio (DAS) to create three posters inspired by Archigram’s practice. These intricate drawings show how Archigram’s ideas of the city resonate with architectural projects and urban phenomena in Asia.

How did you two meet? is a ‘recipe’ for a public programme from the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal. The CCA invited us to put our spin on this recipe at M+. Our How did you two meet? recipe goes like this: Pick two seemingly disconnected objects in the M+ Collections, and narrate a story that connects them.

Like most museums, ours will not put all of our Collections on view once we open. So we challenged Lesley Ma, M+ Curator, Ink Art, to connect two of the oldest and latest works from the depths of the M+ Visual Art collection that, upon our opening, will still be stored in our vaults. Below, we share the results of this theoretical encounter.