Art Basel Hong Kong 2024: what to see

Art Basel Hong Kong 2024 (28-30 March) sees the fair’s return to the city, bigger and better than ever with 242 international galleries – 65 more than the 2023 event – alongside 23 newcomers, who are joining the fair for the first time. As the cultural hub in Asia and Asia Pacific, Hong Kong neatly ties together the region’s evolving art landscape and, as Angelle Siyang-Le, the show’s director, says, ‘connects guests from all around the world by offering possibilities of collaboration and innovation inspired by art and artists’.

With the fair spanning a programme of films and talks to curated sections that go far beyond individual galleries, navigating the event is easier said than done, so we’ve put together this guide to the exhibitions and shows – both on-site and off-site – that we’re most excited about during Art Basel Hong Kong 2024.

Art Basel Hong Kong 2024 highlights

Encounters

First introduced in 2013, Encounters is, this year, curated by Alexie Glass-Cantor, the executive director of Artspace Sydney. It will feature 16 large-scale projects from global artists from Australia’s Namimapu Maymuru-White to India’s Jitish Kallat, whose piece Wind  Study comprises a suite of intricate drawings realised with fire, wind, smoke and ink. There are 11 works made especially for the fair, including Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy by Hong Kong-based artist Mak2, which takes over two fair booths connected top-to-top and explores ideas of duplication, evolution, and simulation. 

We, however, have our eye on South Korean artist Haegue Yang’s Contingent Spheres. Presented together with Galerie Chantal Crousel (Paris), Kukje Gallery (Seoul, Busan) and Kurimanzutto (Mexico City, New York), the super-sized installation comprises two colourful rattan sculptures that reference 1960s Op Art and binakol, a motif used in traditional Filipino textiles that together create a dizzying effect. 

Kabinett

From Busan’s Johyun Gallery to A Thousand Plateaus Art  Space in Chengdu, this year’s Kabinett sector, staged within galleries’ main booths, will feature a record 33 galleries. There is a strong focus on solo projects from the Asia Pacific region, featuring artists such as Thailand’s Pinaree Sanpitak – represented by Singapore and  Sydney’s Yavuz Gallery – whose new works illustrate her longstanding exploration of organic structures and materials. 

Make sure to stop by London’s Herald St, whose exhibition of acrylic and ink paintings by Hong Kong-born, London-based Cary Kwok showcases his cinematic exploration of Queer interaction, domesticity, and art history. 

Film

Freely accessible to the public and located on-site at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the film programme (27-30 March) has this year been curated by multimedia artist and film producer Li Zhenhua, and features collaborations with cultural video channel Nowness Asia, as well as Videotage, one of the region’s leading non-profit organisations dedicated to video art. Highlights include A New Old Play (2021) by Chinese filmmaker Qiu Jiongjion, and Sorry for the Late Reply, a single-channel animation created by Hong Kong artist Wong Ping.

Don’t miss out on German artist Anne Imhof’s Sex (2021). Presented by Sprüth Magers, the film is composed of footage created during the first chapter of Imhof’s eponymous performance cycle at Tate Modern in 2019, and is characterised by her dark, visual language.  

Conversations

A platform for dynamic dialogues between some of the best in the art world, Conversations features a programme of 11 panels and speakers from over 15 countries and territories, put together by Stephanie Bailey, writer, editor, and Art Basel’s Asia content advisor and editor. Unfolding in Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre’s auditorium, Conversations (27-30 March) is also freely accessible to the public with highlights including: a panel moderated by Tai Kwun’s head of art, Pi Li, where collectors including Uli Sigg will share their approaches to building era-defining collections of contemporary Chinese art; a roundtable discussion on decolonising cultural institutions in the 21st century with the likes of Zeitz Mocaa chief curator and executive director Koyo Kouoh and M+ Museum director Suhanya Raffel; and a discussion between legendary Japanese artists Shinro Ohtake and Takashi Murakami, organised with Art Week Tokyo, where the duo will reflect on their relationships with Japan’s shape-shifting capital city.

What's new

Not only have 69 galleries returned for Art Basel Hong Kong 2024, but 23 newcomers are joining the fair for the first time. From the Tim Van Laere Gallery, based in Antwerp and Rome, to Los Angeles’ Nonaka-Hill and a bunch from Taipei including PTT Space, Each Modern, and Chini Gallery, there’s lots to get excited about. Shenzhen’s Mangrove Gallery, for example, is presenting a solo exhibition by Chinese artist Tan Jong. Called ‘Nook of a Hazy Dream’, the show comprises several pieces of work focusing on the Chinese diaspora in Thailand and envisioning a return to an imagined homeland through the perspective of a fictional character, using materials such as spices, fabrics, glass, and floor tiles, resulting in an immersive experience through visual, auditory and olfactory elements. 

Art Basel Hong Kong 2024 runs 28-30 March

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