Art Basel Arrives in Hong Kong this Spring

Art collectors from the Far East will be flocking to Hong Kong this spring for the first Asian edition of Art Basel, May 23 - 26, 2013.

Art Basel will gather 245 of the world's leading art galleries for its first edition in Hong Kong. The event will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) May 23-26 and will emphasis Asian and Asian-Pacific galleries, showcasing works by more than 3,000 artists will be showcased ranging from young stars to Modern masters of the early 20th century, hailing from both Asia and the West.

The show has been conceptualized into four sectors: Galleries, Insights, Discoveries and Encounters:

Galleries, the main sector of Art Basel's Hong Kong edition, will present 171 Modern and contemporary art galleries, selected on the strength of their overall gallery program. The sector presents the highest-quality paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, photographs, video and editioned works from both the 20th and 21st centuries.

The Galleries sector will feature a strong presence by Modern art galleries from Asia and the West. Significant work from the past 100 years will be featured, providing an opportunity for visitors to discover and explore contemporary and historical art from different regions, cultures and aesthetic backgrounds.

The Insights sector, sited at the heart of both floor levels, will present 47 galleries from Asia and the Asia-Pacific region with curatorial projects developed specifically for the show. This sector is conceived to promote a curatorial mindset and encourage precise contextual and thematic presentations of many important artists from the art scene in Asia over the last 100 years.

Presenting a mix of solo shows, exceptional historical material and strong thematic group exhibitions, Insights will be a destination for visitors eager to learn more about art from across the Asia and Asia-Pacific regions, diverse histories, ideas and aesthetics.

The Discoveries sector will present a particularly strong showcase of solo and two-person exhibitions by emerging contemporary artists from across the world with an accompanying $25,000 Discoveries Prize, which will be awarded to one artist presented within this sector.

The 27 participating galleries include Karma International, Zurich (Thomas Sauter); Mendes Wood, S�o Paulo (Lucas Arruda); mother's tankstation, Dublin (Brendan Earley); Saamlung, Hong Kong (Joan Vasco Paiva); Take Ninagawa, Tokyo (Ryoko Aoki); Weingrull, Karlsruhe (Benjamin Appel); Galerie du Monde, Hong Kong (Lam Tung Pang); and 2P Contemporary Art Gallery, Hong Kong (Tang Kwok Hin).

Discoveries will feature 14 galleries exhibiting for the first time in Hong Kong: BolteLang, Zurich (Benjamin Senior); Balice Hertling, Paris (Alexander May); Galleria S.A.L.E.S, Rome (Avish Khebrehzadeh); Lisa Cooley, New York (Erin Shireff); Monitor, Rome (Adam Avikainen); Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London (Francesca DiMattio); Juliette Jongma, Amsterdam (Nina Yuen); Kalfayan, Athens (Hrair Sarkissian); Galeria Plan B, Cluj (Navid Nuur); RaebervonStenglin, Zurich (David Keating); Galleryske, Bangalore (Mariam Suhail); Utopian Slumps, Melbourne (Sanne Mestrom); Workplace Gallery, Tyne & Wear (Marcus Coates); and Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai (Wei Chen).

The Encounters sector will provide visitors with the opportunity to see artworks on an institutional scale, presenting large-scale sculptural and installation pieces by leading artists from around the world, sited in prominent locations throughout the two exhibition halls. Yuko Hasegawa, Chief Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo and curator of Sharjah Biennial 11, are in the process of curating these selections.

Art Basel has a long history of dynamic exhibition and talk programs accompanying its shows. In Hong Kong, Art Basel will offer art collectors and enthusiasts extensive opportunities to learn about the latest developments in contemporary art. Conversations, the long-established morning program of talks and panel discussions, offers audiences first-hand access to renowned cultural speakers and opinion-formers from across the international art world.

Complementing the Conversations program, the afternoon Salon series serves as a platform for shorter, more freestyle presentations, including artist talks, panel discussions, lectures and book launches. Asia Art Archive will also be staging an independent parallel program of talks, taking place onsite daily during the fair. Further details on all the talks programming will be released in the coming months.

Art Basel will be working closely with key cultural organizations across the city, including Asia Art Archive (AAA); the Asia Society; M+, Hong Kong's future museum for visual culture; Para/Site Art Space and Spring Workshop, offering an associated program of events throughout Hong Kong that will take place during the week of the shows.

About Art Basel
Art Basel stages the world's premier art shows for Modern and contemporary works, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, and Hong Kong. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, which is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented, and the content of parallel programming produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition. In addition to ambitious stands featuring leading galleries from around the globe, each show's singular exhibition sectors spotlight the latest developments in the visual arts, offering visitors new ideas, new inspiration and new contacts in the art world.