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Art Basel announces the return of ambitious, full-scale program for its Hong Kong show with 177 galleries from 32 countries and territories – its largest in the city since 2019 – including the sector for monumental works and a new site-specific commission by Pipilotti Rist
Marking its largest show since 2019, the 2023 edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong will welcome 177 galleries from 32 countries and territories across Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Africa, plus the return of all the fair's special sectors, including Encounters, Kabinett, Conversations, and Film. Over two-thirds of participating galleries have exhibition spaces in the region – with 33 galleries having exhibition spaces in Hong Kong – reinforcing Art Basel's commitment to showcasing exceptional art from its host city and across Asia and the Asia Pacific.
Curated for the sixth time by Alexie Glass-Kantor – Executive Director of Artspace, Sydney and the curator for the Australian pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale – Encounters will feature 13 large-scale installations under the theme 'This present, moment':
'After an extended period apart, the opportunity to activate Encounters feels especially important. Every project in this year's sector considers in some way how we can hold space – how we might be present – individually and collectively in the singularity and precarity of this moment,' says Glass-Kantor.
Highlights from Encounters include:
For the full list of artists and galleries presenting in Encounters, please visit artbasel.com/hongkong/encounters.
Taking place at the HKCEC from March 22–25, Conversations – curated by Stephanie Bailey, writer, editor, and Art Basel Content Advisor and Editor, Asia – creates a platform for dynamic dialogues between members of the international art world, who offer their unique perspectives on producing, collecting and exhibiting art. Highlights from the program include:
Three talks will take place ahead of the fair, including:
Conversations are free for all. Further details will be announced closer to the fair.
Curated by multi-media artist and film producer Li Zhenhua, the Film program will feature eight screenings and 29 video works by artists from across the globe, including Mónica de Miranda, Angela Su, Tromarama, and Shen Xin, among others. Videotage and Ghost 2565 – two important non-profit organizations that focus on video art in the region – will each curate a screening.
The Film program will launch with a special screening of 'MEMORIA' by Palme-D'or-winning director Apichatpong Weerasethakul at Theatre II, HKCEC on March 22. Set in Colombia, 'MEMORIA' is Weerasethakul's first feature made outside Thailand. Starring Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton, the special screening spotlights Weerasethakul's achievements in his filmmaking career.
As part of the short film screenings, Ghost 2565 will present Weerasethakul's contemporary art practice in the form of a short film on March 25 at Louis Koo Cinema, Hong Kong Arts Centre.
Additional short film program highlights include:
The short film program is held at the Louis Koo Cinema of the Hong Kong Arts Centre.
The Film program is free to the public. Further details will be announced closer to the fair.
15 galleries will participate in Kabinett, the sector for thematic solo presentations within galleries' main booths, with a strong focus on Asia.
Highlights from this year's sector include:
For the full list of artists and galleries presentingin Kabinett, please visit artbasel.com/hongkong/kabinett.
Commissioned by M+ and supported by Art Basel and UBS, 'Hand Me Your Trust' is a brand-new site-specific moving image work by Pipilotti Rist for the M+ Facade. The facade is set within the undulating architecture of Hong Kong's world-famous skyline along Victoria Harbour. Presented in the hustle and bustle of a city with millions of inhabitants, the work incorporates Rist's typically vivid color palettes and freeform camera work, echoing the dynamic shifts of the scale of Hong Kong's urban landscape.
Rist approaches the concept of the hand from a variety of scales, mirroring the dynamics of the city itself from an intimate human scale to one that is the size of a building. As the hands weave and chart a path around various objects at varying velocities, Rist takes on not only Hong Kong's design and architecture heritage, but also the individual hands that sculpted, placed, and forged these ubiquitous forms into being. For Rist, her work looks at hands not only as working and creating, but also ornamentally: our hands can be beautiful extensions of our emotions, to communicate with other living beings without words. The work will be shown on M+ Facade daily from 7 to 9 pm from March 18 to May 21 and every Saturday and Sunday from 7 to 9 pm from 22 May to 17 June 2023.
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