Art Basel Hong Kong returns, bigger and bolder than ever before

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Kukje Gallery presented a large-scale installation by artist Kimsooja, Deductive Object (2016)
Kukje Gallery presented a large-scale installation by artist Kimsooja, Deductive Object (2016), at the fifth edition of Art Basel Hong Kong
(Image credit: Artist Kimsooja)

Now in its fifth edition, Art Basel Hong Kong has become a firm annual fixture on the city’s cultural – and art collector’s – map. With almost 80,000 visitors and surprisingly robust sales reported on opening night, this edition featured a stronger selection of works than previous years, and noticeably less bling on show by 242 galleries from 34 countries.

Not that there weren’t plenty of crowd-pleasing works. Shen Shaomin’s Summit (2009) presented by Osage Gallery featured an ‘imaginary meeting’ of Ho Chi Minh, II-sung, Mao Zedong, Vladimir Lenin in crystal coffins with Fidel Castro still alive in a hospital bed. Sundaram Tagore Gallery showed Singaporean Jane Lee’s Instagram-worthy oozing thick oil paintings while at Mind Set Art Centre’s booth, Taiwanese artist Shi Jin-hua drew 100km of pencil lines over a 10m long canvas; and Rirkrit Tiravanija’s traditional bamboo structure containing 3D-printed bonsai trees drew a crowd.

There was plenty of Asian work on show led by Galerie du Monde’s showing of the historically important Fifth Moon Group; KaiKai Kiki’s Mr’s new kawaii-meets-destruction installation; STPI’s paper rubbings by Do Ho Suh; and Tina Keng Gallery’s Chinese Emperor 7 by Wang Huaiqing.

Notable highlights included Mexico City institution Kurimanzutto’s architecture-inspired brass installation; Galerie Gmurzynska showing new work by Fernando Botero; and Lucio Fontana’s slashed colourful canvases at Ben Brown.

Beyond the monolithic Convention Centre, hundreds of exhibitions across town included a stellar ‘Abstractions of the World’ collaboration with the Biennale of Sydney at Duddell’s while at Pacific Place, German media artist Julius Popp introduced Bit.Fall featuring digital information captured from newsfeeds in real time transformed into water droplets that are glimpsed for a fraction of a second in a 9m-tall curtain of water.

Duddell’s collaboration with the Biennale of Sydney

Untitled, by George Tjungurrayi, 2014, on view as part of Duddell’s collaboration with the Biennale of Sydney

(Image credit: George Tjungurrayi)

At M+ Pavilion, 'Ambiguously Yours: Gender in Hong Kong Popular Culture' (until 21 May) explores how local artists challenged traditional gender roles as the city’s culture blossomed during the 1980s and 1990s.

Wong Chuk Hang saw HK Walls annual street-art festival with public mural paintings and a face-off battle between artists, while Spring Workshop marked its final year with a mesmerising musical experience titled ‘An exposition, not an exhibition’ by American composer and artist Ari Benjamin Meyers.

For design lovers, ArtisTree in Taikoo Place is showing Zaha Hadid’s creative process through early drawings and sketches at an exhibition conceived by the late architect and artistic director of London’s Serpentine Gallery, Hans Ulrich Obrist (until 6 April).

Art Central’s airy white tents on the waterfront again proved popular with works by Indonesian artist Uji Handoko Eko Saputro who divided his painting into 2002 pieces to be sold to the public, Sin Sin gallery’s showing of Cuban artist Carlos García de la Nuez’s paintings; and Yuri Suzuki’s intriguing Sharevari interactive sound installation for Swarovski.

Happily, some of very best works were staged in the public domain: at the Peninsula Hotel, Royal Academy conceptual artist Sir Michael Craig-Martin created an intense yellow 4m high steel light bulb sculpture suspended above the hotel’s iconic entrance water feature, while local artist Kingsley Ng transformed two city trams into free moving artworks with his Twenty-Five Minutes Older.

Distinct Elevation, by Liam Gillick, 2017

Distinct Elevation, by Liam Gillick, 2017, at the Kerlin Gallery booth. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of the artist and Kerlin Gallery)

Berlin gallery Esther Schipper hosted works

Berlin gallery Esther Schipper hosted works by Ugo Rondinone, Liam Gillick, Christoph Keller, and Tomás Saraceno at its stand

(Image credit: Ugo Rondinone, Liam Gillick, Christoph Keller, and Tomás Saraceno)

Non-Foldings – Cosmic Explosion #1, by Haegue Yang, 2012,

Non-Foldings – Cosmic Explosion #1, by Haegue Yang, 2012, on view as part of Duddell’s collaboration with the Biennale of Sydney. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of Haegue Yang / STPI)

Peacock Garden, Taiwan, by Robert Zhao Renhui, exhibited by Mizuma Gallery

Peacock Garden, Taiwan, by Robert Zhao Renhui, exhibited by Mizuma Gallery

(Image credit: Robert Zhao Renhui)

Outside Myself (Monument Valley), by Tracey Emin, 1994,

Outside Myself (Monument Valley), by Tracey Emin, 1994, was exhibited by White Cube

(Image credit: Tracey Emin)

Right, Sonia, by Swoon, 2016.

Left, Untitled (Project for Dazed and Confused), by Barbara Kruger, 1996 / 2015, at Sprüth Magers.Right, Sonia, by Swoon, 2016, exhibited by Galerie LJ

(Image credit: Photography: Joshua White)

She Brought Us The Light We Needed, by Jules de Balincourt, 2014.

Left, She Brought Us The Light We Needed, by Jules de Balincourt, 2014. Right, a work by Angela Bulloch at Esther Schipper’s booth

(Image credit: Jules de Balincourt, Angela Bulloch)

Aggregation 13-NV-047, by Chun Kwang Young, 2013

Left, Aggregation 13-NV-047, by Chun Kwang Young, 2013, at Pearl Lam Galleries. Right, N°FOP0317PF1, Hur Kyung-ae, 2017, at Art Works Paris

(Image credit: Chun Kwang Young, Hur Kyung-ae)

São Paulo-based Galeria Nara Roesler brought works

São Paulo-based Galeria Nara Roesler brought works by Xavier Veilhan, Julio Le Parc, Vik Muniz and Marco Maggi

(Image credit: Xavier Veilhan, Julio Le Parc, Vik Muniz and Marco Maggi)

The Peninsula hotel presented Bright Idea, a site-specific work by Michael Craig-Martin.

The Peninsula hotel presented Bright Idea, a site-specific work by Michael Craig-Martin. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of the artist, Gagosian and The Peninsula Hong Kong. Photography: Simon J Nicol)

INFORMATION

Art Basel Hong Kong ran from 23–25 March. For more information, visit the website

ADDRESS

Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre 1 Expo Drive Wan Chai Hong Kong

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Catherine Shaw

Catherine Shaw is a writer, editor and consultant specialising in architecture and design. She has written and contributed to over ten books, including award-winning monographs on art collector and designer Alan Chan, and on architect William Lim's Asian design philosophy. She has also authored books on architect André Fu, on Turkish interior designer Zeynep Fadıllıoğlu, and on Beijing-based OPEN Architecture's most significant cultural projects across China.