Art021, the first Chinese mainland art fair brand to debut in Hong Kong, opened on Wednesday with a five-sector exhibition in the city’s iconic venues, including Victoria Park’s family-friendly Main Lawn and M+ museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District. This fresh wave of art is invigorating the city’s residents and artwork investors.
The 12-day ART021 HONG KONG Contemporary Art Fair, is reputed to be “one of the largest and most significant art fairs in Asia”.
According to a briefing from the Hong Kong Administrative Region government, the event has been driven by the city’s ambition to enrich its cultural fabric and is expected to generate a substantial volume in sales of artworks.
Art021’s five sections — Galleries, Videos, Sculpture, Expansion, and GBA Art Week — aim to connect the Global South by exploring the art practices and market potential of the West and the East.
From American artist Robert Indiana’s motif red-lettered word LOVE to the contemporary Chinese artist Shang Liang’s Sofa Man, the fair in Hong Kong is designed to be all-inclusive and visitor-friendly. The exotic Iranian artists exploring the link between Asian cultural legacies and the present are another must-see.
Nearly 90 galleries from 13 countries and regions are exhibiting works, and more than 20,000 individuals have pre-registered to attend the fair.
Hong Kong-based film star Daniel Wu Neh-Tsu, described as “a stalwart supporter of artistic development”, is this year’s Arts and Culture Ambassador for the fair.
“Hong Kong remains a major hub for the art market, and there is definitely room for a new fair in town. The creative format and location can make it another landmark event in the calendar for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area,” said Julien-Loic Garin, founder of online platform Culture Plus Asia and a veteran professional in Hong Kong’s arts and culture community.
Garin said Art021 will “definitely face challenges in its first edition” in Hong Kong. Art021 Art Fair in Shanghai in 2013 recorded estimated sales of 1 billion yuan ($140.8 million).
David Chau, co-founder of the Art021 group, said that as the most mature and largest art market in Asia, Hong Kong is a great place to hold large-scale cultural events to boost the entire economy.
Chau said the company chose Hong Kong because of its “mature” art ecosystem, saying: “Everything is mature here. There are a lot of great collectors.”
According to the Census and Statistics Department, the total trade value of works of art, collectors’ pieces and antiques in Hong Kong is approximately $105.5 billion, putting the city among the top three art trading centers in the world.
However, Mathias Woo, artist director of Zuni Icosahedron, a Hong Kong-based international experimental theater company, said that compared to the top-layer cities of art and cultural activities, Hong Kong still “lags behind in terms of its facilities and infrastructure”.
He said the Art Fair’s diverse range of genres on show presents a challenge to the city’s ability to connect galleries and artists from the Global South to the international market. However, this was “a bold and ambitious” decision that has positioned both Art Fair and Hong Kong as a super art connector of the region.
Garin, a French-born artist who devotes most of his career life in Hong Kong, said, “I hope it will give a lot of attention to some emerging artists of the region,”.
“Hong Kong needs a policy to develop the institutions and venues to carry out its vision of connecting the Global South and expanding its scope of influences in the global art market,” Woo added.
At least, the event is among the forerunners showcasing galleries from “underrepresented” regions including the Chinese mainland, Asia, Africa and South America, Garin said.
The government-supported fair aims to promote Chinese contemporary art to the world, with expectations that it will bring in millions of dollars to the city’s economy, according to the SAR government.
