Art Basel Hong Kong returns this week for its largest edition since 2019 with support from Lead Partner UBS, reaching the end of lingering health and safety regulations in the wake of the pandemic. With its new director, Angelle Siyang-Le, the fair brings together 177 galleries from 32 different countries and territories from March 23—25 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center.
“I am truly honored to be appointed to lead Art Basel’s show in Hong Kong. Together with my colleagues and the broader Art Basel community, I look forward to further strengthening the show’s position as Asia’s premier fair,” said Siyang-Le, Director of Art Basel Hong Kong. “Likewise, I am excited to work closely with the city’s vibrant cultural community to reinforce Hong Kong’s position as a leading cultural hub. We are delighted to welcome back our international exhibitors and patrons to our show this March and to shine a global spotlight on the city.”
Sydney Shen, “Six Non-Natural Necessary Things (Hairties on Mt. Everest #1),” 2023, Digital fiber paper prints, brass, steel, clock movements, 40 x 50 cm, 16 x 20 inches; courtesy of the artist and Gallery Vacancy.
In this year’s edition, the fair continues to shine a spotlight on the art of Asia and the Asia Pacific region through a lineup featuring more than two-thirds of presenters with galleries located within that geography. Presenting for their first time at the fair are 22 art spaces including Paris’s Loevenbruck and Galerie Christophe Gaillard, London’s Union Pacific and Helly Nahmad Gallery London, Gallery Vacancy of Shanghai, New York’s Venus Over Manhattan, the Cologne-based Jan Kaps, and Kosaku Kanechika, Kotaro Nukaga, Yutaka Kikutake, and Takuro Someya Contemporary Art from Tokyo. Concurrently, those who have previously exhibited include names like Gajah Gallery, ROH Projects, Timothy Taylor, Nova Contemporary, Yavuz Gallery, Thaddaeus Ropac, Victoria Miro, Petzel, and many more.
The Encounters platform makes its return for the first time since 2019, once again curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor, the Executive Director of Artspace, Sydney. Glass-Kantor has selected 14 large-scale installations encompassed in the curatorial theme “This present, moment,” which is concerned with being present and holding space, both individually and collectively. Highlights to look out for include Trevor Yeung’s personified botanical work Mr. Cuddles Under the Eave with Blindspot Gallery, a cast of masked mannequin sculptures by Gimhongsok presented by Kukje Gallery, and the Ukrainian artist Stanislava Pinchuk’s marble installation The Wine Dark Sea, which examines migrant journeys and ideas of hospitality. The sector also features its first off-site project—a monumental installation of work by Awol Erizku at the center of Pacific Place, which was made possible by presenting gallery Ben Brown Fine Arts and partner Swire Properties.
Cassi Namoda, “The sensual side of Gods day,” 2023, oil on Belgian linen, 152.4 x 182.9 cm, 60 x 72 inches; photo by HV-studio, courtesy of the Artist and Xavier Hufkens, Brussels.
Along with the main exhibition floor and programming like the Encounters platform for large-scale installations, visitors will find sectors like Kabinett, which features thematic solo shows, and a roster of Conversations and Films. Highlights from Kabinett include solo presentations like Hans Hartung with Mazzoleni, a survey of Rasheed Araeen on view with Rossi & Rossi, Hu Qingyan with Galerie Urs Meile, and a show of works by Martin Margiela presented by Zeno X Gallery. Meanwhile, this year’s iteration of Conversations welcomes discussions between more than 85 artists, curators, gallerists, collectors, and critics, while the lineup featured in the Film sector is comprised of free screenings of 29 video works—like Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s MEMORIA. Also not to be missed is a site-specific moving image installation by the artist Pipilotti Rist titled Hand Me Your Trust, which was commissioned by M+, the fair, and UBS for the façade of the M+ museum.
Alice Wang, “Untitled,” 2023, Stainless steel, matte black and mirror finish, 15 pairs, dimensions range from 35.4 x 35.4 x 35.4 cm to 63 x 63 x 63 cm; courtesy of the artist and Capsule Shanghai.
