With Covid travel restrictions finally over, 2024 is a big year for Art Basel Hong Kong as the fair has now returned to its pre-pandemic peak of 242 exhibiting galleries. That figure, according to director Angelle Siyang-Le, puts the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, where the fair opens Tuesday, at full capacity. There’s no getting bigger from here.
And yet, the fair keeps finding way to expand, with a series of public programs that extend it far into the city. There’s a program of film screenings, roundtable conversations, an off-site installation, a sector of the exhibition that is free and open to the public, and screenings of the site-specific “architectural film” Sparrow on the Sea, by artist and filmmaker Yang Fudong, onto the M+ museum’s LED facade.
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“We’re building a dialogue between the convention center and the city. Visitors will experience Hong Kong as a cultural hub. It’s not only just a fair anymore,” Siyang-Le told ARTnews in an interview Friday.
ARTnews spoke with Siyang-Le to discuss the state of Hong Kong’s culture scene since Covid, the future of Art Basel Hong Kong amid the arrival of other regional fairs in Asia, and what to expect from the recent passage of Article 23, the update to 2020’s much-criticized National Security Law.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
ARTnews: Last year was the first Art Basel since Covid travel restrictions had lifted. The city seems to be full reopened now with a full slate of events. What are you anticipating for the fair and the Hong Kong art scene this year?
Angelle Siyang-Le: For all of Asia, 2023 was about reopening because Asia, compared to the West, opened six to eight months later. Last year was so much about reopening and welcoming back the synergies and the people. This year for Asia is really about reconnecting. We have 65 more galleries participating compared to last year, which we call the full-scale show. We’re at the capacity of the convention center. We are maxed out. We are expecting a more diverse show, in terms of the lineup of the galleries, the art in the shows, as well as the visitors. Because, naturally, these galleries who are returning after a hiatus usually bring their followings. Their artists usually bring their group and their fans back to Hong Kong as well. What’s different, especially for people who haven’t been back to the show since what we call the “closet years”—the Covid years—is how connections have been built between the show at the convention center and the rest of the city.
This week is not only an art fair in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre anymore. This week has truly become an art week. We don’t have an art week organization or anything. This week evolved organically into an art week because everybody is coming to Hong Kong to see everything. All the art institutions, galleries, and auction houses—every aspect of this art ecosystem—is doing something this week.
For those who are coming back to Hong Kong, you will feel that the show is big—with 242 galleries, it’s not a small show—but also with more content inside. Compared to previous shows, we have one of our largest Encounters sector with 16 large-scale installations; 11 of them are brand new, created specifically for Art Basel Hong Kong. We are now also taking our art content into the city to build that connection [with the public]. One of the large-scale installations will be at Pacific Place [a mixed-use development in central Hong Kong], which is a collaboration between the galleries, Art Basel, and Swire Properties, which is a long-term partner. For the main show, we have one of the biggest Kabinett sectors with 33 projects. When you walk around the show, you will feel how much the Asian galleries are eager to show and retell the history of modern and contemporary art in our own regions. In our Kabinett sector, there are a lot of historical materials, spotlighting the Asian avant-garde.
We also have designated a public program area, because we feel that it is important to connect with the city, to connect with a wider audience, and to influence the general public. So we have a designated zone for non-ticket holders. Anyone can come to the convention center and participate in part of the Art Basel show—with the Film sector, with the Conversation sector—in this new format that we created last year called Exchange Circle, which is basically, an open format workshop space, where our partners and galleries can directly engage with visitors of the show. We want the show to build a dialogue with the city. One of our galleries is bringing work by the [Chinese artist] Yang Fudong, which is a collaboration with M+ and UBS. Obviously, M+ is new for those who have returned for the first time since Covid. On the LED facade will be projected Yang Fudong’s new film specifically created for [Art Basel Hong Kong]. It will play for the duration of the show and then it will be extended until June playing every night on the M+ LED facade. We’re building a dialogue between the convention center and the city. Visitors will experience Hong Kong as a cultural hub. It’s not only just a fair anymore.
In talking with Hong Kong galleries, they pretty universally told me that, since 2020, there has been a refocus in the city’s art scene on local talent and cultivating local arts infrastructure. Have you also tried to reflect that in the structure of the fair?
