Everything you need to know about Art Basel Hong Kong 2023: the cultural extravaganza returns to HKCEC with its biggest event in 4 years, with panel talks, public installations and film screenings

Mar 17 , 2023

Art Basel Hong Kong returned to a hybrid format in 2021, and is preparing for its biggest physical event yet in 2023. Photo: LightRocket via Getty Images

From March 23 to March 25, Art Basel will open its doors to the public with its biggest instalment since 2019, set across 2 floors of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre

The event will feature 177 galleries from 32 countries and territories, plus off-site public art at Pacific Place and film screenings including Memoria with Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton

Hong Kong’s cultural landscape might have suffered a muted few years, but despite the odds, the art world has proved surprisingly resilient. Quick to adjust to the changing world, Art Basel launched online viewing rooms in 2020 with its first digital-only fair, followed a year later with a hybrid format which attracted the support of both international galleries and spectators. This year, the annual art extravaganza returns with its biggest instalment since 2019, set once again across two floors of the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre. Visitors can check exhibits from a sole-testing 177 galleries from 32 countries and territories when public viewing opens from March 23 to March 25.

“While the experience of seeing art in person cannot be replaced, we did witness a number of digital elements [which] have proven to be beneficial and complementary to our physical show,” says Angelle Siyang-Le, the new director of Art Basel Hong Kong. Siyang-Le – who previously oversaw the development of Greater China for Art Basel – took the reins in November 2022 from Adeline Ooi, who now oversees other initiatives as the regional director for Art Basel Asia. Today, digital initiatives are not a necessity owing to restrictions; they are a means “to connect to the broadest possible audiences,” says Siyang-Le.

Angelle Siyang-Le, director of Art Basel Hong Kong. Photo: Art Basel

As such, despite the drop of restrictions this year’s edition will still be complemented by online viewing rooms, explains Siyang-Le, “which will give art enthusiasts around the world the opportunity to explore and inquire about works from the show floor, as well as online exclusives”. Online observers will also benefit from glimpses of the show floor, with social media channels sharing behind-the-scenes access, glimpses of art work being unboxed and even a series of artist interviews.

The Conversations programme – which features over 85 speakers – also retains its hybrid format, offering panel discussions before the in-person, on-site discussions. This, says Siyang-Le, “engages overseas audiences in our dynamic dialogue among international artists, gallerists, curators, critics, collectors and more”.

The 2023 edition of Art Basel Hong Kong also sees the return of the Encounters section of the fair – home to large-scale installations and sculptures. Curated for the sixth time by Australian artist Alexie Glass-Kantor, who served as curator for the Australian pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale, Encounters feature 13 on-site installations centred around the theme “This present, moment”.

“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 Siyang-Le. “Experiencing vulnerability, precarity and uncertainty are conditions that are persistent in history and woven throughout our lifetimes. Being present in the moment is a gift, with the future always an unknown. In this moment, we look to artists for insight, speculation and possibility.”

Mr Cuddles Under the Eave by Trevor Yeung. Photo: Art Basel

The Encounters section features a piece that features 13 uprooted money trees, suspended by a metallic grid. Titled Mr Cuddles Under the Eave and brought to the fair by Hong Kong’s Blindspot Gallery, Trevor Yeung’s piece references the damage caused by Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018. “Yeung examines the way we manoeuvre through our social habitat, delving into the complexities and unspoken rules defining the way we interact,” explains Siyang-Le.

Another off-site project is staged at Pacific Place, a first for the fair which brings large-scale art out to the general public. Gravity by Los Angeles-based contemporary artist Awol Erizku features a 10-metre King Tutankhamun sculpture, which will remain on display until April 2, “to make modern and contemporary art more accessible to the younger generation of art patrons, this year for the first time”, says Siyang-Le.