Art Basel sells out and Art Central jam-packed as record crowds flock to Hong Kong’s art fairs
A huge weekend for Hong Kong, with more than 70,000 attending the annual artistic extravaganzas
Tickets for Art Basel Hong Kong were sold out by the afternoon yesterday, as on the day before, a first in the art fair’s four-year history and a sign of the public’s ferocious appetite for cutting-edge visual art.
At around 3pm yesterday, walk-in visitors arriving at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai were taken aback when staff told them they would have to come back next year.
“I’ve come all the way from Los Angeles. I wish they’d make an exception for foreign visitors. I am really disappointed,” said a Chinese-American who identified herself only as Wendy.
She said she often visited art fairs in other countries and this was the first time she had been turned away.
“I will probably have to try Art Central instead,” she said, referring to the second-largest art fair in
Hong Kong that occupies a large, white marquee on the harbourfront.
