Post-pandemic Art Basel’s Hong Kong Show will take place next March. Also, Art Basel is planning for this to be the largest show in the city, since the beginning of Covid-19. This year’s show will be cut for the 242 exhibitors who participated in the 2019 show. Nevertheless, this year’s show will have a 30 percent increase compared to the 2022 edition.
Strong Contingent Expected at the Post-pandemic Art Basel’s Hong Kong
The show will take place at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. The date of the event is from March 21 to 25. Also, the VIP preview will take place in the first two days. New leadership for the fair is in the air as well.
Angelle Siyang-Le is the new director of Art Basel Hong Kong. Previously, she worked as Art Basel’s head of development for Greater China and regional head of gallery relations in Asia. “We have a strong contingent from Hong Kong, with 32 galleries having exhibition spaces in the city. In addition to galleries from mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea, the fair will also feature strong presentations from Southeast Asia and India”, she added.
Adeline Ooi is still the Asia director of Art Basel. Her main focus is the strategic expansion of the Swiss fair in the area. The company came across new possibilities in Asia, when Covid-19 hit the world. it also played a key role in many local events, such as Art Week Tokyo in Japan and S.E.A. Focus in Singapore.
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Additionally, top-level management at Art Basel is changing. Global director Marc Spiegler retires after a decade. Also, this month Noah Horowitz will return to assume the newly created position of Art Basel CEO.
Lifted COVID Measures Made Attendance Easier
There is also a huge change when it comes to the traveling restrictions, connected with the pandemic. On the fourth and sixth day after their arrival, persons entering Hong Kong from outside the country and Taiwan will no longer need to conduct PCR testing.
PCR tests are still necessary upon arrival at the airport and on the second day. Additionally, travelers must undergo lateral flow tests (quick antigen tests) seven days in a row.
For the first time in March, 21 exhibitors from around the world will participate in the Hong Kong event. This includes Galerie Christophe Gaillard and Loevenbruck from Paris, Jan Kaps from Cologne, and Helly Nahmad Gallery, London. Four galleries from Tokyo—Kosaku Kanechika, Kotaro Nukaga, Takuro Someya Contemporary Art, and Yutaka Kikutake will attend the show.
Some foreign exhibitors who opted out of the Hong Kong show because of the epidemic will also attend this time. This includes Simon Lee, Xavier Hufkens, Victoria Miro, and many others. “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”, Siyang-Le said in a statement.
