The Hong Kong edition of the premier fair for modernist and contemporary art has already announced its program. What will draw visitors to Art Basel Hong Kong this time?
In December 2019 at Art Basel Miami, notorious artist-provocateur Maurizio Cattelan exhibited a conceptual piece titled “Comedian” — a banana attached to the wall with silver duct tape — at the Perrotin Gallery stand. Three editions of the work sold instantly for $120,000 each, and the assemblage itself became a lasting internet meme. The piece’s notoriety grew so great that five years later, in November 2024, it sold at Sotheby’s for $6.2 mln, exceeding the initial estimate of $1.5 mln. The buyer was a Chinese collector and founder of the TRON cryptocurrency platform, Justin Sun. He, along with numerous other Chinese collectors who have made their country the world’s second-largest art market after the US and built around 3,000 museums at home over the last decade, represents the key players at the Hong Kong fair. For these collectors, leading auction houses Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips have opened massive offices with exhibition spaces here, and 240 gallerists from 42 countries will converge on Asia’s business capital.
The intricacies of the Hong Kong showcase don’t end there. Like collectors worldwide, those in the Asia-Pacific region are deeply committed to their national heritage. They connect with and understand the aesthetics of local contemporary artists: even if artists like Yayoi Kusama, Chiharu Shiota, or Yoshitomo Nara haven’t achieved international fame, they can be incredibly sought-after here. Both dealers bringing Asian-born artists now based in Europe and America and organizers, who have allowed over 45% Asian gallery participation, are mindful of this preference.
This season, the fair continues its initiative to include representatives from the Global South — among the 23 newcomers are galleries from India, South Africa, UAE, Guatemala, and Nigeria. The Film section has partnered with the renowned Hong Kong art center Para Site, which will host all public film program events; the popular Encounters section for monumental works will feature two dozen pieces by artists including Pacita Abad, Christopher K. Ho, Lu Yang, Liam Gillick, and Monster Chetwynd. Additionally, the fair has introduced its own MGM Discoveries Art Prize to support young artists: the winner will receive a $50,000 check at the opening and the opportunity for a solo exhibition in Macau. Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen will be the face of the show: his animated work Night Charades, which reinterprets 21st-century Chinese cinema, will be displayed on the giant digital screen at the M+ Museum of Contemporary Visual Culture.
As it has for all 12 years of its existence, Art Basel Hong Kong will otherwise follow its parent fair’s winning Basel formula — “megagalleries and big names.”
New York’s Acquavella Galleries will bring works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso, Jasper Johns, and Jackson Pollock; London’s Mazzoleni will present a selection of abstractions by Victor Vasarely, Lucio Fontana, and Agostino Bonalumi. Perrotin will showcase Izumi Kato and Emma Webster, while Matthew Marks Gallery will present Katharina Fritsch, Simone Leigh, and Ellsworth Kelly. Berlin’s Bastian will display Joseph Beuys sculptures alongside Andy Warhol’s portraits, while Galleria Continua and Mayoral promise collections by masters Michelangelo Pistoletto and Joan Miró.
While Russian galleries are again absent from the fair, there will be a small Russian artistic presence in Hong Kong: Vienna’s Layr will present the legacy of Soviet textile artist Anna Andreeva, whose graphic works are also in New York’s MoMA collection, and Paris’s Galerie Allen will offer collectors sculptures and installations by Kirill Savchenkov.
Art Basel Hong Kong will run from March 28 to 30 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Preview days for collectors and VIP guests will take place during the two days before the official opening.
Photo: courtesy of the artist and Arario Gallery/artbasel.com; courtesy of Maggiore g.a.m./artbasel.com; courtesy of the artist and Galerie Krinzinger./artbasel.com; courtesy of the Artists and Pearl Lam Galleries/artbasel.com; contesy of the artist and CLC Gallery Venture/artbasel.com
