The fifth edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong, which featured 242 premier galleries from 34 countries and territories, has ended on a high note. This year’s show included memorable moments such as:
- Our Conversations and Salon series was well received, offering visitors over 25 engaging sessions including the Salon panel 'Taking Stock: An Art Market Report'. The discussion followed the release of The Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, which covers all aspects of the international art market in 2016.
- Kingsley Ng’s Twenty-Five Minutes Older, a moving installation in which two of Hong Kong’s iconic public trams were transformed into traveling works of art. The project was commissioned by Art Basel and supported by MGM Resorts Art & Culture.
- Another highlight was 'Virtual Frontiers: Artists Experimenting with Tilt Brush' presented by Art Basel and Google Arts & Culture, where visitors explored new virtual reality works created by artists: boychild, Cao Fei, Robin Rhode, Sun Xun, and Yang Yongliang. The works were produced using Google’s Tilt Brush - a 3D drawing and painting application.
- Nonny de la Peña’s project, 'Passage: The Life of a Wall on Lin He Road', a new iteration of 'Safely Manoeuvring Across Lin He Road' by Lin Yilin, presented by Asia Art Archive, also proved very popular amongst visitors as well.
Journalists from across the world attended, writing overwhelmingly positive reviews. Forbes stated that ‘since its inception five years ago, Art Basel in Hong Kong has transformed the city into one of Asia’s most important cultural hubs.’ In addition, The New York Times observed that '…in the five years since Art Basel first began in Hong Kong, it has become perhaps the most important annual event on the regional art calendar[…] When it comes to Asian art, Art Basel Hong Kong is the place to go[…]' Financial Times reported that ‘Dealers find an audience for more challenging work at the fifth edition of the fair [...] [Art Basel’s] growth maps the burgeoning engagement of the Asia Pacific region with international contemporary art.’
The five show days were attended by private collectors as well as directors, curators, trustees and patrons from nearly 80 leading international museums and institutions across 20 countries, including Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Long Museum, Shanghai; MoMA PS1, New York; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney; National Gallery Singapore, Singapore; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul; New Museum, New York; Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Serpentine Galleries, London; Tate, London and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
With numerous gallery openings and an expanded program of parallel events, the Art Basel week continued to spotlight Hong Kong's vibrant arts and cultural scene.
(from “Art Basel Hong Kong” newsletter 4th April 2017)