The Hong Kong community who has spoken with you is definitely right. During Covid, even though the border was closed and it wasn’t easy for us to travel, inside the city, there was never a lockdown, per se. So we were trying to carry on our day-to-day as much as we could. The Palace Museum and M+ both opened during Covid, which is crazy, because the scale of those museums are fairly large. Even within M+‘s the first year, during Covid, they received over two million visitors. Galleries too received a lot of visitors during that time. Some local galleries even opened second spaces like Grotto. During Covid, the south side of Hong Kong Island became a prominent destination for galleries. The Southside basically expanded all the way to Repulse Bay with over 20 galleries. A lot of them are our exhibitors. New galleries continue to pop up such as Podium, which was opened last year by two young Hong Kong art professionals.
For our show, Hong Kong has always had a strong presence. We have 29 Hong Kong galleries coming to the show and a lot of them are bringing very prominent works by young Hong Kong artists. For example, in our Encounters sector, [artist] Mak2 is a great representation of Hong Kong’s young generation of creative talent that is humorous, bold, provocative, and just wants to do things that haven’t been done before. She is bringing an installation called Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy (2024), in which she is copying a past concept of hers—basically it is two booths connected top-to-top, like a mirror booth on top of the booth on the ground. I think it will resonate with people, especially if they are from Hong Kong, because they will understand the humor from this artist.
Over the years, we’ve been trying to highlight different Hong Kong artists, especially during Covid when we built this deeper relationship with the community here. In 2020, we staged a fair called Hong Kong Spotlight and a lot of artists actually grew from this mini–Art Basel fair. 2020 was the cancelled year, but we still managed to stage one physical affair and a lot of artists grew out of that year, such as Steven Wong, who will be coming to the fair with Gallery Exit, and Mak2, who will show with de Sarthe. When we first established the partnership with M+, we co-commissioned an LED facade project with local artist Ellen Pao. We’ve tried different ways to bring in the community here.
There has been much talk in the last year about a forecasted economic slowdown in China, in addition to the wider slump in the global art market that we saw in 2023. Last year’s, UBS Art Basel Report found a 14 percent decline in sales across China and Hong Kong. As you prepare for this fair, how are you communicating with the galleries about what to expect from an economic perspective?
Obviously, Greater China was among the latest to reopen from Covid so that was obviously an impact to the art market. But the latest Art Basel UBS Art Market Report [released in mid-March] shows that China and Hong Kong have sprung back quite significantly. China has returned to being the second biggest art market in the world, behind the US and ahead of the UK. That percentage has grown to around 19 percent. I think when people return to Hong Kong [for the show], they will see it for themselves.
Hauser & Wirth opened a new street-level gallery space. For those who are familiar with Hong Kong real estate, a premium street-level space in the city center is not cheap. Christie’s will open its new Asia headquarters this year in a building designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. Sotheby’s is expanding their headquarters in Asia, and Phillips just opened their new six-story space last year next to M+. And during Covid, the gallery cluster expanded.
Those who are returning to Hong Kong will see the significant growth that the city has put together, as well, as the more attractions that Hong Kong galleries have put together. The local galleries in Hong Kong have really developed strong artist rosters and programs and those artists are now being recognized globally. That all contributes to the macro picture of the art market.
Late last year, we produced this survey of global collecting, which found that collectors from mainland China reported a high level of confidence in returning from Covid and a willingness to invest more. So all the data is actually showing that there is strong confidence being injected in the art market after Covid. Only time can tell how much this will be realized into tangible data.
In Asia, and China specifically, there’s been a lot of energy from young collectors — I’m thinking of collectors like Delora Xuanqiao Che, who founded the Macalline Center of Art, or M Woods founders Wanwan Lei and Lin Han. Do you think that is still the driving collecting force of contemporary art in the region, or at Art Basel Hong Kong specifically? Has there been any shift toward older collectors who were previously more interested in traditional art?
