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Back for its third edition, Art Basel in Hong Kong is showing that it really means business. Here is everything you need to know
Comfort Blanket by Grayson Perry
When Art Basel announced that it was moving the Hong Kong fair from its traditional May slot to March, the industry gossip mill went into overdrive. Situating the fair at a more art-calendar-friendly midpoint between Art Basel in Miami Beach in December and the original Art Basel in June was cited as a contributing factor, while some speculated the change was partially motivated by a desire to get ahead of the growing Art Dubai fair, which takes place in late March, thus encouraging collectors to empty their pockets in Hong Kong first.
Whatever the reason, March is now the new home for Hong Kong’s Art Week, which brings with it the added bonus of avoiding May’s humidity—a welcome relief for those of us who’ve spent the last few years sweating it out at poolside parties and warehouse pop-up shows.
In addition to the new place in the calendar—and a change of fair director with Adeline Ooi replacing the Bonhams-bound Magnus Renfrew—Art Basel has also changed the days on which the fair takes place, moving from the established Wednesday-Sunday format to Friday-Tuesday. As a knock-on effect, all the other events and shows around town that seek to draw on the Basel crowd have shifted their own schedules accordingly, meaning that Art Week now extends for eight days, from Tuesday March 10 to Tuesday March 17.
This year’s fair sees 233 galleries from 37 countries showing works by around 3,000 artists, and once again takes place over two floors at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. Knowing where to start is often the hardest part, but to help you navigate your way through the maze, the attractions are divided into four main sections—Galleries, Encounters, Insights and Discoveries—while there are also sectors devoted to Film and Magazines outside the main fair space.
World Born by Leang Seckon
Galleries
The largest section of the fair features 179 of the world’s leading modern and contemporary art galleries, including the likes of Gagosian and White Cube. Notable new international galleries exhibiting for the first time include Eleven Rivington (New York), Herald Street (London) and Night Gallery (Los Angeles), while among the new exhibitors from Asia are am space (Hong Kong), Shrine Empire (Delhi) and Taiwan’s Liang Gallery and Michael Ku Gallery.
Encounters
Scattered around the fair and comprising the Encounters section are large-scale installations commissioned by Art Basel and curated by Australia’s Alexie Glass-Kantor, the executive director of Artspace in Sydney. You literally can’t miss these fair landmarks as they tend to tower above everything else. This year they include exciting new works by artists such as Hong Kong’s João Vasco Paiva, Chinese artist Xu Longsen, Indonesian artist Eko Nugroho and Korean painter and sculptor Lee Ufan.
Insights
Also back again this year is the Insights sector, which features specific solo or duo shows of new works by artists from 34 galleries based in the Asia or Asia-Pacific region. This includes leading London- and Hong Kong-based gallery Rossi and Rossi, whose programme under the direction of Fabio Rossi champions work by Asian artists. Rossi and Rossi will exhibit pieces by Cambodian artist Leang Seckon that offer intimate narratives of his memories of the civil war. Also notable in this sector is TKG+ from Taiwan, which bring works by multimedia artist Charwei Tsai, Athr Gallery from Saudi Arabia, which shows photographic works by Ahmed Mater, and Delhi-based Gallery Nature Morte, which will feature works by leading Indian artist Subodh Gupta.
Breast Stupa Topiary by Pinaree Sanpitak
Discoveries
Supporting artists in the early stages of their careers, the Discoveries section is the place to uncover the next big things before they launch into a wider orbit. This year the sector will include works by two hotly tipped young Hong Kong artists, Samson Young (am space) and Trevor Yeung (Blindspot Gallery). Artists in this section of the fair can also apply for the BMW Art Journey Award, a newly launched initiative that will provide one emerging artist the opportunity to travel to a destination of their choice and to transport their studio anywhere in the world.
Film
In addition to the fair’s four main sectors, the Film programme returns for its second year. Overseen by respected writer, curator, producer and artist Li Zhenhua, who also curated the Film sector in 2014, the programme features 38 works by 36 artists built around seven themes. Featured highlights include the premieres of new films by Chen Tianzhuo, Lu Yang and Song Kun, video works by Yu Cheng-ta, Cheng Ran and Yan Xing, and works from the 1960s and ’70s by Marina Abramovic and Michael Craig-Martin. All films screen at the agnès b. Cinema at the
Hong Kong Arts Centre from March 14-17.
Art Basel Opening Hours
Private View
Friday March 13
6pm-9pm
Saturday March 14
12pm-4pm
Sunday March 15
12pm-1pm
Vernissage
Saturday March 14
4pm-9pm
Public Days
Sunday March 15
1pm-8pm
Monday March 16
12pm-8pm
Tuesday March 17
12pm-5pm
Venue & Ticketing
Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, 1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai, 2582 8888. Tickets: 3128 8288, hkticketing.com
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