As well as gifting the city’s art lovers with an unprecedented opportunity to encounter works from some of the world’s leading galleries, Hong Kong Art Week, observed in the last week of March, also offers an invaluable platform to artists, curators and galleries closer home.

At this year’s Art Basel Hong Kong (ABHK), more than half of the 240 participating galleries hail from the Asia-Pacific, including 28 exhibitors with a permanent base in the city. Of these, notably 16 are homegrown galleries with no spaces elsewhere in the world. These include 10 Chancery Lane, Blindspot Gallery, Empty Gallery, Gallery Exit, GDM (Galerie du Monde), Grotto Fine Art, Hanart TZ Gallery, Kiang Malingue, Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery, Anna Ning Fine Art, Ora-Ora, and Rossi & Rossi. Hong Kong’s PHD Group is represented in the Discoveries section, while Lucie Chang Fine Arts, Contemporary by Angela Li, and SC Gallery figure in the Insights section.

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10 Chancery Lane has participated in ABHK every year since the fair started in 2013. Founder and director Katie de Tilly says that the fair has allowed the gallery to build longstanding relationships with local and regional collectors. “The Art Basel brand attracts the best of both art and collectors,” she says. “Asia’s galleries are showing their best and most rare works from the region — displaying discoveries, important historical works and new commissions from their sought-after artists.”

Wan Chai gallery space Kiang Malingue has been a regular at the fair for many years as well. Co-founder Edouard Malingue calls ABHK “the most important rendezvous for the art world in the region”, adding: “It is definitely the moment when you can meet friends and new collectors from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia.”

Hosting such a banner event helps affirm the city’s status as an incubator of China’s burgeoning art scene. ABHK presents a vital opportunity for checking out art from across the mainland. Notably, Vitamin Creative Space — which has spaces in both Beijing and Guangzhou — is back this year.  

Malingue noted a fresh influx of collectors from across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area last year: “Hong Kong Art Week is definitely reinforcing the city’s unique cultural position in the Greater Bay Area’s ecosystem.”

De Tilly says that among the 11 cities in the Greater Bay Area, where the art scene has been expanding fast, it is perhaps Hong Kong that has evolved as the most mature. She attributes such growth to both the sophistication of the city’s community of collectors and the diversity and high standards of its galleries and museums.  

Investing in opportunity

Hong Kong Art Week has a direct impact on local artists’ livelihoods. Public and private institutions commission artists to come up with special displays to mark the week. This year, The Peninsula hotel commissioned pieces from Hong Kong artists Phoebe Hui and Chris Cheung (also known as h0nh1m), as well as Shanghai-based artist Lin Fanglu, as part of its Art in Resonance program.

Cheung intends his installation work, The Flow Pavilion, hosted at the hotel’s The Verandah restaurant, to offer viewers a “refreshing break from the hustle and bustle of daily life”. He welcomes the opportunity to interact with “unexpected visitors in a nontraditional venue, and provide them with surprising and delightful experiences.”

“I hope that everyone who enters this space can embark on a meditative journey, allowing their inner self to reach a state of calmness and have a serene and introspective experience,” he adds. “I want to underscore the uniqueness of each participant’s encounter. Ultimately, I seek to evoke a resonance within the inner spirit of our audience, ensuring that this meditative installation leaves a lasting impression.”

Emerging voices  

This year’s Art Central boasts an especially robust focus on local talent. Notably, Hong Kong-based video artist May Fung’s work is being celebrated alongside those of five other internationally renowned pioneers as part of the fair’s Legend program. The number of commissions for works created especially for the fair has gone up. These include an installation by Hong Kong artist Nadim Abbas. A Brazen Rift (After Branzi) explores the potential of radical futuristic architecture.

“Personally, I understand the impact of this opportunity firsthand,” says curator Enoch Cheng, who launched his career as an artist through Art Central’s inaugural Performance program in 2017. He draws attention to the significant number of emerging local artists brought under the spotlight at the fair. Names on the list include Kensa Hung (Karin Weber Gallery), Kila Cheung (Ojiri Gallery), Kazy Chan (JPS Gallery), and Rosalyn Ng (Soluna Fine Art), as well as performing artists IV Chan, Tsui Hou-lam and Wong Pak-hang, Shavonne Wong, and Wong Ka-ying (KY).

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“Collectively, these artists reflect the energy and diversity of Hong Kong’s art scene at Art Central this year,” Cheng says. “Art Central’s programming highlights both established and emerging artists, reinforcing Hong Kong’s role in global art history.

“Crucially, Art Central nurtures experimental practices that often struggle to find institutional backing in a city, or are yet to find acceptance in the commercial art market. The fair has built trust within the Hong Kong community, positioning itself as a platform that not only showcases art but also cultivates a sustainable and dynamic ecosystem.”