ART FAIRS:Art Basel Hong Kong 2019,Part I

Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world’s premier art shows for Modern and contemporary art, 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. Art Basel’s engagement has expanded beyond art fairs through a number of new initiatives such as Art Basel Cities, working with partner cities on cultural programs (Part II).

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Art Basel Archive

242 International galleries from 35 countries and territories across Asia, Europe, North and South America, the Middle East and Africa participate in Art Basel Hong Kong 2019. This year’s show features 21 galleries participating in the Hong Kong show for the first time. Art Basel Hong Kong presents art from the world’s leading Modern and contemporary art galleries, displaying paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, photographs, film, video and digital artworks from the 20^th and 21^st Centuries. The main sector “Galleries” features 196 of the world’s leading galleries. This year’s Galleries sector sees several solo presentations, such as Liu Xiaodong, Christopher Wool and a new installation by Simon Starling. The sector “Insights” features presentations by one or two artists with exceptional historical materials and strong thematic exhibitions by 21 galleries. Insights illustrates Asian art history by presenting works of important artists from Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. Focused on solo shows by emerging artists, “Discoveries” this year will feature 25 galleries presenting artists as Jong Oh, Lubna Chowdhary, an installation by Anna Hulačová entitled “Pathetic Poetic” that offers an insight into the artist’s worldview. Providing galleries with an opportunity to present curated exhibitions in separately delineated spaces within their booths, this year’s “Kabinett” sector include 21 conceptual presentations by established and emerging artists, with a particularly strong focus on artists from Asia. The 2019 edition of “Encounters” consist of 12 institutional-scale installations, with eight works premiering at this year’s show in Hong Kong. This year’s edition focuses on current issues of disorientation and uncertainty by looking back at the past and speculating about the future. The sector brings together artists from different backgrounds and generations who are reconfiguring prosaic materials in an attempt to represent the complexity of today’s world. Referencing science fiction, modernist forms and dystopian narratives, the first meridian opens with Lee Bul’s “Willing To Be Vulnerable – Metalized Balloon”, a ten-meter-long replica of a Zeppelin based on the footage of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster. Lee Bul’s investigation into the impossibility of utopian ideas. Jose Dávila’s “Homage to The Square” is part of an ongoing series that reflects on the legacy and influence of Josef Albers’ theories on the perception and interaction of color through a mathematically determined format of squares, the installation consists of kinetic mobile sculptures that gently move and refract color as visitors move through them. In the 6^th edition of the “Film” sector, multi-media artist and film producer Li Zhenhua brings together 27 film and video works inspired by the current sociopolitical climate. Among them on presentation are:  “On the other Riverbanks in Berlin” is a documentary by Yang Bo about Liu Xiaodong’s 2018 site-specific project in Berlin. Liu’s project focuses on queer and transgender issues. The two main subjects are Sasha Maria von Halbach, a professional actor, and Zhuang Wei, a Hong Kong–based conceptual artist. Von Halbach and her partner have been living together in their beautiful home in Berlin for many years, while Zhuang’s home is merely a place for work and sleep – every item in his home has a function directly related to his art practice. “Miraculous Trajectories” is a new 70-minute film written and directed by Chinese artist Cheng Ran. It is based on his nine-hour epic “In Course of the Miraculous” (2015), which imagines the stories behind three real-life mysterious disappearances in 1924, 1975 and 2011. This screening marks the world premiere of this dialogue-free feature. Chinese electronic new wave musician Shao Yanpeng composed the original soundtrack for the film and will perform it live, creating an immersive viewing and listening experience for audiences. Directed by Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Liu Xiaodong’s “Hometown Boy” is a look into the practice of the accomplished Chinese painter. In this film, Liu returns to his hometown of Jincheng in Liaoning Province to spend three months painting his family and childhood friends while documenting the experience through diary entries, sketches and photographs. The film offers a panoramic view of Liu Jincheng’s memories, beginning with when he left as an aspiring 17-year-old art student. Then, Jincheng was a bustling little town that revolved around the paper mill. Three decades later the physical, social, and economic landscape has changed drastically. Years of environmental degradation have taken their toll. “Centripetal” explores how early generations of Hong Kong artists adopted video as a progressive art form, revealing how work in the medium has played a significant role in shaping the region’s art history. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, inexpensive portable cameras resulted in an increase in video production within the art world. In these works, the artists manipulate images, sound and text while incorporating unique montage techniques to reorient video from television broadcasting’s reverence for linear storytelling toward an experimental articulation of the cultural context of their times. Isaac Leung, chairman of Videotage, selected the videos for this screening program, drawing from the Videotage Media Art Collection (VMAC).

Info: Art Basel Hong Kong, Hong Kong Convention And Exhibition Centre, 1 Harbour Rd, Wan Chai, Hong Kond, Duration: 27-31/3/19, Days & Hours: Preview (by invitation only) Wed (27/3) 14:00-20:00, Thu (28/3) 13:00-17:00 & Fri-Sat (29-30/3) 12:00-13:00,  Vernissage: Thu (28/3) 17:00-21:00. Public Days: Fri-Sat (29-30/3) 13:00-20:00 & Sun (31/3) 11:00-18:00, Admission: Single Day Ticket: Fri (29/3): HKD 375, Sat-Sun (30-31/3) HKD 475, Half Day Ticket: All sold out, Evening Ticket (29/3 or 30/3 after 17:30pm): HKD 250, Premier Pass (28-30/3): HKD 2,880, www.artbasel.com