Art Basel
Art Basel Hong Kong full-scale returns with an objective turnover
- 2024-04-01
- Culture & Leisure
- The Young Reporter
- By: YANG Haicen、WANG LudanEdited by: Lisheng CHENG
- 2024-04-01
The 11th edition of Art Basel Hong Kong was held from Mar. 28 to 30 at the Convention and Exhibition Center, with more than 80,000 visitors and totaling $39.4 million, recording a 4% increase in global turnover. Art Basel 2024 showcased the work from 242 of the world's leading galleries from 40 countries and territories. Lu Caiyun, Chairman of UBS Wealth Management Asia, said in a public address that art market sales in Mainland China and Hong Kong reached approximately US$12.2 billion, a 9% increase year-on-year. "While the cloud of high interest rates, inflation and political instability continues to slow down growth at the top end of the market, buyers are particularly active in the lower price points,” said Clare McAndrew, the founder of Arts Economics. This year, 23 galleries from Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas exhibited in Hong Kong for the first time, with an increase of 65 galleries over 2023, according to Art Basel Hong Kong. “Our goal is to connect visitors from around the world with our home, Hong Kong, through the collaboration and innovation inspired by art and artists," said the director of Art Basel Hong Kong Sylvia Lok in public address.
Art Basel returns to Hong Kong, smaller with more local artists
- 2021-05-29
- Culture & Leisure
- The Young Reporter
- By: KOO Chi Tung 顧知桐、WANG YichunEdited by: WANG Yichun
- 2021-05-29
Art Basel Hong Kong returned to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre last week for the first time in two years with a hybrid exhibition of online activities and a smaller display. The annual art exhibition featured 104 galleries from 23 countries with more local and Asian art this year. “This fair seems to have a kind of feeling of excitement maybe. It’s like a lot of people are feeling the spring time and they want to come out,” said Kaitlin Chan, an associate at Empty Gallery. According to Ms Chan, the attendance this year was strong. “The circumstances of having an art fair at this stage amid the pandemic is that people are eager to do something different from their usual routine,” she added. Mrs Ren, 74, an art lover and collector from Taiwan, said she attends the exhibition every year to learn and purchase modern art pieces by young artists. “Because these antique paintings should be kept in museums for appreciation, they cannot affect your life. So I discovered paintings by young people create an environment affecting emotions,” she said.
Lacking writers and readers: the critical art writing industry is in dilemma
- 2018-04-02
- Culture & Leisure
- The Young Reporter
- By: Wallis WangEdited by: Lloyd Hewitt-Robinson
- 2018-04-02
The critical art writing industry is always considered as something obscure and profound by the general public. It has become hard to stick solely to the art industry in the commercial society to which we live in nowadays. Compared to other financial and economic-related jobs, things related to art are the minority. Asked about the writing ecology, Elaine Ng, Editor and Publisher of ArtAsiaPacific in Hong Kong, stated that finding professional art writers is "super challenging". "I would say that in terms of a career choice in Hong Kong, it’s not even an option," Ms.Ng said. Ms.Ng also suggested that it’s difficult to be critical in some Asian countries like the Philippines because of cultural reasons. Keith Wallace, Editor-in-Chief of Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, also pointed out that some of the younger writers have a language problem whilst writing, which need to be fixed and improved upon. And he also emphasized the quality and professionalism of writers who write exhibition reviews. "They think they are writing to a professor, and you really have to change that language," Mr. Wallace said, "and I think the other point is if you are making a negative or a questioning comment, it has to be qualified in some way, and it can’t be just a personal opinion and a generalisation." Mr. Wallace added. The common language used in the art industry nowadays is English, and according to Mr. Wallace, the translations sometimes can be quite difficult. Due to globalization, the unification of language can also be a new problem for some local artists, who are only familiar with their own mother language. Denial Sehin Ho, Co-Founder and Editor-at-Large of Ran Dian, which is a magazine that aims to promote contemporary art in China, and publish in both English and Chinese, brought up a previous …