Opening in three weeks, the 2019 edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong welcomes 242 leading galleries from 35 countries and territories. Alongside a robust roster of returning galleries, this year's show features 21 galleries participating for the first time. With over half of the exhibitors having gallery spaces in Asia and the Asia Pacific, Art Basel’s Hong Kong show reinforces its ongoing commitment to the region. In addition to showcasing exceptional art from Asia and across the globe within its Galleries, Insights, Discoveries and Encounters sectors, the show also presents carefully curated exhibitions in the Kabinett sector, an ambitious Film program, as well as the fair's renowned talks series Conversations.
Kabinett
Providing galleries with an opportunity to present curated exhibitions in separately delineated spaces within their booths, this year’s Kabinett sector will include 21 conceptual presentations by established and emerging artists, with a particularly strong focus on artists from Asia.
Highlights include:
- ‘The Realm of Solitude’ by Taiwanese artist Wang Pan-youn at Tina Keng Gallery
- Kukje Gallery’s presentation of oil paintings made from 1964 onwards by Yoo Youngkuk, one of the founders of Korean abstraction
- An introduction of important works by Filipino artist Pacita Abad at Silverlens
- Gajah Gallery’s presentation of paintings by the late Burmese artist Bagyi Aung Soe, whose legacy challenges art history's prevailing narratives and frameworks
- New works by Korean artist Lee Bul at Lehmann Maupin
Film
For its sixth edition, multi-media artist and film producer Li Zhenhua brings together 27 film and video works inspired by the current sociopolitical climate.
Highlights include:
- A selection of films on accomplished Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong, including the world premiere of ‘On the Riverbanks of Berlin’, a documentary by Yang Bo about Liu’s 2018 site-specific project in Berlin; ‘Liu Xiaodong: Hometown Boy’ directed by Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-Hsien, looking into the artist's practice; and the 2006 documentary ‘Dong’ by Chinese director Jia Zhangke, which was screened at the 2006 Venice International Film Festival and the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival
- ‘Spring Fever’ by Lou Ye, which won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009
- The Short Film Program ‘Missing Police’, comprised of three short films by Beijing-based artist and director Ju Anqi: ‘Big Character’, ‘Drill Man’ and ‘A Missing Policeman’, each portraying the 1960s, 1980s and the present in China.
Conversations
Free to the public and programmed by writer and editor Stephanie Bailey, this year's Conversations program features 22 panels, bringing together leading artists, gallerists, collectors, art historians, curators, museum directors and critics from across the world.
Highlights include:
- The Premiere Artist Talk featuring Ellen Pau in conversation with Isaac Leung
- Danh Vō and Doryun Chong discussing how celebrated artist Isamu Noguchi’s practice informed Vō's current exhibition at the M+ Pavilion
- A conversation between Juliana Huxtable, Sonia Khurana, Victoria Sin and Melati Suryodarmo, moderated by Wu Tsang, focusing on the practice of performance
- A collaboration with Art Asia Pacific, celebrating the art magazine's 25th anniversary with a series of daily panels that revisit and examine contemporary art in Asia in the 1990s from curatorial, institutional, technological and commercial perspectives
- Curators of recent exhibitions anchored to the geography of Asia discussing the exhibition format as a mode of map-making that seeks out new understandings, perspectives, and dis/connections in a region composed of many regions.
Speakers include Joowon Park, Hsieh Feng-Rong, Pauline J. Yao, Shirley Surya, Natasha Ginwala, and moderated by Qinyi Lim.
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