8 Supersized Works to See During Art Basel in Hong Kong

These are the works people will be talking about inside the fair and across the city this week.

1. teamLab's Continuous at Tamar Park

The artwork effecting the most dramatic change to the Hong Kong landscape this week is teamLab's introduction of 'Resonating Trees' and 'Resonating Ovoids' to Tamar Park, right next to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The illuminated trees and egg-shaped sculptures are designed to change colour in response to the presence of people, waves, and wind. Continuous can be viewed from 25 March through 2 June 2024.

2. Yang Fudong's Sparrow on the Sea at M+

Across the harbour from the fair, the M+ museum's facade is showing Yang Fudong's new film Sparrow on the Sea (2024) from 22 March until 9 June 2024. Shot in Hong Kong, the black and white film takes inspiration from a golden age in the city's cinema history, from the 1970s to the 1990s.

'Hong Kong, with its beauty and diversity, holds a special place in my heart as the birthplace of great movies and music from my childhood,' Yang said.

3. Haegue Yang's Contingent Spheres at Art Basel in Hong Kong

Inside the fair, South Korean artist Haegue Yang will present two ratan sculptures as one of 16 large-scale works in the Encounters sector. Presented by Kukje Gallery, Kurimanzutto, and Galerie Chantal Crousel, the works reference 1960s Op Art and binakol, a motif used in traditional textiles in the Philippines that creates a dizzying effect.

4. Daniel Boyd's Doan at Pacific Place

Just one work in Encounters is situated outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Australian artist Daniel Boyd's Doan is showing at Pacific Place in Admiralty from 21 March to 7 April 2024. Comprising moving image, a mirrored floor, and a window treatment, the installation uses the dot motif found in Indigenous Australian art.

Alexie Glass-Kantor, who curated the Encounters sector, told Ocula 'Doan is a really great introduction to [Boyd's] skilful way of working in complex spaces through installation, architecture, and moving image.'

'The impact and relevance of First Nations artists leading important cultural conversations with powerful self-determination and ways of making art that are invitations for societal reflection, transformation, and reimagining is very necessary and timely and Daniel Boyd is at the forefront of this movement,' she said.

5. Joana Vasconcelos' Enchanted Forest at Taikoo Place

Another major installation backed by one of Hong Kong's supersized real estate developments is Joana Vasconcelos' Enchanted Forest at Cambridge House, Taikoo Place, towards the east end of the island. Working with a team of 60 for six months, the Portuguese artist created ornately decorated textile trees that are illuminated with LEDs. The work will remain on view through 28 April.

'In this exhibition, I aim to forge a connection with the community, happiness, peace, and everything happening in the world,' Vasconcelos said.

6. Lí Wei's Once upon a time at Art Basel in Hong Kong

Lí Wei is showing lifelike sculptures of six world leaders as seven-year-olds as part of the Encounters programme. Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and Angela Merkel are among the child leaders who will share a Hong Kong playground at the fair.

7. Adeela Suleman's When you had enough of Paradise at Art Basel in Hong Kong

Another work in the Encounters sector, Adeela Suleman's When you had enough of Paradise uses similar techniques to those in After All Its Always Somebody Else Who Dies (2018), pictured above. The work is comprised of three 10-metre-high metal screens made of interlinked sparrow motifs. The sparrows were hand-beaten in stainless steel using the repoussé technique, which references both the vernacular art of chamakpatti in Karachi and the silverware of Mughal courts.

'The death of a sparrow can be a sign of a new beginning or entry into paradise after death, and the installation provides a space for audiences to pause and take a breath,' Glass-Kantor said.

8. Kingsley Ng's Esmeralda at The Peninsula Hong Kong

Hong Kong artist Kingsley Ng has used jade green fabric to describe canals criss-crossing the facade of the Peninsula Hotel. The work takes its title from Italo Calvino's 1972 novel Invisible Cities, in which Marco Polo describes a watery city called Esmeralda with infinite routes. The work is part of the hotel's Art in Resonance programme, which also includes contributions from Lachlan Turczan, Elise Morin, and Saya Woolfalk. —[O]