Absolutely. I personally call this group the new generation, rather than the young generation. What is a more significant phenomenon in Asia is the cultivation of a new group of collectors. It is probably more obvious, just because the younger generation is taking the power and they’re all very savvy about what contemporary art means to them. They all grew up in the era of contemporary art. The new younger collectors have a very sophisticated understanding of the art world. And, at the same time, some of the collectors who used to collect other categories, such as antiquities, is something we seen in the past year. These people started paying attention to contemporary art, either from the influence of a friend or their own children, and now they’ve started paying attention to contemporary art. Many of us know, if you’re an antiquities collector, the price point for collecting contemporary art is much more affordable comparatively. There are definitely new fairgoers consisting of this new generation of collectors.
Also, with the new galleries coming to Hong Kong, we have 23 first-time exhibitors in Hong Kong. A lot of them are young galleries with very strong programs and many of the founders are collectors themselves. For example, there is the Shanghai gallery Linseed. The founder, Zhuang Lingzhi, is very young and she has been a collector herself in the art industry for a very long time. Some of the Taiwanese galleries coming back as exhibitors, like PTT Space, is something we cherish because they naturally bring their own collector circles. Then there are also Japanese galleries like Waitingroom, which also has a very strong program and has a following of young collectors. Young gallery owners coming to the fair also brings a new group of fairgoers.
In recent years, Asia has seen three new fairs launch: Frieze Seoul, Art SG in Singapore, and Tokyo Gendai. How does the increased competition in the region affect how you build the fair? Or, how does it affect how you position the fair in the larger regional art ecosystem?
First of all, with all the other international events coming to Asia, it’s proven out that the decision Art Basel made in coming to Asia 12 years ago was the right decision. Our show has always been positioned as the leading international show in Asia. Art Basel Hong Kong, does not only represent Hong Kong, the city, but the whole region. That is what we are trying to highlight with the Insights sector, which spotlights Asian artists from galleries in Asia, or even from the West, if they have exclusively Asian programs. We are always trying to represent the region by elevating the Asian contemporary art scenes on a global stage.
We see it as a positive thing for the region to have international events in different cities, which obviously raises the awareness of Asia and the diversity of the region. People from outside Asia are starting to see that Hong Kong is very different from Singapore, even though for the longest time they were seen as brothers. Hong Kong is very different from Japan, or even Taiwan, even though its only an hour away from Hong Kong. [These new fairs] provide only more opportunities for people to come to learn about the different parts of the region. It’s also just natural in the US and Europe, where the art market has been established for a very long time. There have always been different international art events in those regions. So now, Asia has this prominent position in the art world, with our own different international events.
But [Art Basel’s] position has always been that we believe Hong Kong is the best city to host our flagship event. There are very obvious benefits: it’s tax free, geographically convenient, and it is still a financial hub, as well as 10-plus years of relationships and the foundation that we have built together with Hong Kong. And now, with M+ and the Palace Museum, we have these world-class institutions. We feel that Hong Kong is a cultural hub and is the best city for us to host our event.
Last week, the Hong Kong Parliament unanimously passed Article 23; when the National Security Law was passed a couple years ago, there were fears that there would be artistic stifling and a creative brain drain. How do you expect Article 23 to affect the growth of the art scene and market here going forward?
Obviously, we are monitoring all the changes around the world, around the city, and around the region. So far, since the introduction of the National Security Law in Hong Kong about three years ago, we have not really been impacted as an art fair. We have not changed any processes in the way we run the fair. We’re still operating the way we have since 2013 and so have our galleries. This year, we have more returning galleries. Our show, compared to last year has grow by about 37 percent, and a lot of galleries are coming back from the West. With China returning to the second spot in the global art market, we still see the confidence in galleries and artists, as well as collectors, in their willingness to come back to the fair.
Do you think Article 23 will affect the work that galleries bring? There have been, at times, more politically challenging work, both in presentations at the fair and in exhibitions in the city. Do you anticipate people backing off that going forward?
We haven’t really been impacted. Our process is the same as it has been for the other Art Basel fairs in other cities. We have the same production committee, and I’m going through the same selection of the works. So no, we do not foresee any significant impacts to the way we run the show.
Art Basel Hong Kong opens for its First Choice VIP day on Tuesday, March 26 at 12 p.m. It opens to the public beginning Thursday, March 30 at 2 p.m.