Art Basel in Hong Kong Announces 137 Galleries, Most in Satellite Booths, for 2022
The majority of galleries taking part in Art Basel in Hong Kong will participate via 'satellite booths' when the fair returns from 25 to 29 May, after being postponed from March.
Art Basel in Hong Kong 2021. Courtesy Art Basel.
Art Basel in Hong Kong introduced satellite booths—which are staffed by the fair instead of the galleries—last year to accommodate exhibitors whose staff were unable to enter Hong Kong due to travel restrictions introduced to combat Covid-19.
At time of writing, Hong Kong has suspended flights from countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and the Philippines. Visitors from most other countries are required to quarantine for 21 days at a designated quarantine hotel.
Eighty-two out of 137 galleries taking part in Art Basel in Hong Kong will show works in satellite booths this year, including Berlin's Esther Schipper, New York's Gladstone Gallery, Seoul's Kukje Gallery, and Beijing's Hive Center for Contemporary Art. That's up from 57 out of 104 galleries in 2021.
Marc Spiegler, Global Director of Art Basel, said, 'It is inspiring to see the amazing commitment and surging number of galleries participating in our Hong Kong show.'
While participation is up from 2021, it remains down significantly from 2019, when over 240 galleries exhibited at Art Basel in Hong Kong.
Among the highlights of this year's main galleries section, according to Art Basel, are a survey of Rasheed Araeen by London's Rossi & Rossi, new works by Zheng Guogu and Pak Sheung Chuen shown by Guangzhou's Vitamin Creative Space, and David Hockney's photographic drawings presented by Chicago's Gray.
Highlights of the fair's Insights section, which focuses on artists from the Asia-Pacific, include a presentation of Wang Chuan's lockdown paintings by Chengdu's A Thousand Plateaus Art Space, James T. Hong's two-channel landscape film by Hong Kong's Empty Gallery, and works by Norio Imai reaching back to the 1960s presented by Antwerp's Axel Vervoordt Gallery.
Eighteen galleries will show in the fair's Discoveries section, which presents solo shows by emerging artists. They include Mexico City gallery Maia Contemporary's presentation of paintings and sculptures by Cisco Jiménez, which incorporate obsolete devices such as boomboxes and record players, and monochrome paintings by Surinamese artist Xavier Roblesde Medina presented by New York gallery Catinca Tabacaru, which also has spaces in Bucharest and Harare.
Art Basel will also persist with its Art Basel Live digital initiative, which includes virtual walkthroughs, Online Viewing Rooms, social media broadcasts, and livestreamed conversations. —[O]
